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The International Atomic Energy Agency and Israel: A Realistic Agenda

(Institute for Contemporary Affairs/Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Gerald M. Steinberg- There is no foundation for a change in Israel's policy of nuclear ambiguity under present circumstances, and the topic is not on the agenda. Under the terms of a 1969 agreement with the U.S. government, Israel has refrained from making any declarations about its nuclear weapons capability, or from testing devices. The threat to Israel has not diminished much in the past five decades and hatred of Israel in the Arab and Moslem worlds remains intense. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenai has emphasized that "the cancerous tumor called Israel must be uprooted from the region" and that "the perpetual subject of Iran is the elimination of Israel." As long as Jewish sovereignty and Israel's right to equality as a state among the nations is denied, the need for a credible deterrent will not end. The goal of a Middle East Nuclear Weapons Free Zone will become essentially unfeasible if Iran crosses the point of no return in its development of nuclear weapons.
2004-07-02 00:00:00
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