Israelis Skeptical About U.N.-Iraq Accord
February 23, 1998 10:14 AM EST
By Janine Zacharia
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israelis, hardened by the belief they must struggle to survive in a hostile region, shrugged off the deal to end the U.N.-Iraq crisis and voiced skepticism the world had heard the last from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
''This agreement doesn't sound serious to me. I am sure that (Saddam) will flex his muscles again very soon,'' Leah Fareed, a Tel Aviv woman, said.
''The crisis shouldn't have ended now. Saddam is laughing at the whole world. I think the United States should attack anyway,'' bus driver Moshe Yitzhaki told Reuters.
''But President Clinton has a problem because the whole world is leaning in Saddam's favor. The world can now say, 'What do you want from him? He signed the agreement','' Yitzhaki said.
Some Israelis, having hoped the crisis would end with the Iraqi president wiped off the political map, were dismayed the standoff apparently would not lead to military conflict.
''I hope it isn't over. It's better that there will be a war and that they'll eliminate him,'' said one 32-year-old Israeli businessman.
Israelis have flooded army distribution centers for weeks, updating gas masks from the 1991 Persian Gulf War during which Israel suffered 39 conventional Iraqi Scud missile attacks, one casualty, and widespread damage.
The streams of citizens turned into trickles Monday after word spread of the U.N. agreement.
''We are still keeping open all of the country's 63 gas mask distribution sites. I still recommend that the some million Israelis without gas masks go to the centers,'' army spokesman Oded Ben-Ami told army radio.
Anti-anthrax antibiotics were also made available to the public free of charge despite the lowering of tension.
Pictures of Israelis jamming distribution centers and hardware stores to stock up on materials for sealing rooms against chemical attacks produced the dangerous impression of a frightened public, some commentators said.
Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper's military commentator Ron Ben-Yishai said Israel was the ''big loser in the anthrax crisis'' since it had appeared weak in the eyes of the Arab world.
Now the apparent threat had lifted, however, some Israelis were quick to shrug off previous jitters and say they were never really concerned in the first place.
''The crisis never began. There was fear because the government didn't make sure people were equipped earlier,'' said a woman in her 60s from Tel Aviv.
Newspaper commentators accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of mishandling the crisis, and said Israelis received conflicting messages.
Yedioth Ahronoth columnist Nahum Barnea complained: ''The public statements, the decisions regarding protection of the home front, the execution of the plans, all these revealed that while the government ministers may not be afraid of Saddam, they are terrified of a future commission of inquiry that would possibly be formed.''
Faced with criticism, Netanyahu countered: ''I wouldn't have behaved any differently. I would do the same thing again.''
Netanyahu called the deal ''good news'' so long as there were no complicating details.
Israeli security expert Gerald Steinberg said he believed Netanyahu, nicknamed ''Bibi,'' had survived the crisis unscathed. ''So far Bibi has come out looking pretty good. The general view is that he handled the situation well,'' Steinberg told Reuters.
''The bigger question is when are we going to get back to the peace process. If the United States looks like it caved in to Iraq, and that Iraq is being allowed to maintain weapons of mass destruction, then I think this will have a very negative impact on the process,'' he said.
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