TEL AVIV Ñ Homeland security in Israel now means classroom drills. Tens of thousands of Israeli students have recently undergone
training to respond to an Arab missile attack.
Israeli officials said schools throughout the country are participating
in exercises sponsored by the Israeli military's Home Front. They said
students and teachers underwent a drill to respond to such scenarios as
Iraqi ballistic missiles, Hizbullah rockets and Palestinian short-range
rockets and mortars.
On Monday, Palestinian Kassam-2 rockets slammed into Israel north of the
Gaza Strip. Nobody was injured, Middle East Newsline reported.
The students were trained to quickly leave their classrooms and seek
shelter in concrete-reinforced bunkers. In Tel Aviv, students were lowered
from the top floor of their school with hydraulic lifts and makeship ropes.
Officials said the training is part of Israeli preparations for the
prospect of an Iraqi missile attack. They said the regime of President
Saddam Hussein could respond to any U.S. attack on Baghdad by firing
Scud-class missiles toward the Jewish state.
An Israeli intelligence report asserts that the United States will soon
begin military preparations for a war against Iraq. The report said U.S.
commanders are reviewing northern Iraq for military assets while officials
are searching for a leadership to replace Saddam.
Israeli officials believe the Palestinian Authority will be aligned with
Iraq in any U.S. attack on Baghdad. They said the PA could join any Iraqi
retaliation against Israel and the United States with a massive salvo of
Kassam-2 and Kassam-3 rockets toward Israeli cities. The Kassam-2 has a
range of about six kilometers and the Kassam-3 is said to strike targets at
a distance of 10 kilometers.
[On Wednesday, a suicide-bomber blew himself up on an Israeli passenger
bus in northern Israel outside the Arab-populated city of Umm El Fahm.
Authorities said seven people Ñ other than the attacker Ñ were killed in
the blast. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.]
Officials said Israel's key problem is a lack of bomb shelters. They
said only 37 percent of students would be able to find space in existing
bomb shelters around schools.
