31-Aug-11: Rockets and remedies

More Gazan Qassam rockets en route to Israeli towns,
communities, homes, shops, kindergartens, school buses etc etc etc

Two more Qassam rockets crashed into an open area in the Eshkol region around 9 pm tonight (Wednesday). No injuries or damage were reported. [Ynet]

Moshe Arens, writing in today's Haaretz ("Iron Dome is not enough to protect Israeli citizens") shares some pertinent observations:

"The Iron Dome, developed by Rafael, is a superb technological achievement. It follows Israel's first technological breakthrough in ballistic missile interception - the Arrow, developed by IAI. For years the interception of ballistic missiles was considered next to impossible, until the Arrow, designed to intercept missiles launched from a distance of hundreds of kilometers, proved otherwise... The idea that missile interception systems, when eventually deployed throughout Israel, will provide an impenetrable umbrella under which Israelis will be able to peacefully carry on their daily lives even when Israel is attacked by rockets, is an illusion. There are other ways to put an end to the rocket threat, and the government will sooner or later have to resort to them."

Arens, an aeronautical engineer by profession and graduate of both Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California Institute of Technology, served as a member of Israel's parliament between 1973 and 2003, as Minister of Defense three times, once as Minister of Foreign Affairs and as Israel's ambassador to the U.S. When he asserts that Israel is going to have to put an end to the rockets one way or another, it's advice that is very likely being taken into account right now. The current situation is intolerable.