FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 26, 2008

Sderot Residents Sue Israeli Defense Minister: Lawsuit Demands IDF
Immediately Employ the Laser Guided "Nautilus" System for Intercepting
Qassam Rockets

Seventy residents of Sderot and other towns bordering the Gaza Strip, will
file an unprecedented lawsuit against the Israeli Defense Minister in the
Jerusalem District Court today, Tuesday February 26, 2008. The plaintiffs
are demanding that the IDF immediate utilize the "Nautilus" laser guided,
anti-missile system as a defense against Palestinian rocket attacks;
"Failing to station the system - forfeiting residents' lives"
The lawsuit, which names Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister
Ehud Barak as defendants, alleges that the "Nautilus" system has the ability
to intercept the short-range terrorist rockets in mid-air. To date, the IDF
has not found an effective response to the daily Palestinian rocket
barrages targeting Sderot's civilian population. The residents contend that
the failure to utilize the currently available and inexpensive "Nautilus"
systems is gross negligence on the government and IDF's part . They claim
the government is not protecting their impoverished city as they would the
more affluent Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.

The residents are demanding, moreover, that the IDF employ the fully
operational "Skyguard" system (based upon the "Nautilus" technology), to
ensure that in a two years period at the latest, there is a complete
solution for the rocket threat to the entire Sderot-Ashkelon region.

The residents are represented by Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, Director
of the Shurat HaDin Law Center. It was initiated by Alon Davidi, of the
Headquarters for the Safety of Sderot. In the court papers, the residents -
some of whom have lost loved ones or were injured by the Qassam attacks -
claim that the "Nautilus" system was proven 100% successful in the 46
experiments that have been held so far. Within these experiments, "Nautilus"
shot down short-ranged rockets, artillery shells, and mortar bombs, never
once missing the target. The plaintiffs allege that the system, which is
currently utilized in the United States can be put into use and stationed
near Sderot within the next 6 months, for the mere sum of $5 million..
According to missile experts relied upon by the plaintiffs, an examination
of all shooting incidents towards Sderot in the last 6 years shows that
would the "Nautilus" have been stationed near the city 6 years ago, there
would have been no rockets falling on Sderot whatsoever!

The IDF is currently slated to implement an alternative system, the "Kippat
Barzel" ("Iron Dome") which will only become operational in 2011 and costs
approximately $100,000 for each missile. The Kippat Barzel system can only
react to rockets that remain in the air for 15 seconds or longer and is,
thus, incapable of intercepting the low flying Qassams in time.

Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of the Shurat HaDin organization and Alon
Davidi of the Headquarters for the Safety of Sderot stated today: "Leaving
the residents of Sderot and the Western Negev settlements to face Hamas
rocket shooting for years when there are reliable and available solutions to
protect the civilians, is a grave failure and an inconceivable outrage. The
border residents will not remain silent in light of their abandonment and
discrimination by the government. The families of Sderot, Ashkelon and the
towns and kibbutzim bordering the Gaza Strip, and soon hundreds of thousands
of other Israelis who live within the range of Hamas' improved rockets, are
entitled to enjoy the same security promised to the residents of Tel Aviv
and Jerusalem.

The failure to utilize the Nautilus system has resulted in the murder and
injuring of dozens of residents of Sderot. The IDF has completely breached
its duty to protect the Negev's civilians. The lawsuit will expose that the
Olmert government has placed its own narrow interests before the safety of
the residents of Sderot."

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Telephone: (US) 212-591-0073

(Israel) 0523-837020, 03-751-4175

Email: info@israellawcenter.org