Rense.com


Israel In No Hurry To
Clear The Nuclear Fog
And The US Is Unlikely To Apply Much Pressure

By Craig Nelson
The Sydney Morning Herald
1-4-4



JERUSALEM -- When the "brother leader and guide of the revolution" emerged from his burrow of international isolation last month and declared in essence, "My name is Muammar Gaddafi. I'm the president of Libya. I want to negotiate," Washington struck another name from the list of wannabe members of the doomsday weapons club.
 
But Gaddafi's announcement that Libya was ready to dismantle its nuclear weapons caused few, if any ripples in Israel, possessor of arguably the most secretive weapons of mass destruction program in the world.
 
Washington was silent, too, despite increasingly compelling reasons for raising the issue publicly. For the Bush Administration to pressure Israel to declare its weapons of mass destruction and explain the circumstances under which they might be used would, at least, remove a glaring double standard in its often sanctimonious proclamations. And it would reassure moderate Arab neighbours. But such pressure is unlikely.
 
The Federation of American Scientists and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute say Israel has at least 200 nuclear warheads. If true, that would make it the world's fifth-largest nuclear power.
 
Its arsenal features other advanced weaponry. A 1993 report by the Office of Technology Assessment for the US Congress says Israel has "undeclared offensive chemical warfare capabilities" and is "generally reported as having an undeclared offensive biological warfare program".
 
Israel is not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and thus is not subject to inspections and the threat of sanctions by the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency.
 
During the 1960s, it deceived US scientists inspecting its Dimona nuclear plant, constructing a fake control room and bricking over doors leading to an underground uranium processing facility, Seymour Hersh reports in The Samson Option, his account of the Israeli nuclear weapons program.
 
Israel's policy of neither confirming nor denying the existence of its nuclear, biological and chemical arsenal has served it well - or, as the former prime minister Shimon Peres has put it, "The suspicion and fog surrounding this issue are constructive."
 
The perception that it is a member of the nuclear club has given Israel a high level of deterrence. And the official opaqueness has let it avoid a direct collision with US policy and law on weapons proliferation. Such a collision might jeopardise aid from Washington, which exceeds $US3 billion ($4 billion) a year. The official posture "has enabled Israel for decades to enjoy the best of both worlds", says Shai Feldman, director of the Jaffee Centre for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv.
 
Never mind that nuclear weapons are useless against jihadis. Never mind also that Gaddafi's about-face and Saddam Hussein's fall mean the almost total destruction of the Arab world's radical camp. Add the decision by Iran's mullahs to allow nuclear inspections and the strategic picture of the Middle East has been transformed.
 
But to Israeli officials, Feldman says, Libya's and Iran's turnabouts reveal the weakness of international inspections and safeguards. Although both Tehran and Tripoli are signatories of the non-proliferation treaty, both made significant advances towards development of weapons of mass destruction that went undetected for years.
 
Under these circumstances, the question of whether the continued existence of Israel's arsenal encourages what it says it wants - a Middle East free of doomsday weapons - may be moot. But while expecting Israel to relinquish its germs, gases and nukes may be far-fetched, it is arguably not premature for Israel to talk about them publicly and acknowledge what the world knows.
 
A sign of how far Israel stands from doing that came this week, when its domestic intelligence agency was reported to be considering how to silence a nuclear whistleblower who is due to be released from prison in April.
 
Mordechai Vanunu, a former nuclear technician, was sentenced to 18 years in jail for espionage after giving pictures and a description of alleged weapons from Dimona to London's Sunday Times in 1986.
 
Local media reports this week said the options being considered for muzzling Vanunu included barring him from travelling overseas or speaking in public after his release. Israeli officials later confirmed the reports.
 
Copyright © 2004 The Sydney Morning Herald.
 
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/01/02/1072908911555.html


Disclaimer





MainPage
http://www.rense.com


This Site Served by TheHostPros