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Peace Process

IDF: Retreat will endanger 46 Negev towns


By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
January 13, 2005

Surrendering the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Arabs will put the residents of 46 towns in the Negev region under imminent threat of Kassam rocket attacks and terrorist infiltrations, a senior IDF official told his Knesset overseers Tuesday.

The rockets most commonly used by Hamas and other terrorists have a range of seven kilometers, though more sophisticated missiles are being developed with no interference from the Palestinian Authority.

Colonel Uzi Buchbinder, head of the Home Front Command's civil defense department, said the army would need some $80 million to set up defenses for the communities that fall within range.

Those defenses would include protective glass for the windows of schools and other public buildings, as well as early warning systems. A similar system currently gives the residents of Sderot up to 20 seconds warning prior to the impact of “Palestinian” rockets.

Also of concern is the coastal town of Ashkelon just north of Gaza, which hosts a major Israel Electric power station.

The Knesset’s Interior Committee, to which Buchbinder reported, said it would immediately put in a request for the necessary funds.

But committee chairman Yuli Stern of the National Union Party suggested the planned defenses were only a nominal solution.

Arutz 7 quoted Stern as saying the government’s retreat plan was irresponsible and would place the lives of many citizens at risk, regardless of protective glass or a few seconds of early warning.

One day, Stern insisted, those responsible for relinquishing Israel’s security and right to its land would have to give an accounting for their actions.

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