October 14, 2002	Monday	Sha'aban 7, 1423

AL QUDS, Oct 13: Israel began smallpox vaccinations on Sunday for several thousand key security and emergency service personnel as part of its precautions against any Iraqi retaliation against the Jewish state for US-led military action.

“This inoculation campaign is being undertaken to deal with any Iraqi missile strike using non-conventional, particularly bacteriological, warheads,” fire brigades spokesman Moshe Moscow told AFP.

Earlier this month, the Israeli defence ministry sought extra funds to buy between 300,000 and 500,000 gas masks as part of its plans to defend against any repetition of the 1991 Gulf war, when 39 conventionally armed Scud missiles slammed into Greater Tel Aviv killing two people.

SECURITY PLAN: Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer said on Sunday Israel was intending to implement a “Judea First” security plan which would see Israeli troops pulling out of Al Khalil, Israel radio reported.

“We’ve tried the Gaza and Bethlehem First (plan) but in Gaza it didn’t work, so we want to implement the Bethlehem model in Hebron (Al Khalil)”, the minister told reporters while en route to a 48-hour visit to Paris.

Judea is the Biblical term used by Israel for the southern West Bank, while the northern area is known as Samaria.

Ben Eliezer did not elaborate further on the proposal, nor was there any indication of when it might take place.

The “Gaza and Bethlehem First” security plan, which was agreed in August, involved a phased Israeli withdrawal from reoccupied Palestinian areas in return for the Palestinians taking over security control.

The new security arrangement was kicked off in Bethlehem and Gaza on August 19, but the withdrawal was not fully implemented in Gaza after cooperation between the two sides broke down following an outbreak of violence in the area. By contrast, the plan has appeared to work in the southern West Bank area of Bethlehem, which Israeli troops left in mid August.—AFP