- 20 nov 2010
Nobel laureates urge Israel to let Vanunu receive int'l rights award
Atomic whistleblower seeks to attend ceremony granting him the International League of Human Rights' Carl von Ossietzky Medal in Berlin.
Nobel laureates have petitioned Israel's government to allow atomic whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu to leave the country so that he may receive an award issued by the International League of Human Rights in Berlin.
The award Vanunu is to receive is the Carl von Ossietzky Medal, named after the renowned German pacifist, who had opposed the Nazi regime, and who was later held in a concentration camp and murdered.
Ossietzky is also famous to have been denied the Nobel Peace Prize laureate as a result of Nazi Germany's unwillingness to allow the peace activist to leave its border when he was named laureate in 1935.
Vanunu was named as this year's recipient in October, at which time the International League of Human Rights issued an open letter urging the Israeli government to allow Vanunu to participate in the ceremony.
The letter was signed, among others, by several Nobel laureates, such as Mairead Corrigan-Maguire, German writer Günter Grass, chemist Harold W. Kroto, physicist Jack Steinberger, as well as singer Nina Hagen, author Felicia Langer, and former Vice President of the European Union Luisa Morgantini.
Following the letter, Vanunu's attorney Michael Sfard sent a letter to Interior Minister Eli Yishai and Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan, saying the atomic whistleblower was willing to commit himself to returning to Israel following the ceremony in Berlin.
In his letter Sfard asked whether "Israel was interested in joining the unlovely ranks of nations who prevented their citizens from receiving international prizes by preventing their arrival at ceremonies?"
The comment by Vanunu's lawyer cites, among others, communist Poland which prevented Lech Walesa from receiving the Nobel Peace Prize as well as the Soviet Union, which barred author Boris Pasternak from claiming the Nobel Prize in Literature.
It should be marked that ,currently, China is preventing 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate dissident Liu Xiaobo from leaving the country.
Vanunu was convicted of treason and imprisoned for 18 years after telling a British newspaper in 1986 about his work as a technician at Israel's main atomic reactor, disclosures which cracked the secrecy around the assumed Israeli nuclear arsenal.
He was released from prison in 2004 but has not been allowed to leave Israel. In 2007, Vanunu was sentenced to six months in prison for violating the terms of his parole.
http://bit.ly/c6799h 31 mar 2012, 23:25 , Respect -
Maria 20 nov 2010
Israel's Sorek nuclear reactor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOJgEsWhg1c -
Maria 21 nov 2010
Israel seeking membership in Nuclear Energy Agency
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman
Jerusalem hoping to receive OECD secretary general's support for membership in two OECD forums, including Middle East and North Africa forum.
Israel will ask to join the OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), an internal Foreign Ministry document states. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Deputy Minister Daniel Ayalon will present the request to OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría at Israel's cabinet meeting on Sunday.
The agency, in which 29 out of the 34 members are OECD countries, works for judicial, environmental and technological based international cooperation with the goal of promoting safe use of nuclear energy.
Recently, the Foreign Ministry contacted the agency's secretary general in order to prepare the groundwork for Israel's possible entry into the agency.
The Foreign Ministry hopes that Gurría, who is currently visiting Israel for a financial convention, will give the move a green light.
President Shimon Peres with OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría
The Foreign Ministry's policy paper notes that Israel will also work towards becoming a member of the OECD's Middle East and North Africa (MENA) forum, whose members include countries which do not have any diplomatic ties with Jerusalem. The initiative works towards social and economic cooperation.
The forum was established in 2005 and its members include Syria, Algeria, Bahrain, the UAE, Libya, Kuwait, Sudan and Tunisia.
Sources in the Foreign Ministry said that using professional tools within the MENA initiative could promote the establishment of future diplomatic ties with some member states.
The foreign minister and his deputy will also ask the OECD secretary general to consider placing Israeli representatives in key positions within the organization.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3987416,00.html 31 mar 2012, 23:25 , Respect -
Maria 28 nov 2010
Tel Aviv bars Vananu trip for award
Vanunu made headlines in 1986, when he divulged shocking secrets about Tel Aviv's nuclear activities. He was kidnapped later in Italy by Mossad's special agents and sentenced to 18 years behind bars.
Tel Aviv has denied permission for former Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu to leave Israel in order to collect an international award in Berlin.
A host of elites and Nobel laureates, including Irish peace activist Mairead Maguire and German writer Gunter Grass, have called on Israel to allow Vanunu to attend the International League of Human Rights prize ceremony scheduled for December 12.
Vanunu has been named as this year's recipient of the Carl von Ossietzky Medal.
The prize is named after the renowned German pacifist, who had opposed the Nazi regime, and who was later held in a concentration camp and murdered.
Ossietzky is also famous to have been denied the Nobel Peace Prize laureate as a result of Nazi Germany's unwillingness to allow the peace activist to leave its border when he was named laureate in 1935.
Vanunu made headlines in 1986, when he divulged shocking secrets about Tel Aviv's nuclear activities in an interview with a British newspaper, The Sunday Times.
The disclosure cracked the secrecy around the assumed Israeli nuclear arsenal.
The Moroccan-born scientist was kidnapped later in Italy by Mossad's special agents and sentenced to 18 years behind bars.
He reportedly spent 11 years of his prison term in solitary confinement.
Vanunu was released from prison in 2004, but has not been allowed to leave Israel.
During recent years the former technician at Israel's main atomic reactor, Dimona, has constantly protested against the Tel Aviv-imposed restrictions and his lack of freedom and has appealed to international bodies for help.
In 2007, the controversial figure was once again sentenced to six months in jail for violating the terms of his parole.
Vanunu who has converted to Christianity has become a hero for many peace activists, and was nominated several times for a Nobel Prize.
