Israel Will Issue Gas Masks 8 Weeks Early

Israel plans to distribute gas masks to all its citizens on Oct. 15, eight weeks ahead of schedule, against the possibility of an Iraqi attack using chemical weapons, military officials said Monday.

Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein has threatened to attack Israel with such weapons in the event of war in the Persian Gulf region.

Israeli officials took pains to minimize the timing of the distribution. Some analysts have pinpointed Oct. 15 as the day when weather and the completion of logistic preparations will make it feasible for an attack on Iraq by the multinational force in Saudi Arabia.

“This distribution of gas masks in no way constitutes a change in the readiness or emergency situation,” said Lt. Gen. Dan Shomron, the military chief of staff.

The announcement said that all 4.5 million Israelis--men, women and children--will receive the “personal protection kits,” but there are none available for Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel is shopping for more masks in Europe and will make them available to the Arabs in the occupied territories.

The decision to distribute gas masks was made 10 days ago after government officials consulted with air force and intelligence officers, military sources said. The distribution had been planned for December, but there has been a public clamor for quicker action since Aug. 2, when Iraq invaded Kuwait.

Plans for the distribution were drawn up last March, months before the gulf crisis, but the war scare has added a political dimension to the situation, army sources said. There was fear that the public might panic or that Iraq might interpret an early distribution as a sign that Israel was preparing a preemptive attack.

“It would be a mistake to see this as a signal of a worsening situation,” an army spokesman said. “But of course the crisis changed our thinking.”

In a clear indication of the sensitive international impact of the decision, Israel informed Washington Sunday of its gas mask plan. The United States did not object, Israeli military officials said.

The kits will include anti-nerve gas injections and a powder for protection against liquid chemical agents. Children will be given plastic hoods with pumps to filter air. Plastic tents and battery-operated filters are being supplied to protect babies.