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A boy standing near a house struck by a Qassam in Sderot last month. (Albert Denkberg / Jini) Last update - 09:29 28/07/2008 Israel mulls acquiring U.S. anti-rocket system to protect Sderot By Yossi Melman and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents Tags: Phalanx, Ehud Barak, Israel  Defense Minister Ehud Barak is considering purchasing or borrowing several Phalanx automated cannons from the United States. The cannons intercept incoming mortar shells and short-range rockets, and would be used to defend Sderot and other Negev towns from rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. Barak, who left Israel last night for a visit to Washington, is expected to ask U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to appraise the Phalanx's performance. That assessment will be used to help the government decide whether to bring the anti-missile system to Israel. The new development comes after a series of articles in Haaretz, in which Dr. Natan Fabrer ¬ an expert in ballistic missiles from the Technion - expressed his support for the project. Advertisement However, several Defense Ministry officials said the Phalanx system is not effective enough, and argue that Israel should focus on developing the Iron Dome defense system, which will not be ready before 2011. At the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Barak defended the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, telling critical ministers and the Shin Bet security service chief, "Hamas is acting against the Qassam fire even more than I had personally assessed." The comments came after Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told the ministers that Hamas was taking advantage of the cease-fire to train and prepare for an Israeli attack. "Hamas is taking advantage of the cement brought into Gaza to build bunkers," said Diskin. Although Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin told the cabinet last week that Egypt has stepped up its activity against weapons-smuggling, Diskin said the Egyptian activity is nothing out of the ordinary and that Hamas has built up its arms supply since the cease-fire began. "Since the lull, four tons of explosive material, 50 anti-tank rockets, dozens of rifles, and raw material for the rocket array have gotten to Hamas in Gaza," said Diskin. "There are many organizations in Gaza that want to carry out kidnappings. The deal with Hezbollah has boosted the Palestinian groups' motivation to kidnap soldiers and Israeli civilians." Barak said Israel can use the cease-fire to improve its own position as well. "I want to mention that the IDF presented the cabinet with several possible action plans that would cause the dissolution of Hamas, but I have yet to hear any government minister say he wants to do that," the defense minister said. "The lull is a time-out that we will take advantage of to improve our point of departure for action in Gaza." Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Vice Premier Haim Ramon sided with Diskin and slammed the cease-fire, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel needs to decide at what point it will respond to Palestinian attacks from Gaza. Olmert said he is concerned that in five years, Israel will ask itself how it let the situation in the Negev take hold. "We will discuss this in the cabinet shortly," he said. "So far we have done well not to respond to the fire, but we have to seriously consider the lines that cannot be crossed from Israel's perspective." Livni said Israel must not ignore Palestinian violations of the truce. "We have to respond with fire to every violation," she said. "And on the subject of the Rafah crossing, we should open it only in connection with [a deal to free captive soldier] Gilad Shalit and strengthening Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas]." Referring to Abbas' Fatah movement and Hamas, respectively, Ramon said, "Instead of strengthening those who are with us, we're strengthening those who are against us." Related articles: Ballistic expert: Israel ignoring option of U.S. anti-rocket system Barak rethinking 'Iron Dome' defense system in face of Gaza rockets IDF campaign to ready Israelis for missile strike Bookmark to del.icio.us   Internal fighting Human rights groups say torture is widespread in Palestinian lockups. Danger looms Pentagon chief Robert Gates warns: War with Iran would be 'disastrous.'   1.   Best Defense 01:49  |  Ron 28/07/08   2.   We could appraise both Baraks and Phalanx performance as useless 02:15  |  Sal 28/07/08   3.   iron dome is a $300 million white elephant 02:20  |  zionist forever 28/07/08   4.   Simple mathematics 03:21  |  Mr Ipp 28/07/08   5.   After 5 yrs of incessant attacks, and just before an election 03:28  |  Arie 28/07/08   6.   TRY IF;IF YOU DON`T LIKE IT;SEND IT BACK!JUST STOP WAISTING TIME 03:52  |  glenna 28/07/08   7.   Sal - Phalanx Works 03:54  |  Mark of Lewiston 28/07/08   8.   Acquiring Phalanx wrong period 06:00  |  The Archives 28/07/08   9.   Anti US rocket System 06:15  |  Scott L. Havsy 28/07/08   10.   Barak - Reprising His Hezbollah Policy for Hamas 06:57  |  Tod Zuckerman 28/07/08   11.   Buy Phalanx, you greedy schnorrers. 07:25  |  Asylum Aleikum 28/07/08   12.   Hamas is obtaining weapons directly from Iran. 08:11  |  Jean Van Daem 28/07/08   13.   Defense contracts are more important than Sderot 08:28  |  Dan 28/07/08   14.   Israel needs a peace treaty to protect Sderot 08:30  |  Natallie Durson 28/07/08   15.   screw iron dome - phalanx now. and what is this - barak effective 08:52  |  michelle 28/07/08   16.   ANti rocket to #14 09:44  |  Scott L. Havsy 28/07/08   17.   Yes, let`s buy the Phalanx for Sderot et al ASAP.... 09:58  |  Esther 28/07/08   18.   situation normal; ALL is strictly POLITICS! 10:15  |  eric 28/07/08   19.   AFTER FIVE YEARS "THEY" ARE 10:16  |  Robert 28/07/08   20.   A VERY WELL PERFORMING SYSTEM 10:39  |  Iskander 28/07/08   21.   The Russians objection to the US rocket defense applies to Sderot 11:08  |  Ivar 28/07/08   22.   DURSON if Hamas don`t keep the hudna and they reject peace 11:11  |  PETER SM 28/07/08   23.   Diskin - what a liar! 11:14  |  Clickfool 28/07/08   24.   For Natallie Durson # 14 11:20  |  Clickfool 28/07/08   25.   YUVAL DISKIN IS A GREAT MAN 12:03  |  Iskander 28/07/08   26.   # 18 to ivar in estonia re: peaceful solutions 12:10  |  eric 28/07/08   27.   # 17 have i ever told you, esther in ta... 12:33  |  eric 28/07/08   28.   Eric, 18, I accept your critique in a qualified sense 13:29  |  Ivar 28/07/08   29.   # 28 to ivar re: arab peace proposal (3rd try) 09:02  |  eric 29/07/08

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