Israel dismisses Arab complaint about atom arsenal
Sep 28 8:35 AM US/Eastern
By Francois Murphy
VIENNA (Reuters) - Israel on Wednesday dismissed as "cynically motivated" a push by Arab countries to have the United Nations nuclear watchdog's 139 member states condemn the Jewish state for having nuclear weapons.
Israel neither confirms nor denies having a nuclear arsenal but experts estimate it has between 100 and 200 atomic bombs.
In a letter submitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on behalf of Arab member states, Oman asked that member states consider a statement strongly criticizing Israel at the agency's General Conference this week.
Israel pushed for countries to reject the letter, which is on the meeting's agenda.
"There is no basis for this agenda item, whose sponsors are motivated by extraneous considerations which are also evident in their efforts to challenge Israel's credentials," the head of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission, Gideon Frank, said in a statement to the General Conference.
"Both actions are politically and cynically motivated and have little to do with the IAEA's objective or mandate. They inevitably cast a serious doubt on the sincerity of its sponsors," he added.
The statement adjoined to the Arab letter said: "Israel's possession of nuclear weapons is likely to lead to a destructive nuclear arms race in the region, especially if Israel's nuclear installations remain outside any international control."
Arab countries submit similar statements to the IAEA's general conference every year, but have failed to win backing since 1991.
Israel is the only country in the Middle East believed to possess nuclear weapons and has not signed the global pact aimed at halting the spread of atomic arms, the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The Arab letter was submitted on behalf of 15 countries -- including Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Algeria, Lebanon, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan -- and the Palestinian Authority. Iraq was not included.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has called for Israel to scrap its atomic arsenal.
If countries backed the Arab proposal, listed as agenda item 22, Israel said it would not support the preceding item, an Egyptian draft resolution calling for states in the Middle East to take steps toward creating a zone free of nuclear weapons.
"Israel, as in previous years, will not be in a position to support agenda item 21 on the application of IAEA safeguards in the Middle East if any action is taken on agenda item 22," Frank said.
The latest Arab drive to condemn Israel follows a resolution passed by the IAEA's 35-nation governing board requiring that Iran, a sworn enemy of the Jewish state, be reported to the U.N. Security Council over fears it wants to build nuclear weapons.
But they want the USA to use force to stop Iran from getting Nukes.
The United States and its allies must act to stop Iran's nuclear programs -- by force if necessary -- because conventional diplomacy will not work, three senior Israeli lawmakers from across the political spectrum warned yesterday.
As a last resort, they said, Israel itself would act unilaterally to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear arms.
Iran will not be deterred "by anything short of a threat of force," said Arieh Eldad, a member of Israel's right-wing National Union Party, part of a delegation of Knesset members visiting Washington this week.
"They won't be stopped unless they are convinced their programs will be destroyed if they continue," he said.
Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said the best hope was for the United States and other major powers to make it clear to Iranian leaders now there was "no chance they will ever see the fruits of a nuclear program."
"Threats of sanctions and isolation alone will not do it," said Mr. Steinitz.
Yosef Lapid, head of the centrist opposition Shinui Party in the Knesset, added that Israel "will not live under the threat of an Iranian nuclear bomb."
"We feel we are obliged to warn our friends that Israel should not be pushed into a situation where we see no other solution but to act unilaterally" against Iran, he said.
Mr. Steinitz, a member of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's ruling Likud Party, stopped just short of a direct threat to bomb suspect Iranian nuclear sites.
Mr. Steinitz said Israeli officials estimate that Tehran is only two to three years away from developing a nuclear bomb and that time was running out for the world to act.
"We see an Iranian bomb as a devastating, existential threat to Israel, to the entire Middle East, to all Western interests in the region," he said.
"Despite all the different circumstances, we see similarities to what happened in the 1930s, when people underestimated the real problem or focused on other dangers. For us, either the world will tackle Iran in advance or all of us will face the consequences."
The Bush administration has led the diplomatic campaign to pressure Iran, claiming the Islamic regime for two decades has secretly pursued a nuclear arsenal. The board of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency in Vienna over the weekend concluded Iran had violated international pledges on its nuclear programs and said the matter could be referred to the U.N. Security Council.
Iranian officials harshly condemned the resolution and insist the country has the right to pursue a peaceful nuclear program to meet its energy needs.
Israel has acted unilaterally before to halt a nuclear program by a hostile neighbor, bombing Iraq's Osirak reactor in 1981. Widely condemned at the time, the surprise raid is now credited with dealing a major setback to Saddam Hussein's nuclear ambitions.
Mr. Eldad said Israelis across the political spectrum see Iran as the country's most serious threat and one that cannot be ignored.
But he added that unilateral action by Israel was the "worst possible scenario," likely to inflame opinion throughout the Muslim world.
"If we have to do it, we'll do it," he said with a shrug. "If the United States and the world community do it, there is a chance the issue can be contained. If Israel has to do it alone, there is no chance the conflict can be contained."
Mr. Lapid said he was sensitive to criticism that Israel was trying to push Washington into a potentially armed conflict with Iran that many Americans now oppose.
"Our mission is to point out the dangers we see, to ourselves and to our friends," he said. "Avoiding speaking the truth does not mean you can then avoid facing the consequences of those facts," he said.
The lawmakers met with their U.S. counterparts, as well as with senior administration officials, saying they highlighted the Iranian danger in all their meetings.
Asked if he thought the message got through, Mr. Steinitz said, "I did not get the feeling we were talking to the walls."
Israel two sides of the coin!!!
