Israel Says It Wants to Stay Out of Iraq War

By Jeffrey Heller. Reuters, 20 March 2003

JERUSALEM—Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Thursday Israel had no plans to be sucked into the war against Iraq but was praying for the safety of coalition troops.

Israel is not part of the campaign against Iraq and does not want to be dragged into it, Shalom said in a conference call with Israeli diplomats after the U.S.-led war began. We are praying for the safety of the coalition troops.

Senior Israeli government sources said the United States gave Israel 90 minutes advance notification of its initial military strikes in Iraq.

Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and informed him the United States intended to attack a specific target in Baghdad before a more comprehensive campaign begins, the sources said.

Israel has said repeatedly it intends to play no role in the war but has reserved the right to retaliate if Iraq attacks it.

Israel has prepared two lines of missile defense against Iraqi Scuds—the multi-billion-dollar Arrow system developed after the 1991 Gulf War and upgraded U.S.-made Patriot missiles.

PRECAUTIONS AGAINST ATTACK

Taking precautions against possible Iraqi chemical or biological missile attack, the army has advised Israelis to use plastic sheeting and duct tape to seal a room in their homes and to begin carrying gas masks everywhere.

Some Israelis followed army instructions not to leave home without their government-issued gas masks. Many ignored them.

They’re going overboard, said Tel Aviv shopkeeper Kfir Cohen, 21, as he headed to work empty-handed. If a Scud missile hits Israel, I’ll start taking the order seriously.

The instructions were a throwback to 1991, when Iraq fired 39 Scud missiles armed with conventional warheads at Israel, causing heavy damage to some residential neighborhoods near Tel Aviv but few casualties.

Israeli officials have also said that this time Iraq has not deployed any Scuds within striking range of Israel.

Jerusalem and Tel Aviv were plagued by their usual morning traffic jams as news of the U.S. stealth plane and cruise missile attacks in Iraq blared from car radios.

In Jerusalem, a city holy to Muslims and Jews that was spared missile attack in 1991, almost no one carried a gas mask. But parents of small children took no chances, sending them to school with a gas mask along with their books and lunch.

Many of the students arrived with their gas masks, said Arye Levy a Jerusalem principal. We will talk to the students in the first period about events in the Gulf and then practise putting on gas masks.

The Palestinians responded to the start of the U.S. campaign by reiterating fears that Israel will step up military moves against a 2-1/2-year-old uprising for statehood. Israel denies any plans to do so.

We have asked the international community not to allow Israel to exploit war in Iraq to escalate attacks on the Palestinians... to reoccupy all of Gaza and the West Bank or to attempt to destroy the Palestinian Authority and its leadership, Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat told Reuters.