Headlines, Human Rights, Middle East & North Africa

ISRAEL: Defenceless Against the Political Rocket

Pierre Klochendler

ASHKELON, Israel, Apr 18 2011 (IPS) - The 130,000 residents of this balmy Mediterranean city can breathe a sigh of relief. Their sky is now better protected against sporadic rocket attacks launched from the Gaza Strip, some 12 kilometres away.

Israel's Iron Dome. Credit:

Israel's Iron Dome. Credit:

“Our armed forces look after us. We’re only too grateful that we are in their hands,” gloated a resident who’d come to see the giant device standing oddly in a green field on the outskirts of the city.

Under intense public pressure, the Israeli military decided this month to deploy its new anti-rocket system, Iron Dome, in the latest round of tit-for-tat battles between Israel and Palestinian Islamist militants.

Though not yet fully operational, on Apr. 7 Iron Dome successfully shot down a Grad rocket launched from the Hamas-ruled territory at Ashkelon, the first time in history that a short-range rocket was intercepted. The following day, the system intercepted in midair three rockets fired simultaneously. Scores of projectiles fell in open areas.

Some of the interceptions could be seen from here. “You hear the siren, then the sound of Iron Dome, very loud, almost like a jet engine, then a flare. That’s all, within seconds,” marveled another resident who saw the interception from his balcony.

The system uses cameras and radar to track an incoming rocket, calculates its trajectory, forwards the information to a control centre which gauges the projected location of impact, then intercepts it in mid- flight.

Critics assert, compared to the few hundred dollars that a crude Qassam rocket costs, Iron Dome is onerous – tens of thousands of dollars per interceptor. Even if unable to hit Israel, the Palestinian-made rockets can still deal a blow to its financial resources.

Advocates of the system counter that Iron Dome is selective. The interceptor is fired to neutralise rockets only when the radar determines that the rocket’s impact area constitutes a threat to the population.

Development of the system was hastened in 2006 following Israel’s war against Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah. Then, some 4,000 Katyusha rockets rained on Israeli population centres, forcing the evacuation of a quarter million civilians. A million more were confined to shelters.

In the south, a million people are within rocket range fired by Hamas and other Palestinian groups. Since the 2009 Gaza war, Hamas has expanded the range of its rockets. In the latest round of cross- border skirmishes in the area, an Israeli civilian was killed. On the Palestinian side, 19 were killed, among them two civilians.

According to Israeli military sources, missiles from Gaza and Lebanon could now strike the centre of the country, posing an unprecedented threat.

Despite the system’s performance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees no reason to exult: “We’re in the first stage of development. We went out in a sprint, but we can’t cover every house, every citizen, every site in Israel,” he cautioned last week while visiting the Iron Dome battery positioned near the city.

A few days later, the U.S. House of Representatives approved 205 million dollars in a bid to reinforce the Israeli army with additional supply of the system, a decision hailed by Netanyahu. In parallel, the Israeli government approved the deployment of four more batteries by the end of 2012. The Air Force estimates that 13 units are needed to sufficiently protect the country.

Israeli decision-makers hope Iron Dome and the already tested Arrow anti-ballistic missile will help alleviate public pressure to act even more forcefully against threats. “Iron Dome has a psychological effect on the population’s willingness and ability to stand against attacks,” stresses military analyst Ra’anan Gissin. “It’s also an important deterrent. We’re telling Hamas, ‘You’ll try to hit us with missiles, and you’ll fail’,” he adds.

Yet, the Bible warns, “Tell it not in Gath, proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice.”

Not every Israeli is convinced that the Sisyphean endeavour of their government to shield them from missiles will shield them from the international opprobrium which their country faces over their Prime Minister’s reluctance to launch meaningful negotiations with the Palestinians.

“Protecting us against rockets and missiles is fine. But the best security still lays in finding a way to sit and talk with the Palestinians,” argued another Ashkelon resident, reflecting a general concern.

Last September, Netanyahu refused to extend a partial freeze on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. This led to the abrupt end of the peace talks less than a month after they had finally resumed.

Since then, the Palestinian Authority (PA) of President Mahmoud Abbas has been accelerating its unilateral drive for international recognition of statehood. The diplomatic effort is planned to reach a climax during the annual UN General Assembly meeting in September.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak is predicting an anti-Israel “diplomatic tsunami”. General Amos Gilad, a senior defence official, recently warned that Israel’s predicament would be “no less severe than war”, adding, “If you don’t enter negotiations, you gain stability, but also international isolation.”

Netanyahu appeared unfazed by the warnings issued by the Defence establishment. Alluding to the Palestinian diplomatic initiative in front of a gathering of his right-wing Likud party, he declared on Thursday: “We shall stand steadfastly against dictates that leave us with neither security nor peace.”

Meanwhile, in addition to the wave of international recognition of Palestine, mostly by South American states, the PA won an important endorsement when key EU donor states meeting in Brussels stated that the PA institutions reformed by Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad are now “above the threshold for a functioning state.”

The donors cited positive reports provided by the World Bank, the U.N. and the International Monetary Fund. Fayyad said at the meeting that the PA intends to request an additional 5 billion dollars in aid for the next five years in order to launch the Palestinian state. A donors’ conference is planned in June.

 
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