1 Million to Get Gas Mask Lessons

JERUSALEM — More than a million Israeli schoolchildren will get an intensive course in the use of gas masks and other ways of surviving chemical warfare to prepare for a possible Iraqi attack, officials said Sunday.

The program, to begin when school starts Sept. 2, follows threats earlier this year by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to attack Israel with chemical weapons if an Israeli nuclear attack is aimed at Iraq.

“The children will be instructed how to put on their gas masks and walk up to the upper floors of the school, to previously sealed-off classrooms,” Ran Levine, deputy director general of the Education Ministry, told Israel Radio.

According to officials, the instruction will be given to all Israeli students, both Jews and Arabs, between age 5 and 18. About 5,000 teachers will take a course on using the protective equipment. Two teachers from each school will then complete instruction for the students by Sept. 20. Each school will receive a videotape and 25 gas masks for demonstrations, officials said.