Gazan militants vow to continue firing rockets at "Israel"
"Israel`s" fate hangs on Qassam`s 15 minute `set up & launch` time
Source: AFP, 2-1-2007
KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip - Sitting in a circle in a tent in a sandy garden in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian militants have said "Israel`s" vow to renew strikes against them was no deterrent to firing more rockets.
"It doesn`t frighten us," said militant Abu Hamza quietly on Tuesday. "We are going to continue. Only today we fired seven rockets."
"Israel" said it would resume pinpoint strikes in the Gaza Strip last week as militant resistance continued to fire rockets into the Jewish (Zionist) state in breach of a November ceasefire ending months of conflict in the impoverished territory.
Abu Hamza and Abu Jandal, spokesmen for two militant Palestinian groups which regularly fire makeshift Qassam rockets into southern "Israel", rejected the fresh "Israeli" threat.
"The `Israelis` have tried everything: drones, helicopters, incursions. All in vain. We`re improving our results: we can fire them (rockets) from further away and then move back to where the drones do not monitor us," said Abu Hamza.
The "Israeli" army struggles to intercept the small, light Qassam rockets that are transported in vans resembling agricultural trucks.
A handful of people needs only a few minutes to prepare a rocket launch and withdraw.
Once the rocket is fired, immediately entering "Israeli" radar range, the militants have usually already fled.
"Our men set up the rockets and run away fast," said Abu Hamza. "There is a group for launching rockets and another responsible for securing the area."
Several films available on the Internet show preparations for rocket launches from the shade of olive and orange trees but also frequently from inhabited areas.
The Qassam rockets are made from simple industrial pipes filled with homemade explosives, often based on a mixture of sugar and fertilizer.
"When the `Israelis` ban the import of a product to Gaza because we could use it, we always find a replacement," said Abu Jandal. "The invaluable people for us are not those who fire the rockets, of whom there are many, but the engineers."
The rockets are both manufactured by and named after the armed wing of the ruling radical Hamas movement, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades.
"The occupation army only has 15 minutes (to spot the launch site) -- that`s how long it takes for fighters to aim their rocket and set it off remotely with an electric timer," they recently wrote on their website. "
"To carry out proper surveillance, the `Israeli` army needs to have helicopters in the air 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which is very expensive."
But the two Palestinian fighters admitted that they shoot blindly, despite having managed to hit the edge of "Israeli" Defence (War) Minister Amir Peretz`s house in mid-November.
"We`re still working on precision," said Abu Jandal. "We always hope to hit barracks, but we launch and then it`s God who decides..."
The different militant groups often organise rocket launches together.
"We choose the place and the time together," said Abu Hamza. "Preferably in the morning or the evening when people are moving around in `Israeli` towns. Public holidays too. And we keep watch for when `Israeli` officials are coming."