TEL AVIV — Israel's military is bracing for Palestinian rocket and missile
strikes from the West Bank by 2007.
Military sources said local Palestinians were inspired by the missile and rocket barrage on northern Israel during the recent 33-day war and that missile-related materials were being transported by camel convoys via the Gaza Strip.
"At this point, the main thing stopping rocket strikes against Israel
from the West Bank is the inability by local Palestinians to design a weapon
with sufficient range," a military source said. "A missile or rocket that
can travel one or two kilometers has little value."
Military sources said the Intelligence Corps has determined that
Palestinian insurgency groups would acquire sufficient technology and
components to assemble missiles modeled after the Hamas-origin Kassam. The
sources said Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have conducted tests of crude
missiles and rockets.
"The components and designs for missiles are coming from the Gaza Strip
via the Sinai," a source said. "There are camel convoys bringing loads of
components and weapons through the Dead Sea area to the Judean Desert, where
they are taken by smugglers."
On Wednesday, former military operations chief Maj. Gen. Yisrael Ziv
warned Palestinian insurgents were developing a missile and rocket
capability in the West Bank. Ziv told a conference sponsored by the
Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya that insurgents were seeking to
conduct strikes against Israel to overcome the security wall along the West
Bank.
The Hizbullah war with Israel has bolstered the resolve of Palestinian
insurgents to manufacture rockets and missiles, the sources said. They said
Palestinian groups were impressed by the flight of 350,000 Israelis from
their homes in the north amid Hizbullah rocket strikes in July and August.
In all, Hizbullah fired nearly 4,000 rockets into Israel.
[On Thursday, Palestinian gunners fired two Kassam-class, short-range
missiles from the northern Gaza Strip into Israel. There were no reports of
injuries.]
"Terror organizations are looking for new ways to attack inside the
Green Line [pre-1967 Israel], including the use of short-range rockets," Ziv
said. "Such attacks could take place very soon."
The sources said Palestinian insurgency groups have deemed missile
production in the West Bank a priority. They said Hizbullah plans to
increase funding and technology to these groups to ensure missile strikes
from the West Bank by 2007.