DATE=4/25/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ISRAEL / NUCLEAR (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261695
BYLINE=ROSS DUNN
DATELINE=JERUSALEM
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Israel says it will continue to maintain a
stance of "deliberate ambiguity" over claims that it
has a secret arsenal of nuclear weapons. Ross Dunn in
Jerusalem reports Israel also criticized Egypt for
stirring up international condemnation of the Israeli
nuclear policy at a United Nations conference.
TEXT: Israel's Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh
says Israel will continue its policy of refusing to
confirm or deny the existence of nuclear weapons. He
was reacting to criticism of Israel from Egyptian
representatives at a New York review conference of the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
One-hundred-87 countries have ratified the agreement.
Four -- Israel, Pakistan, India, and Cuba -- have not.
Egypt wants Israel to sign the agreement and join
talks aimed at ensuring the Middle East becomes a
nuclear free zone.
An expert on strategic relations in the Middle East at
Tel Aviv's Bar-Ilan University, Gerald Steinberg, said
he believes Israel's policy of ambiguity has been
successful.
/// STEINBERG ACT ONE //
Israel is a very small state, with a long
history of threats to its national survival and
security. And over the last four decades, a
policy based on an ambiguous deterrent option
has been developed, and Israelis see that as
having been very successful, not only
preventing and in some cases ending attacks but
also in bringing the Arab states to the peace
process.
/// END ACT ///
Israel is believed to have about 200 nuclear warheads,
but says it will not be the first to introduce them
into the Middle East.
Professor Steinberg says that if Israel signed the
treaty, it would have to destroy any nuclear weapons
it may possess.
/// STEINBERG ACT TWO ///
The terms of the Non-Proliferation treaty are
such that all signatories are required to first
of all stop, under international inspection, any
kind of activities that are related to the
development of nuclear weapons and also to
destroy to any materials or weapons that are
already developed and have been manufactured.
So Israel would be giving up all its
capabilities.
/// END ACT ///
The treaty specifies that only five nations with
nuclear weapons -- Britain, China, France, Russia, and
the United States -- are allowed to maintain a nuclear
capability. Other countries that continue to develop
nuclear weapons would be considered to be in violation
of the treaty.
Deputy Defense Minister Sneh says he believes the
United States, Israel's closet ally, will help resist
international pressure to clarify its position.
Israeli historian Avner Cohen -- author of a 1998 book
"Israel and the Bomb" -- says the two countries worked
out an agreement over the issue in 1970. He says the
United States pledged to help limit international
pressure against Israel as long as Israel did not
declare itself a nuclear power and did not carry out
nuclear weapons tests.
Professor Steinberg says he believes these
"understandings" are still valid and that is why
Israeli officials remain confident of United States
government support. (Signed)
NEB/RD/JWH/ENE/gm
25-Apr-2000 12:02 PM EDT (25-Apr-2000 1602 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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