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Report says Israel should dismantle nuclear weapons
By Barbara Ferguson
11/27/05 "Arab
News" -- -- In order to contain Iran’s nuclear
development and prevent a nuclear arms race in the region, Israel
must begin nuclear disarmament.
This, according to a recent report, entitled
“Getting Ready for a Nuclear— Ready Iran,” published by the US Army War College,
commissioned and partially funded by the Pentagon, argues that
Iran’s nuclear weapon development cannot be stopped by any current
military or diplomatic options.
The report instead recommends that the United States convince Israel
to “mothball” its Dimona nuclear reactor and agree to international
monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA,
something it has refused to do.
Israel, to date, has never officially confirmed that it does not
have nuclear weapons, nor denied it. Credible reports of Israel’s
sizable arsenal of nuclear bombs are well-documented, as well as
their stable of missiles and aircrafts to deliver them any where in
the Middle East.
Israel has long-said its nuclear program has prevented conventional
attacks from hostile neighbors, but some experts believe Israel’s
position may have motivated other countries to develop their own
nuclear options.
The study also argues that Israel’s action would persuade other
Middle East countries, Egypt or Algeria, to “follow suit and
mothball their own nuclear facilities,” which would lead to a
regional halt to the production of fissile material that would be
the most effective method to successfully isolate Iran.
“It should be made clear, however, that Israel will take the
additional step of handing over control of its weapons-usable
fissile material to the IAEA only when all states in the Middle East
dismantle their fissile producing facilities (large research and
power reactors, hexafluoride, enrichment plants, and all
reprocessing capabilities) and all nuclear weapons states (including
Pakistan) formally agree not to redeploy nuclear weapons onto any
Middle Eastern nation’s soil in time of peace,” said the report.
Nuclear nonproliferation expert Henry Sokolski, Executive Director
of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, and Iran specialist
Patrick Clawson, Deputy Director for Research at the Washington
Institute for Near East Policy, edited the report, based on research
and meetings with the nation’s leading experts on Iran, the Middle
East, and nuclear proliferation.
India and Pakistan have already proved their nuclear capabilities,
and the Middle East is close to a nuclear weapons arms race,
Sokolski told reporters: “You have a whole neighborhood of folks
poised, at any time, to go nuclear.” He said the call for Israel to
suspend its nuclear development activity is “controversial,” but
said: “A Middle East with yet more nuclear powers could turn into a
big, big death bath.”
“An Iran with advanced nuclear capabilities that put it close to
having a bomb would likely be a more assertive Iran. Iran might well
want to throw its weight around,” co-author Patrick Clawson said
during a recent discussion of the study at the Washington Institute.
“For example, it could claim that the fate of Jerusalem is a matter
that concerns all Muslims and therefore Iran should have a say in
any settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Iran might
become active in the many disputes in the Caucasus region, such as
in Chechnya; after all, this is territory Iran lost to Russia less
than two hundred years ago.” Washington’s involvement in Mideast
nuclear negotiations are essential, Clawson argued because the US
and Iran may well become involved in a Cold War, which he said would
only end “as the regime evolves.”
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