Barak heads to US to promote Israel rocket defence
Pastor Dale Morgan
Barak heads to US to promote Israel rocket defence*
14 Oct 2007 12:53:35 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Dan Williams
JERUSALEM, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak heads
to the United States this week to promote joint anti-missile projects
that Israel considers a prerequisite for any future handover of the West
Bank to the Palestinians.
Barak's talks in Washington will help set the stage for next month's
conference on Palestinian statehood, called by President George W.
Bush's administration in the hope of containing Iranian-backed Hamas
Islamists after their Gaza Strip takeover in June.
The Pentagon is partner in Israel's Arrow II, a system designed to
intercept ballistic missiles of the kind deployed by Iran and Syria.
Israeli and American engineers are working on a parallel project,
David's Sling, to tackle guerrilla rockets.
Israel has failed to stem cross-border rocket salvoes from Gaza, which
it quit in 2005 after 38 years of occupation. It fears a similar threat
from the West Bank if troops depart.
Barak told Israeli media in August any significant West Bank pullouts
would require anti-rocket systems first be in place. Spokesman Ronen
Moshe said Barak's U.S. talks would cover "a range of strategic
bilateral issues" including missile defence.
While David's Sling would fend off medium-range rockets like those fired
by Hezbollah guerrillas during the 2006 Lebanon war, Israel is
separately developing Iron Dome, a system meant to shoot down the
short-range Palestinian rockets. Israel also has a number of
U.S.-supplied Patriot PAC-3 anti-missile batteries left over from the
2003 Iraq war.
David's Sling and Iron Dome are at least two years from completion,
Israeli security sources say. Once integrated, they "will provide
protection from about 90 percent of all attempts to fire rockets at us,"
Barak told Israeli lawmakers last week.
He said more work was needed on "long-range interception", an apparent
reference to Arrow, which Israel considers its main bulwark against
Iranian long-range Shehab missiles should there be a U.S. or Israeli
strike against Tehran's nuclear facilities. Arrow has passed several
live tests with flying colours and is operational in Israel. Uzi Rubin,
one of the system's inventors, said Barak and the Bush administration
may discuss authorising a major upgrade.
"There is talk of producing an Arrow III, which would have an expanded
interception altitude. They want even greater deterrence," Rubin told
Reuters.
Barak is scheduled on Tuesday to meet U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert
Gates, who has championed plans for an Eastern European missile shield
amid Russian objections.
While in Washington, Barak may also face questions over Israel's
mysterious air strike on Syria last month. The New York Times reported
that the Sept. 6 sortie targeted a planned nuclear reactor and that some
U.S. officials objected to the timing as the project was potentially
years away from completion.
Israel, which is believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal,
has not given details on the raid. Washington has also been silent.
Syria denied pursuing nuclear weaponry.