Although it's often mentioned that the security fence around Gaza has prevented the infiltration of suicide bombers into Israel from that area, the fence hasn't done squat to prevent Kassam rocket attacks. This article points all too clearly to one of the major problems with the effectiveness of the fence in Judea and Samaria.
Improved post-hudna Kassam reaches Ashkelon environs; no injuries
By ARIEH O'SULLIVAN
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired a new longer-range Kassam rocket Sunday at the coastal city of Ashkelon, the army said.
No injuries or damage were reported.
[ . . . ]
During Operation Defensive Shield, IDF forces uncovered workshops with lathes for Kassam rocket production in Jenin and Nablus. These were shut down and to date, the Palestinians have not deployed Kassam rockets in Judea and Samaria.
Testifying before the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee earlier in the month, a senior IDF intelligence officer explained that Hamas is now assembling Kassams in Nablus, and receiving assistance from Hizbullah in developing the rocket.
Moreover, Hamas members in Gaza have been working intensively to increase the range of the Kassam to 15-17 kilometers. Over the past few weeks, several rockets with extended ranges were test-fired into the Mediterranean.
According to former IAF commander Maj.-Gen. (res.) Eitan Ben-Eliyahu, "Increasing the range of the Kassam from 6-8 kilometers to 15-20 does not present a great technical challenge. The problem is that the longer the range is extended, the less precise the rocket becomes."
For Israeli leaders as well as for military planners and commanders, the advent of a Kassam threat in Judea and Samaria can easily change the calculus of the conflict. Ben-Eliyahu explains, "When the Palestinians are limited to fielding Kassams in Gaza only, the question of precision is important. Sderot is the only relatively large target they can reach.
"In Judea and Samaria on the other hand, if you make a 20-kilometer circle around a Kassam, you see that Kfar Saba, Ra'anana, Netanya, Petah Tikva and Jerusalem, as well as Ben Gurion Airport, are all in range."
Once the IDF withdraws from Jenin and Nablus and closes the security fence behind it, who's going to destroy the new Kassam workshops that will immediately spring up like weeds? No one. And once the rockets are produced, the fence isn't going to protect Kfar Sava, Ra'anana, Netanya, Petah Tikva or Jerusalem any more than the Gaza fence has been able to protect Sderot.
