Israeli police secretly prepare for Sep.

Hundreds of Israeli policemen have participated in a secret drill, preparing to crack down Palestinians in September, when recognition of Palestinian statehood will be put on vote at the UN.

The three-day drill in the Hadid Forest area near Modi’in ended on Tuesday, Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reported.

Special units, border police, canine police units and others practiced their roles in the area on Monday. Some police officers played the role of demonstrators.

Police also brought to the site riot-control equipment that would be used for the first time to disperse large demonstrations.

The drill came ahead of a larger one, Turning Point 5 that will be held in the near future with the Israeli soldiers and all the security and rescue services.

Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas has said he will ask the United Nations General Assembly to recognize the Palestinian state in September.

More than 100 countries have so far officially recognized Palestine as a state based on the 1967 borders, the boundaries that existed before Israel captured East al-Quds (Jerusalem), the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians appear to have a majority in the General Assembly, but they are unlikely to get the go-ahead in the Security Council, where the US routinely vetoes anti-Israeli measures.