- Nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu was convinced
during his long years of imprisonment that his jailers were out to brainwash
him.
-
- In an extended interview in The Sunday Times, which ran
his story in 1986, the man who revealed Israel's weapons programme at the
Dimona nuclear plant said: "They were trying to destroy my personality.
They monitored all my moves and I suspected they were tampering with my
meals. I felt I had to resist accepting any changes or they would succeed
in breaking me."
-
- He said that what helped him survive his imprisonment
- including 11 years in solitary confinement - was listening to opera tapes
and CDs sent by well-wishers, Wagner being a particular favourite.
-
- His remarks came as Mr Vanunu's family and supporters
reported him to be in high spirits, despite their continued worries about
his security from bitterly hostile elements among the Israeli public. He
was brought face to face with that hostility by the taunts and shouts of
"death to traitors" when he was driven from the high-security
jail in Ashkelon after an otherwise tumultuous welcome from his supporters
on Wednesday.
-
- Mr Vanunu's brother Meir said that foreign governments,
including Britain's, should act to ensure that Mr Vanunu was protected
after the Justice Minister, Tommy Lapid, said that Israel would not be
providing security for Mr Vanunu. He was also disturbed by the heavy emphasis
laid by sections of the Israeli media on his brother's conversion from
the Judaism of his Moroccan immigrant parents. Referring to the main headline
in the mass-circulation daily Yedhiot Ahronot after his release - "Mordechai
the Christian" - he said: "They are treating him as a traitor
to his religion and not as a man who is also idealistically and ideologically
motivated."
-
- Although a few of the restrictions on his release have
been slightly relaxed, he will not be able to make a new life in the US
for at least a year. Despite his repeated denials, ministers continue to
insist he has more security-sensitive details to divulge.
-
- The former Dimona technician has been fascinated by the
technological changes since his imprisonment in 1986, according to Rayna
Moss, who helped to form the Israeli Campaign for Mordechai Vanunu 18 years
ago but never met him until an emotional encounter after his release last
week.
-
- "It was more like a reunion than a first meeting,"
she said. "He has this phenomenal memory for everyone. What he really
treasures is having people around him, hugging and talking to them. He
said, 'In prison I had food and sleep. What I didn't have was people.'"
-
- Meanwhile, Ariel Sharon, Israel's Prime Minister, has
ended a week of saturation coverage of Vanunu's release by going closer
than ever towards admitting that his country has nuclear weapons.
-
- Little more than 48 hours after Mr Vanunu completed his
sentence, Mr Sharon indicated that the US recognised Israel needs a credible
deterrent against the threat from Iran and other hostile countries that
pose an "existential threat" to Israel.
-
- In an interview broadcast as Mr Vanunu prepared to spend
his third night outside jail in the precincts of St George's Anglican Cathedral
in Jerusalem, the Prime Ministerattributed estimates of Israel's nuclear
capability - calculated at 200 weapons - to "foreign press" reports.
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- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
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- http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=514973
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