The Rockets' Red Glare by Michael Freund The Jerusalem Post, February 6, 2002 There is nothing quite like the feeling one gets when picking up a local newspaper and discovering that your home may now be within range of Palestinian Kassem-2 rockets. Apparently not satisfied with the wave of gunmen and suicide bombers they have used against innocent Israelis of late, the Palestinians have now decided to enter the missile age, building home-made rockets capable of striking various Israeli towns and cities. It is bad enough that many of the roofs in this country seem unable to withstand even the occasional winter rainfall, with water regularly leaking into living rooms and bedrooms. How confident, therefore, can we be that they will hold up under the full force of a Palestinian projectile? The Kassem-2 rocket, we are told, is not very accurate, but it does have a range estimated between 8 and 10 kilometers and carries a 5-kilogram warhead. Worse still, because of the proximity of Palestinian-controlled areas to Israeli cities such as Jerusalem, Kfar Saba and Hod HaSharon, the advance warning regarding an imminent rocket attack may amount to little more than a few seconds. That isn't even enough time to turn off the TV and run for safety. The threat posed by this latest addition to the Palestinian peace arsenal, it seems, is all too real. Military and intelligence officials quoted in the media have said that the rocket launchers are in place, awaiting the command to fire their salvos into the heart of Israel, an act that would shatter not only our psyches, but perhaps a few innocent lives, too. But have no fear. Our government has stated that it will amply defend us. In an interview this past weekend (Maariv, February 1), Prime Minister Ariel Sharon boldly asserted that, "We have made clear to the Palestinian Authority that use of the missiles will be an absolute turning point in how we relate to them". Essentially, what Sharon is telling the Palestinians is: if you fire rockets at our cities, then we might get really angry. Lest you suspect that this is just an empty-sounding threat, Sharon went on to effectively confirm that his threat not only sounds empty - it is empty. Pressed as to what he would do if the Palestinians go ahead and launch the rockets anyway, Sharon reiterated that he has no intention of toppling the PA, saying only "the situation will be entirely different". Gee, I feel safer already. To be honest, the question that really gnaws at me is the following: if the Palestinian rocket launchers are in place, with their payloads pointing directly at Israeli towns, then why doesn't the government do something about it? Why wait until the Palestinians start shooting, rather than acting now to pre-empt such a possibility? After all, weapons are usually bought and paid for because they are intended for use. If the Palestinians have gone to the trouble of building the rockets, smuggling them from Gaza in to Judea and Samaria, and deploying them for all the world to see, doesn't that suggest that they might be serious about using them? But taking the initiative has sadly become the last thing this government is willing to consider. Like a tired old boxer, it stumbles around the ring, swinging back aimlessly at its opponent only after getting a good clobbering on the head. Sadly, it seems that only after Israeli cities start getting clobbered by a few Kassem-2 rockets might the government finally decide to act. Not only is Israel failing to meet this threat properly, but it has not even bothered to explain it to the rest of the world. After the capture of the Karine-A, the ship full of weapons that Arafat sought to smuggle into Gaza, it became clear that even though he may be talking about a cease-fire, the Palestinian leader is in fact preparing for war. The deployment of the rocket launchers, and the PA's refusal to dismantle them, should serve as yet further evidence of Arafat's duplicity and deceit. But, once again, yet another public-relations opportunity for Israel has been allowed to pass by unexploited. And so, thousands of Israelis wait anxiously in their homes, fully aware of the possibility that they might be sitting in the crosshairs of a nearby Palestinian missile crew. Like Francis Scott Key, the 1814 author of the Star Spangled Banner, America's national anthem, they await to see what will happen should the sky be filled with "the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air". If, Heaven forbid, it should come to this, all we can do is hope and pray that our government will at last wake up and act accordingly. And, as Key so movingly wrote, that we will then finally awaken from this nightmare, with "proof through the night that our flag was still there". ------------------ The writer served as Deputy Director of Communications & Policy Planning in the Prime Minister's Office from 1996 to 1999.