The Associated Press November 22, 2006
Israel seeks high-tech shield against Palestinian rockets
By Matti Freidman
JERUSALEM — Israel is moving ahead with plans for a high-tech shield to protect its civilians from rockets, army officers and Defense Ministry officials said Wednesday.
Their comments came after a week in which two Israelis were killed by homemade rockets launched by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip.
But two leading Israeli experts said no system currently available can stop the low-tech rockets, more than 2,000 of which have hit Israel since 2001.
Israel has undertaken several incursions into Gaza to stop the rockets, killing dozens of militants and civilians in November alone, but the rate of fire has only increased.
Israel has been looking at anti-rocket systems since 2003 but is now speeding up its effort and putting millions of dollars aside for this purpose, the defense officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the anti-missile preparations are secret.
The officials said Defense Ministry representatives visited a U.S. manufacturer recently to look at a potential system that fires 35mm shells that intercept rockets, preventing them from hitting the target. John Pike, director of the GlobalSecurity.org think tank in Alexandria, Va., said the system was similar to one that has been successfully tested for U.S. forces in Iraq.
The officials said the Israeli military was also considering a proposal to use high-energy laser beams to intercept incoming missiles. It was developed with Israeli cooperation to counter the threat of Hezbollah rockets on Israel's northern border. The system could be potentially effective, Pike said, though some tests indicated that clouds or dust could interfere with the lasers and often render it useless.
Both projects are still in the development stage and will require a great deal of investment before they become real options for Israel, said Prof. Isaac Ben-Israel, a military expert at Tel Aviv University and a former army general.
"There is nothing available today that is close to being practical," Ben-Israel said. But he said the "disturbing" rocket threat justified spending resources on development.
Reuven Pedatzur, a lecturer at Tel Aviv University and defense commentator for the Haaretz daily, said none of the systems would be practical in the near future and that investing millions in their development would be a waste. The military was looking into the systems, he said, merely "to show the public that it's doing something.''
"The only way to deal with the rocket threat is to either recapture every inch of the Gaza Strip or make peace," Pedatzur said.
© Copyright 2006, The Associated Press
