Democratic Palestine : 25 (ص 31)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 25 (ص 31)
- المحتوى
-
to ten bombs. Israeli cabinet approval led to the building of an
eight-storey (six of them underground) complex at Dimona in
the Negev, to house the reactor. The two states signed an
agreement on nuclear cooperation, one aspect of over a decade
of close military cooperation. A principal actor in this was to-
day’s Israeli foreign minister, Shimon Peres, who served as
director-general of the Defense Ministry in the years 1953-59.
In 1954, Peres was dispatched by Ben-Gurion on the first of
many trips to Paris to negotiate arms deals. In his book,
David’s Sling, Peres characterized this as a «new era of
Franco-Israeli relations... enabling Israel to overcome most of
her security problems... » Left unspoken was the linchpin for
Israeli ‘security’, i.e., nuclear weapons.
In the late fifties, ‘Israel’ collaborated with France on the
design of the Mirage warplane capable of delivering nuclear
bombs. In the sixties, Israeli scientists were on the scene when
France staged nuclear tests in desert areas of Algeria. In 1961,
‘Israel’ launched its Shavit II missile patterned on a French
model used in the Sahra tests, i.e., equipped to deliver nuclear
warheads. ‘Israel’ went on to develop the Jericho missile
originally begun in cooperation with a French firm and capable
of nuclear delivery. The Jericho II can thrust a 1,000-1,500
pound warhead over 400 miles. It was tested in the Shah’s Iran
and in South Africa. In May 1985, the US newsletter,
Aerospace Daily, reported that ‘Israel’ had deployed poten-
tially nuclear-tipped Jericho II intermediate-range missiles
with a 700 kilometer range in the Negev and Golan Heights,
mounted on trucks and supported by nuclear-hardened
underground facilities.
As prime minister in the national unity government, Peres
may have revived the Israeli-French nuclear cooperation which
was cooled by President de Gaulle in the sixties. Peres’
December 1984 visit to Paris was accompanied by reports that
France wanted to sell two nuclear power plants to ‘Israel’.
Complications arose and to our knowledge the deal has not
gone through, though ‘Israel’ has on its own announced plans
for a new nuclear station, supposedly for electric power
generation. Jerusalem Post, on January 1, 1986, reported on
the Tagar project to be situated in the Negev, pending final
approval and the acquisition of technology from West Ger-
many, Canada and the US.
With the advent of Mitterand’s presidency, France has
moved decidedly closer to ‘Israel’ again, and there may be
more cooperation than is announced. Jerusalem Post, on
August 11, 1985, revealed that a French agent, involved in the
bombing of the Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior ship, had
Shimon Peres - Mr. Nuclear Bomb
spent two weeks in ‘Israel’ following the crime. This
suggests close intelligence cooperation in combatting anti-
nuclear activities.
In a 1972 interview with Davar, Peres, as permanent
secretary of the Defense Ministry, spoke of the concept of
non-conventional «compellence» in an implicit reference to
Israeli nuclear capacity. Indeed the man who today promotes
his image as a ‘dove’, championing the Israeli version of an in-
ternational peace conference, more rightfully deserves the ti-
tle of Mr. Nuclear Bomb.
NUCLEAR BLACKMAIL
In the Zionist reality, the ‘dove’ and the bomber are two
means to the same goal. Peres’ international conference is a
political trap to force the Arab regimes and the PLO to submit
to Israeli conditions, i.e., to accept the consequences of four
decades of Israeli state terrorism. If the aggression of the past
is not enough, nuclear capacity remains as the trump card of
the Zionist state’s dangerous game of blackmail. It warns of
the possibility of the Zionists staging their ultimate blitzkrieg-a
nuclear first strike. In the book Two Minutes Over Baghdad,
the Israeli/American authors write: «... there is no doubt that
one of the greatest factors that motivated Sadat to choose this
direction in policy (his 1977 visit to occupied Jerusalem) was
the Israeli nuclear threat. In the long-running negotiations
between Israel and Egypt, the nuclear issue had been para-
mount - although both sides, including the Americans, were
reluctant for the world’s media to publicize it.» On November
8, 1978, the New York Times reported that ‘Israel’ had rejected
two Egyptian offers to give up the nuclear arms race in the
Middle East and to limit the conventional arms race.
Short of wreaking a nuclear holocaust in the Middle East,
Israeli nuclear blackmail serves a variety of purposes. The
mere knowledge that the Zionist state has the bomb is intended
as a deterrent to the Arab state’s attempts to redress their
grievances. This is probably the main reason that a variety of
Israeli officials have made statements hinting at their nuclear
capacity. ‘Leaks’ have often been timed to match impending
aggression, such as just before the 1967 and 1973 wars. In June
1981, a year before the Zionist army invaded Lebanon, by
which time the invasion was in the final planning stages,
Moshe Dayan warned that ‘Israel’ had the capacity to produce
nuclear weapons «in a short time.»For these reasons, the why’s
of Vanunu’s revelations, though not the substance, initially
elicited some scepticism.
For a state like ‘Israel’, the line separating psychological
warfare from actual aggression is quite thin. Two Minutes Over
Baghdad recounts how ‘Israel’ prepared to use nuclear
weapons in the 1973 war: «There were indications that Dayan
gave an order secretly to put in combat readiness, for the first
time, Israeli-made Jericho SS missiles, carrying nuclear
warheads, as well as Kfir and Phantom bomber fighters
equipped with nuclear devices. Altogether, 13 Israeli-made
nuclear weapons were put on alert.» This was blackmail of
both friend and foe: It aimed to push the US for a quick
weapons delivery, a demand that was obliged in the US airlift.
More important, it was a warning to Egypt and Syria to back
down from their initial victories in the battlefield.
US ‘OVERSIGHT’
Besides funding Israeli nuclear research, the US, in 1955,
provided ‘Israel’ with its first nuclear reactor, accompanied by
a wealth of research material on nuclear power. Over the five
31 - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 25
- تاريخ
- يوليو ١٩٨٧
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Contribute
Not viewed