Unknown, Israeli confusing weapons toand thebreathtaking world is the world is revealed to the viewer of th e Israeli defense industry's

promotional videos. In these films which are displa yed in defense fairs, men and women soldiers of an unknown alliance are touring a hybrid space. Their surroundings seem occasionally similar to an Iraqi village , sometimes to a Palestinian town and then to an American slum neighborhood. The message encapsulated in these pieces of Israeli augmented reality is clear war is more The mainglobal product than these ever, Israeli and so industries has the arms offer market. their buyers is battle proven ex perience. Operations such as Cast Lead or Pillar of Defence and numerous other Israe li operations in the Gaza strip are used as selling pitches for potential custom ers. Videos taken by army units are displayed to the buyers, high generals atten d promotional presentations and soldiers in compulsory military service are even Officials used as sales-promotors in Israeli arms manufacturers in live displays say that of these the launching systems. of Israeli milita ry operations in the Palestinian territories and the reports about the use of lo cal made weapons in them, have a direct positive impact on sales. Shortly after the end of the 2009 operation Cast Lead in the Gaza strip, CEO of the Israeli defe nse ministry, ret. General Udi Shani, anticipated a rise in Israeli weapons sale s due to their use and exposure in this operation. He couldn't have been less r ight. In that year and in the following one, Israeli weapons exports increased t hat year in 12%, despite a decrease of 18.5% in general exports, following the global financial Countries buying Israeli crisis. weapons appear to make a strong distinction between the ir technical appreciation of the quality Israeli weapons, and their criticism ab out their use and their effect on Palestinians. This distinction though, is rath er hard to maintain since the same acts which are criticized are those in which the Israeli weapons are tested. The Goldstone commission, found that a Spike 4 roc ket, developed by Israeli Rafael industries, was the munition Israel use on the 27 /12/2008 targeting a police academy graduation ceremony. In this single attack w hich started operation Cast Lead 89 civilian police officers were killed. The rock et which was used, released in 2004, is guided by a camera located on the muniti on itself is described by the manufacturer as precise and highly and adapted to fighting in urban terrain. Versions are of this missile areused in Spain, Holand , Italy,drones, Israeli Finland, mainly Singapore Heron, and produced others.by the Israeli Aerospace industries and t he Hermes, produced by Elbit systems, were extensively used for launching of the launching of missiles in the Gaza 2009 war. In these attacks, many of them dire cted at mistaken targets, according to Human rights watch investigation, dozens of civilians were killed. This include a 27/12/2008 drone strike on the Gaza te chnical college, from which nine students aged 17-19 and three other civilians were killed, or the strike on the Samour family shop on 29/12/2008 from which ni ne family members were killed, two of them 13 years old. IAI's Heron droned are used by Germany, France, Brazil, Australia, Canada and many others; Elbit's Herm es drones Cast Operation by the Lead US,was UK,the Mexico, firstBrazil large scale and others. testing of Elbit BMS (battle manag ement system). The system, one of the company's hall-mark products is a computer network allowing command and control of land forces from a rear headquarter. In march 2010, fifteen months after the end of the Gaza war , the company received a contract of about 300$ for supplying this system to the Australian army. A so urce in the defence industry had commented that system's exposure in the operati on promoted The history of thethe deal Israeli and even defence raised industry the system's precedes price. the state's industry. It's first national weapons factory TAAS producing ammunition and firearms - began wo rking in 1933, fifteen years before the state's founding. Israel started exporti ng weapons to African countries even in the 50's, trying to use arms trade as a diplomatic tool. By the late fifties the country had two more national national weapons producers IAI (Israeli Weapons industry), specializing in equipment for military airforces and Rafael, producer of rockets and other heavy munitions. Th e advantage of battle weapon testing was central to this industry's success. The navy rocket Gabriel, for instance, produced by Rafael was tested successfuly in t hr 1973 But in the Yompast Kipur decade war, this before industry, it was sold now including to worldwide a vast client. private sector, is en joying an unprecedented boom. This mainly because if its' ability to offer teste d means for Asymetric war. Conflicts in which a state army is operating inside or controlling a civilian area and fighting i-regular combatants. Weapons that were tested and improved in the Palestinian territories, are employed by American an d allied forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, by Indians in Kashmir, by the Colombia

army against FARC and also in inner country conflicts such as operations agains t drugthe Since lords eruption in Brazil of the andsecond in Mexico. Intifada Israel has seen a steady rise in world wide weapons sales almost tripling itself in a decade. According to the Israeli Ministry of defence figures, it's export went from 2.5 billion dollars in 2000 to a peak of 7.4 billion in 2009, followed by a slight decline to 7.2 billion i n 2010. According to the Israeli ministry of defence information, the country be came in by the end of the 2000's the world's third exporter of arms after the US and Russia. Other sources of information quote lower figures for the Israeli de fense sales SIPRI, the Stockholm based international peace research institute ra nk it as the world 9th weapons exporter, yet high for the worlds 39th economy in Arms terms export of nominal account GDP. for almost 20% of general Israeli export. Though a substanti ally larger part of the economy is dependent on this industry. Many products whi ch are used for security purposes or not described as weapons. These include for surveillance devices as well as wall and fences technology. Moreover, many othe r sectors in the Israeli economy, especially the celebrated high-tech industry a re based on the knowledge and capabilities of the army and of the defence insust The understanding of the Israeli arms market, requires a new understanding of th ry. e Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It requires a consideration of its' economical a spects and the extent in which the Israeli economy is dependent on this conflict . It also required a new understanding of the role world wide countries play in it. Israeli weapons industries are very unique in the the fact that their export sales are substantially higher than their local sales sometimes by a ratio of 2 0-80. The Israeli market is too small for these companies, and they must export in order to maintain their R&D and production lines. Hence, Global purchase of I sraeli weapons is essential for the country to maintain its' military activity i n the Gaza strip and the West Bank.