From the latest ORG briefing paper by Paul Rogers:
"It is certainly the case that the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) had undertaken very detailed planning and training for a major air and ground offensive to be directed at Hamas, including a substantial increase in infantry training for urban warfare. Much of this was concentrated at a new facility, the National Urban Training Centre, the mock Arab town of Baladia in the Negev complete with refugee camp. This was built for the IDF by the US Army Corps of Engineers, financed largely by US military aid and has been in operation for the past eighteen months."
- Paul Rogers, "The Gaza conflict", in International Security Monthly Briefing – December 2008. 2008, Oxford: Oxford Research Group.
