Israelis told to dismantle sealed rooms, store gas mask kits

Haaretz ^ | Sunday, April 13, 2003 Nisan 11, 5763 | Haaretz Service and Agencies

[yonif]

Israel on Sunday lowered its state of alert regarding a feared attack from Iraq, telling citizens they no longer need to carry gas masks and keep a sealed room in their homes, the Defense Ministry said.

But Patriot and Arrow anti-missile systems will remain in place for now, the ministry said. The decision means that 12,000 reserve soldiers called up at the start of the war, many for manning air defense units, will be able to go home.

"The decision was taken due to the fact that the missile threat from western Iraq no longer exists, as far as we can tell," said Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, adding that this view was shared by both Israel's military intelligence and coalition forces in western Iraq, the area which is in missile range of Israel.

The decision comes after criticism over the defense establishment's refusal to lower the war alert despite the highly diminished chance of any Iraqi missile attack on Israel, and the high cost of maintaining the alert.

Senior officers blasted Mofaz and Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon for "dragging on" the raised alert profile that requires citizens to carry gas masks everywhere and maintain sealed rooms. The public has been almost entirely ignoring the instructions. After a meeting with the IDF top brass Saturday, Mofaz again decided to maintain the alert.

"Someone has to assume responsibility and release the public from this," a senior officer said. "Perhaps we will only know what is really happening in west Iraq in a few weeks, perhaps we will not know at all. I hope we can free the public from the masks and sealed rooms before the holiday of liberty [Passover]."

At Mofaz's meeting with the officers, they all referred to intelligence that there were still launch sites in Iraq that could threaten Israel. Security chiefs could not declare with certainty that the threat has been removed, because it is possible there are still units equipped with surface-to-surface missiles whose people had been told to act when the time comes and launch the missiles at Israel.