Israel’s political leaders are coming under increasing pressure to distribute gas masks and kits containing antidotes for poison gas.
Facing widespread concern about a possible poison gas attack from Iraq, the Israel Defense Force and civil defense officials are making preparations to speed up the distribution of gas masks to the civilian population.
But the defense establishment must await the word of government ministers, who for the moment are reportedly sticking with the original timetable established before Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2, to begin distribution of gas masks and anti-chemical-warfare kits at the end of the year.
On Wednesday, Brig. Gen. Ishai Dotan, commander of the Israel Defense Force Corps of Engineers, said the ministers were walking a “tightrope” when they decided not to advance the distribution date.
Nevertheless, he supported that decision, if only because gas masks and kits prematurely given to civilians could be mishandled and deteriorate, Dotan told Israel Radio.
The Defense Ministry and political leadership have been hesitant to advance the distribution date.
Such a move, they say, would create a panic atmosphere in Israel and provide Iraq’s Saddam Hussein with a pretext for attack, claiming distribution of protective measures would augur an Israeli attack on Iraq.
Foreign Minister David Levy, visiting West Germany, told Israel Radio by telephone Wednesday that such a move “might be used as an alibi” by Hussein to attack Israel.
But he reassured the public that Israel was prepared to give out the masks and kits “in the shortest time — within hours — to the entire population.”
The original plan called for distribution of masks and kits to begin near the end of the year in the Tel Aviv area and the Galilee town of Safed, and then in the rest of the country.
A supply of masks and kits, said to be sufficient for the entire population, is presently locked away in military storehouses. They soon may be transferred to regional centers, from where they can be speedily issued to neighborhood distribution points.
Dotan said that the gas masks available to Israeli troops and civilians are among the best in the world.
And he assured Israelis that the IDF is fully trained for chemical warfare and has the equipment to detect, identify and neutralize gas and chemicals.
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