Israelis Breathe Easier as Security Alert Is Lifted

They taped up their windows against a possible missile attack, and then they went to the movies.

Israelis -- who learned Sunday that they could lower their guard against a possible Scud missile attack from Saddam Hussein’s regime -- had more or less stuck to their routines during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

In the days before the war, the military instructed them to carry gas masks everywhere they went and to prepare sealed rooms, stocked with water and canned food.

But the Scuds never came, and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Sunday that the government was lifting the security alert that had been ramped up in the days before the war began last month.

“We have reassessed the situation today and changed the state of alert in Israel in view of the fact that the missile threat from west Iraq has been removed, as far as we can tell,” he said. The decision came after U.S. troops scoured potential missile launch sites in western Iraq, authorities said, and judged them inert.

The statement amounted to a long-awaited green light for Israelis to dismantle their sealed rooms and leave their gas masks at home.

However, the Defense Ministry said the country’s Patriot and Arrow antiballistic missile systems would remain in place for the time being.

Military strategists had feared that Iraq might fire missiles at Israel, which receives more U.S. aid than any other country, in retaliation for U.S. efforts to topple Hussein.

But commentators said early on that the risk of such an attack was minimal, and most Israelis were leaving their gas mask kits behind long before the government lifted its alert.

Israeli newspapers noted that even ministers were showing up at Cabinet meetings without them.

Iraq fired 39 Scud missiles at Israel from its western fringe during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, killing two people and injuring about 200.

With the continued threat of chemical and biological warheads during the current war, authorities weren’t taking any chances, calling up more than 10,000 reservists. Last week, the first reservists were allowed to go home.

On the streets of Tel Aviv, residents said the security alert had dragged on for too long.

“At last we can breathe and open all the windows,” said Iris Kadosh, 41, referring to the masking tape seals that residents were encouraged to put around their windows. “My poor son, his room was closed for such a long time. Now the air will come in.”

Some parents tried to soften war’s intrusion by putting stickers of cartoon characters on their children’s gas masks.

Others said they had become accustomed to a certain level of risk during the 30-month-old Palestinian uprising, characterized by Palestinian suicide bombers and deadly Israeli incursions into Palestinian territories.

The cycle of violence has dealt a huge blow to Israel’s tourism trade, weakening an already battered economy.

Elana Sher, 41, paused from buying flowers for Passover celebrations and accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of using the security alert to divert attention from domestic woes.

“Now Sharon will not be able to hide behind the gas mask,” she said. “The country is collapsing, and he will have to clean up the mess he’s made here for all of us.”

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Special correspondent Tami Zer in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.