Monday 18 May 2009

Obama not to touch Israel's nuclear nerve


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A senior US official says the Obama administration will eventually resign itself to Israel's 40-year refusal to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

One week after Israel responded with shock and anger to US calls for nuclear disarmament, a senior White House official speaking on condition of anonymity said US President Barack Obama has no choice but to remain committed to Israel's so-called policy of nuclear opacity.

He said that he doubted Israel would sign in on the NPT "until there is a change in the overall political and security context,” adding that Washington's endorsement of Israel's atomic arsenal will remove some of the obstacles clouding the upcoming meeting between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu.

Setting himself directly against key plank of US policy, such as adherence to the NPT and a final push for a Palestinian settlement, Netanyahu has largely strived to shift the focus to Iran's low-level nuclear program instead.

This is while Tel Aviv is widely regarded as the sixth-largest nuclear power in the world and the sole possessor of an atomic arsenal in the Middle East. Israel reportedly houses at least 100 bunker-busting bombs, which come in the form of laser-guided mini-nukes with the ability of penetrating underground targets.

For 40 years, Tel Aviv and Washington have prevented Israel's undeclared arsenal of approximately 200 atomic warheads from becoming public.

During the Kennedy administration, Israel allowed American inspectors to make visits to its Dimona plant, but investigations eventually came to a halt in 1969 when former US president Richard Nixon secretly endorsed Tel Aviv's atomic arsenal.

Israel, in the early 1970s, had already developed missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads to most countries in the region, including Iran and Russia.

Senior Israeli political, military and intelligence figures have relentlessly threatened to bomb Iran's nuclear infrastructure out of existence, but the prospect of go-it-alone Israeli air strikes has significantly risen since Benjamin Netanyahu took up the baton in Tel Aviv.

This is while the United States has strictly warned Israel against launching an attack on the Islamic Republic without its consent.

Source

Posted by JNOUBIYEH at 4:57 PM


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