The successful interception
of the arms smuggling boat “Santorini”, caught before it could deliver its
load of Katyushas and SA-7-Strella anti-aircraft missiles to Arafat, should
finally break the smug Israeli assumption that “Arafatehland”, the Arab
West-Palestinian “state”, is going to stay demilitarized, as per the Oslo,
etc., agreements.
Israeli “ostrich” policy
brought about the freezing of the Ben Gurion 2000 airport design, declining
to consider the fact that if a Palestinian entity were to emerge, the final
approach to Ben-Gurion’s east-west runway will expose incoming aircraft at
an optimum angle and range for the launching of SA-7s to down them.
The same policy led Israel
to consider a secondary airport at Zikkim, between Ashkelon and Gaza, well
within SA-7, Katyusha and even mortar range.
“We talk peace,” the writer
was told by (former MK) Eli Goldschmidt, “if war comes, it’s the IDF’s, not
our business.” One wonders whether Israel is two states: one for peace, the
other for war.
The JED (Journal
of Electronic Defense), April 2001 issue is devoted mostly to the
shoulder missile’s importance, placing it among the breach-loaded rifle, the
submarine, aircraft and radar, in the class of weapons that changed military
thought, proving the article’s point with recent Gulf, Afghanistan and
Yugoslavia statistics.
If/when a “no war”
settlement between Israel and the Arabs of Judea, Samaria and Gaza will be
renegotiated, Israel has to ensure that Strella-range and also terrorist
overnight walking distance will not cover Israeli major targets.
* Man Portable Air
Defense System = Man Pads
