http://www.nypost.com/seven/08272006/postopinion/opedcolumnists/israels_war_at_sea_opedcolumnists_ralph_peters.htm

August 27, 2006 -- THE Israeli navy rarely gets the spotlight, but it briefly drew attention in July when a Hezbollah anti-ship missile surprised a command vessel, killing four sailors. Then the coverage turned back to the war in the air and on the ground

Hearing only about what went wrong at sea, we missed a terrific, positive story. We've been missing it for years

The Israeli navy is the state's smallest military arm, with only 1,500 personnel on active duty and reservists rounding out crews. But the service has an enormous mission - which it's been executing quietly and superbly for decades

Mention Israel's security problems and we automatically think of the battle over land: The West Bank, Gaza or the Golan Heights. But when you look at Israel from the water's edge, the country's strategic position feels very different - and the tiny navy's role appears indispensable

Israel is a maritime power. We never think of it that way, but it's true: 99 percent of all goods that enter Israel come by sea; 93 percent of its exports leave by sea. And 80 percent of the population lives along the coast

All of Israel's major power plants and refineries stand at the water's edge, as does much of its industry. Then there are the other lifelines, the oil terminals and desalination plants. A developing off-shore gas field is expected to supply at least 40 percent of the country's needs - and perhaps much more

If Israel couldn't protect its coast, it couldn't survive

Before I left Israel earlier this month, I joined a delegation sponsored by the American Jewish Committee to interview senior military and government officials. Some of the sessions were frank and valuable; others were eye-rollers. But the one that really woke me up was a no-nonsense briefing by Rear Adm. Yuval Zur, the Deputy Commander in Chief of the Israeli Navy

The admiral laid it out bluntly: Israel's 107 nautical miles of coast give it less shoreline than Long Island. The enemy is never far away. It's only 4.5 miles from Hezbollah country to the city of Nahaliya, and seven miles from the Hamas terror-drome in Gaza to Ashkelon. On Israel's other coast, at Eilat, it's just three nautical miles to Jordan, five to Egypt and six to Saudi Arabia

The navy's challenge is to create strategic depth. So the service has become perhaps the most innovative maritime force in the world, creating "virtual bunkers" and constructing sea fences of barriers and sensors (the fences have reduced sea-border penetrations from 300-400 per year to nine or 10

Israel's navy has a blue-water mission, but only brown-water funding. Yet dedicated sailors make it work. And, although the admiral wouldn't discuss it, Israel is pursuing an ocean-going nuclear-strike capability to deter Iran from future use of weapons of mass destruction

What routine threats does this gutsy little navy face? Direct attacks, weapons smuggling, terror boats launched furtively from merchant ships, ship abductions, suicide fishing boats (honest, I saw the chilling video), bombs concealed on life rafts (another explosive video), floating mines - and plain-vanilla fishermen poaching in Israeli waters

Try to calmly judge the difference between fishermen and terrorists after a "humble fishing boat" pulls up beside a patrol craft and blows itself up. But the sailors can't just shoot first and investigate later. When Israel pulls the trigger on the wrong target, it's celebrated globally as a "Zionist atrocity

Then there were the terrorists on jet skis

Since 1970, Israel has faced 80 significant maritime attacks. Interdicting weapons destined for terrorists requires constant vigilance: A few years back, a single vessel, the Karine-A, had 50 tons of arms and explosives on board. Originating in the Persian Gulf, that shipment was addressed to Fatah, the Palestinian "good guys." (And, of course, when Israel stops a smuggler on the high seas, the United Nations treats it as an act of piracy

Israel's navy has to be on watch 24 hours a day, every day of the year. And then it goes to war with the rest of the Israeli Defense Forces

The navy deserved better coverage than it got during the Lebanon fighting. Beyond the missile hit on the command ship, the service turned in a spunky, effective performance, enforcing a blockade in cooperation with the air force and landing SEALs behind the lines

One successful commando raid on Tyre saved dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Lebanese lives by going ashore to take out Hezbollah rocket commanders - instead of simply bombing the crowded apartment block where the terrorists had set up shop on the second floor

The navy also destroyed Hezbollah rocket launchers on shore and provided intelligence to the other services. It was the only IDF arm that delivered more than it promised

Now there's a cease-fire. For the Israeli navy, that just means going back to an average of 11 missions a day and protecting Israel's lifeline to the world

Ralph Peters' latest book is "Never Quit the Fight