A Border Guard police base near Beit Horon in the Binyamin region – northwest of Jerusalem – is being turned into an expulsion training school.

Thousands of Border Guardsmen will be trained there to carry out the mission of removing close to 9,000 Jews from their homes in northern Samaria and Gush Katif.

The training course includes breaking into houses, isolating homes in which opponents of the plan have holed themselves up, and dealing with those inside. Destroying buildings and arresting groups of resisters are also featured in the course.

The trainees will take breaks from their physical training with lectures and workshops on democracy, refusal, civil rights and the like.

No fewer than 18,000 policemen will take the course in the coming months.

At the same time, some withdrawal opponents are stepping up their efforts to encourage policemen and soldiers to refuse orders to expel Jews from their homes in the Land of Israel. Over 10,000 soldiers and policemen have already signed their commitment not to fulfill orders. Police and Border Guard officials say that refusers will be fired outright, while those who fulfill the orders will receive a pay raise.

At least one commanding officer, in a recent letter accompanying a reserves call-up notice to his soldiers, noted prominently that the tour of duty does not include missions related to the disengagement/expulsion. In the apparent fear that soldiers might not want to show up for duty, the commander wrote, "The dates of active duty do not correlate to the expected dates for the disengagement, such that dilemmas regarding this matter are not relevant." Posters at last night´s giant anti-disengagement rally showed a picture of a soldier about to enter a Yesha home, greeted by a sad- faced family of young parents and several children standing in apprehension at the door. The caption reads, "Commander, I can´t do it." (IsraelNationalNews © 01/31/05)