Thursday, September 10, 2009

International Peace: Israel

Saint Michael Traveler

Israel’s nuclear warheads are existential threat to the world, especially Iran. There is a gradual process underway within Israeli military, intelligence and political circles which will lead to war with Iran.
What are USA's options in regard to Israel, a nuclear bomb state?
Should Iran not develop nuclear bomb in the future for deterrence against Israel?.
What are the steps required from Iran to allay our fear that she would not develop Nuclear Bomb in the future?

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT or NNPT), 1968, is a treaty to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. Among the 189 countries party to the treaty, five nations have nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, China and France (also permanent members of the
UN Security Council).

Nuclear Warheads 2009
US: 9552
Russia: 12987
UK: 192
China: 176
France: 300
India: 75
Pakistan: 90
Israel: 200
North Korea: 2

SOURCE:
http://thebulletin.metapress.com/home/main.mpx">BULLETIN OF ATOMIC SCIENTISTS, GUARDIAN/DEFENCE ESTIMATES


Iran singed the NPT. Under this treaty Iran has the rights to enrich uranium, use nuclear byproducts for research, medicine, agriculture and produce nuclear electric power. There is no dispute that Iran is already a nuclear state. The states with this capacity are many; among them are Japan and Germany. Iran does not have any nuclear weapons and according to IAEA is in compliance with the terms of the treaty.

The treaty requires that the members give up their rights to have nuclear weapons for defense; those who had nuclear weapons and had signed the NPT had agreed to eliminate their nuclear weapons. China, England, France, Russia, and USA had singed the NPT treaty. All these nations are in violation of the NPT.

I suggest the following three steps to eliminate potential for violation of NPT by Iran and developing nuclear weapon in the future:

1. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Iranian Consortium:
USA should join the consortium among others Japan, Germany, France and England to actively monitor the Iranian fuel cycle activity too. IAEA has consistently asserted that the agency could not find any indications that Iran is diverting the fuel cycle for nuclear bomb development. Iran has asserted that their activities are limited to development of fuel for nuclear reactor.

2. Nuclear Shield
An international nuclear shield for all nations in the Middle East, including Iran, from nuclear bomb states;

3. A nuclear- bomb-free Middle East
This action will remove any pressure from Iran to develop nuclear bomb in the future for deterrence against nuclear bomb Israeli state.



How did Israel acquire nuclear bomb? French built the Dimona heavy water reactor, trained and installed the facility for processing irradiated fuel to produce weapons-grade nuclear material. Approximately 2,700 scientists, technicians, administrative staff, and other workers are employed at Dimona. Since the facility was constructed in the late 1950's the surrounding land has been altered to sustain groves of palms and gardens positioned to obscure the facility from the road and air. French built reactor at Dimona . The financial cost of the facility was paid by Germany.

The Dimona reactor is in the lower-left corner of the image.
Mordechai Vanunu, Israeli nuclear technician, in 1986, provided descriptions and photographs of of the Dimona facility. This information supported the conclusion that Israel had a stockpile of 100 to 200 nuclear devices, a significantly larger nuclear capability than previously estimated.

Mordechai Vanunu, based on Eileen Fleming comment, told: "President Kennedy tried to stop Israel from building atomic weapons. In 1963, he forced Prime Minister Ben Guirion to admit the Dimona was not a textile plant, as the sign outside proclaimed, but a nuclear plant.

"The Prime Minister said, ‘The nuclear reactor is only for peace.’ Kennedy insisted on an open internal inspection. He wrote letters demanding that Ben Guirion open up the Dimona for inspection. The French were responsible for the actual building of the Dimona. The Germans gave the money; they were feeling guilty for the Holocaust, and tried to pay their way out.

"Everything inside was written in French, when I was there, almost twenty years ago. Back then, the Dimona descended seven floors underground. In 1955, Perez and Guirion met with the French to agree they would get a nuclear reactor if they fought against Egypt to control the Sinai and Suez Canal. That was the war of 1956. Eisenhower demanded that Israel leave the Sinai, but the reactor plant deal continued on. Kennedy demanded inspections.

"When Johnson became president, he made an agreement with Israel that two senators would come every year to inspect. Before the senators would visit, the Israelis would build a wall to block the underground elevators and stairways. From 1963 to ’69, the senators came, but they never knew about the wall that hid the rest of the Dimona from them.

"Nixon stopped the inspections and agreed to ignore the situation. As a result, Israel increased production. In 1986, there were over two hundred bombs. Today, they may have enough plutonium for ten bombs a year."
Unfortunately
Israel’s nuclear warheads are existential threat to the Middle Eastern nations, especially Iran. American and Western European nations (France, Germany, England) collusion in their acceptance of Israel’s nuclear arsenal makes them hypocrites. Israeli nuclear bombs is one of the causes for the Middle Eastern regional instability. Our attention has been on nuclear fuel cycle of Iran, and we accepted that Israel had nuclear bombs and has been existential threat to the international peace.

The Middle East should be the starting point toward a world free of all nuclear bombs.
Saint Michael Traveler