Israel needs 'rocket defense system' before pullback

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak says Israel must have a missile defense system in place before it could carry out a large-scale pullback in the West Bank, an official close to him said yesterday.

Military experts said it would take 2 1/2- to seven years to develop a system that would protect Israel from the crude rockets Palestinian militants produce.

Militants have launched tens of thousands of Qassam rockets into southern Israel from Gaza in the past seven years of fighting, killing 12 Israelis, the army says. Israelis fear West Bank militants could someday produce the projectiles and launch them into nearby Israeli metropolitan areas.