IDF Home Front Links Ashdod up to Rocket-Warning System

by Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff
Haaretz
November 18, 2008

http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/416/idf-home-front-links-ashdod-up-to-rocket-warning

The Home Front Command connected the city of Ashdod to the Color Red rocket warning system in recent days, following an Israel Defense Forces estimate that Hamas now possesses long-range rockets capable of reaching the coastal city.

Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai visited the city Monday to supervise preparations, noting that "the cease-fire is crumbling."

At least 13 Qassam rockets and three mortars were fired on the western Negev Monday from the Gaza Strip. No one was injured.

Seven rockets were fired in a single morning barrage at the communities of the Eshkol regional council, located along the southern border of the Strip.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited Sderot Monday along with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. "No country can accept the consistent shelling of its citizens from a foreign entity. Israel won't accept this. When conditions are ripe and there is a necessity to do so, we will act," Barak said. "The IDF is strong and ready. Several options for action are being considered," he said.

Security sources estimate that the smaller Palestinian militant factions - not Hamas - are responsible for most of the shelling from the Strip in recent days.

Monday, both Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the rocket fire. Still, despite recent optimistic remarks by some Israeli spokespeople concerning the cease-fire with Hamas, the rocket salvos on the south have continued unabated for several weeks.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that he had spoken with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and asked him for Israel to return to the framework of a cease-fire [tahadiyeh] in Gaza.

Abbas met with Olmert in Jerusalem Monday and later with Miliband in Ramallah. At a press conference at his headquarters in Ramallah, Abbas told reporters that the Palestinian leadership rejects any partial solution to the conflict with Israel, and demands a comprehensive agreement including all final-status issues, such as Jerusalem, the right of return of Palestinian refugees and final borders.

Also Monday, an Israeli resident of the northern West Bank settlement of Shavei Shomron sustained moderate wounds to his legs and abdomen when Palestinians attacked the jeep he was driving in nearby Kafr Funduk.

Related Topics:  Palestinian Rockets  |  Amos Harel  |  Avi Issacharoff receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free jewish policy center mailing list