DATE=9/1/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ISRAEL / U-S / IRAQ (L)
NUMBER=2-266056
BYLINE=MEREDITH BUEL
DATELINE=JERUSALEM
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:


INTRO:  The United States reportedly has put on 
alert a Patriot anti-missile battery for possible 
deployment in Israel to protect against potential 
attacks from Iraq.  However, as correspondent 
Meredith Buel tells us from Jerusalem, Israeli 
Prime Minister Ehud Barak says he is not 
immediately concerned about such a threat.

TEXT:  Prime Minister Barak says Israel is ready 
for any development, but says he is not  sure 
there is reason for concern about the possibility 
of a missile attack from Iraq.

Mr. Barak was responding to a report in the 
Washington Post newspaper, saying U-S defense 
officials have alerted a Patriot anti-missile 
battery for possible deployment to Israel because 
of concern of an Iraqi attack.

The report says U-S and Israeli officials are 
concerned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein may try 
to act against Israel during the current American 
presidential campaign, in the false belief that 
U-S policymakers are distracted by the election.

Prime Minister Barak told reporters he is 
following developments, but is  not  sure Israel 
needs to be worried about an attack.

Washington sent Patriot missiles to Israel for 
the first time during the 1991 Gulf War, but they 
failed to intercept most of the 39 Iraqi Scud 
missiles fired at Israel, many of which damaged 
neighborhoods in and around Tel Aviv.

In 1998, the Pentagon again sent missiles to 
Israel because of tension over Iraq's lack of 
cooperation with United Nations weapons 
inspectors.

That confrontation led to a brief air war against 
Baghdad known as Operation Desert Fox.  No Iraqi 
missiles were fired at Israel during that 
conflict.

The unit just put on alert is the 69th Air Defense 
Artillery Brigade, which is based near Frankfurt, 
Germany.

It is  not  clear if the United States is acting 
because of new intelligence information or a 
general concern about Baghdad's intentions.

This latest report says U-S satellites have, in 
recent months, detected increased signs of 
missile testing south of Baghdad.

Saddam Hussein has, in the past, forced 
confrontations to try to create conflict in the 
alliance that drove his army from Kuwait during 
the Gulf War, and to draw attention to the U-N 
sanctions against Iraq.

Since the end of the Gulf War, there have been 
several alerts about possible Iraqi attacks, 
sending Israelis scrambling to distribution 
centers to update their army-issue gas masks.

Patriots are guided supersonic surface-to-air 
weapons designed to intercept enemy missiles and 
aircraft with explosive warheads.

In partnership with the United States, Israel is 
developing a more advanced anti-missile system, 
called the Arrow.  The Arrow is designed to 
intercept incoming ballistic missiles miles above 
the earth's surface, far from their targets.   
(Signed)

NEB/MB/GE 



01-Sep-2000 10:17 AM EDT (01-Sep-2000 1417 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.