Mista'arvim

Mista'arvim (Hebrew: מסתערבים‎, lit. Arabized; Arabic: مستعربين‎, Mustaʿribīn), also spelled as mistaravim, is the name given to those counter-terrorism units of the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Border Police in which officers are specifically trained to disguise themselves as Arabs in order to kill or capture a wanted terrorist. These are also commonly known as the 'Arab Platoons'.

Training

Training for these units is about fifteen months:

• Four months basic infantry training in the Mitkan Adam army base – the IDF Special Training Center.
• Two and a half months of advanced infantry training in the same base.
• Two months of the unit's basic training, which focus on advanced urban navigation exercises and the beginning of counter-terrorism training.
• Four months Mista'arvim course, which covers everything from learning Arab traditions, language and way of thought to civilian camouflage (hair dying, contact lenses, Arab clothing).
• One-month courses – sniper, driving and different instructors courses.

Known units

Two of these units are in the Israel Defense Forces and one in the Israel Border Police:

• Shimshon (Unit 367), which operated in the Gaza Strip. It was disbanded in 1994 after the Oslo peace talks.
• Duvdevan (Unit 217), which operates in The West Bank.
• Yamas from the Israel Border Police.
• Masada – an elite unit of the Israeli Prison Service which specializes in these kinds of operations, among others.
• The Arab Department – a unit of the Palmach, whose soldiers carried out such activities.
• Sayeret Shaked – an elite unit of the IDF, which also operated undercover in the Gaza Strip in the 70's.
• Hermesh unit – a unit of undercover and varied initiated activity, which operated in Judea and Sameria until 1994. The unit was then transferred to the Kfir Brigade.

External links

• Deflem, Mathieu. 2012. "Yehida Mishtartit Mistaravim (YAMAS) (Israel)." Pp. 71-72 in Counterterrorism: From the Cold War to the War on Terror, Vol. 2, edited by Frank G. Shanty. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/ABC-CLIO
• Secret police unit to monitor Arab towns, by Tomer Zarchin, Haaretz, October 13, 2009