In March 2009, he responded by writing the following to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee:
"I am asking the committee to remove my name from the list for this year's list of nominations," he said, arguing that "I cannot be part of a list of laureates that includes (Israeli President) Shimon Peres. He is the man who was behind all the Israeli atomic policy."
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/152953.html 31 mar 2012, 23:25 , Respect -
Maria 30 nov 2010
Saudi urges IAEA to watch Israel nukes
Chairman of the Saudi Shura Council is calling for Israel's nuclear facilities to be monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Ibrahim Al Sheikh made the call on Monday on the sidelines of the fifth Conference of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly held in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
"Israel is the only wielder of nuclear weapons in the Middle East that is preventing IAEA inspectors from examining its nuclear facilities," IRNA quoted Abdullah Al Sheikh as saying.
The Saudi official further described the issue of Palestine as one of the top priorities on the agenda of the ongoing Damascus conference.
The fifth Conference of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly was inaugurated on Monday morning in the Umayyad Congress Palace in Damascus.
Representatives from 41 Asian states and observers from 17 international organizations are expected to take part in the event.
Scheduled to last until December 1, the assembly is to focus namely on the role of Asian parliaments in enhancing anti-terrorism and combating occupation policy.
Combating corruption, achieving health equity, promoting the principles of friendship and cooperation in the continent, the effects of the global financial crisis on the economies of member-states and climate change are among other issues to be addressed in the meeting.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/153248.html 31 mar 2012, 23:25 , Respect -
Maria 10 dec 2010
Israel denies Vanunu travel permission
Mordechai Vanunu
Israel has prevented a former nuclear whistleblower from receiving an international prize in Germany for work towards promoting disarmament.
Mordechai Vanunu, who revealed details of Israel's secret weapons program 24 years ago, was to be awarded the Carl von Ossietsky Prize in Berlin on Sunday.
According to a spokesman for the International League for Human Rights, the group has now decided to cancel the ceremony and hold a protest rally on behalf of the former nuclear technician instead, AFP reported.
The League had previously called on Tel Aviv to allow Vanunu to participate in the ceremony and Vanunu's attorney Michael Sfard had assured Israeli officials that the 56-year old atomic technician was willing to commit himself to returning to Israel following the ceremony in Berlin.
Vanunu was convicted of treason and spent 18 years in jail after disclosing the inner workings of Israel's Dimona nuclear plant to the Sunday Times newspaper in 1986 backed up by two rolls of film he had taken of the plant.
He was released in 2004 but was banned from travel and giving interviews to foreign media without prior permission.
Estimated to have more than 200 nuclear warheads, Israel still refuses to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and does not allow the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to visit its nuclear sites.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/154898.html 31 mar 2012, 23:26 , Respect -
Maria 15 dec 2010
Rudd calls for nuke inspections in Israel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWcYNfhkNyk -
Maria 15 dec 2010
'Israeli nukes, direct threat to Iran'
Israel is the base for the US and global imperialism in the Middle East to direct their nuclear threats against Iran and break up the sovereign states in the region, an analyst says.
The fact that Israel's nuclear arsenal is being set for something that would be in the first line of its so-called defense -- translate offense -- is a direct threat to the people of Iran and to the people of the region, Ralph Schoenman, the author of Hidden History of Zionism said on Tuesday.
The Zionist state is the mouthpiece for the imperialist designs upon the region and specifically against Iran, he noted in an interview with Press TV.
The United States and its so-called allies are creators and sustainers of the Zionist state. It is constantly designed to deconstruct or break up the sovereign states of the region, to undermine their national sovereignty to seize their territory and to rip their resources, notably oil, Schoenman said.
On Tuesday, Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman dismissed Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd's call on Tel Aviv to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Rudd also referred to Tel Aviv's ongoing settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank as an obstacle to establishment of what he referred to as "peace" in the Middle East.
Since 1958, when Tel Aviv began building its Dimona plutonium and uranium processing facility in the Negev desert, it has allegedly manufactured scores of nuclear warheads, turning into the sole owner of such weapons in the Middle East.
Former United States President Jimmy Carter has attested to the existence of the arsenal, which he said includes between 200 to 300 nuclear warheads.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/155558.html 31 mar 2012, 23:26 , Respect -
Maria 15 dec 2010
Israel rebuffs call to join NPT
Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman
Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has dismissed Australia's call on Tel Aviv to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd recently told The Australian newspaper, "Our view has been consistent for a long period of time, and that is that all states in the region should adhere to the NPT, and that includes Israel."
"And therefore their nuclear facility should be subject to IAEA inspection," Rudd said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
On Tuesday, however, Lieberman rejected the demand, saying that it did not matter if Tel Aviv refused to be a signatory to the pact, Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported.
Since 1958, when Tel Aviv began building its Dimona plutonium and uranium processing facility in the Negev desert, it has allegedly manufactured scores of nuclear warheads, turning into the sole owner of such weapons in the Middle East.
Former United States President Jimmy Carter has attested to the existence of the arsenal, which he has said includes between 200 to 300 nuclear warheads.
Rudd is on a tour to the region, which has already taken him to Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian territories.
He has also referred to Tel Aviv's relentless settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank as an obstacle to establishment of, what he referred to as, "peace" in the Middle East.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/155507.html 31 mar 2012, 23:26 , Respect -
Maria 16 dec 2010
Israel shoots down 'suspicious flying object' near Dimona nuclear reactor
IDF spokesperson says IAF warplane shot down the object, probably a balloon, in south; official says it flew over the Dimona nuclear reactor, a no-fly zone.
An Israel Air Force warplane on Thursday shot down an apparently unmanned balloon that flew over the Dimona nuclear reactor, a security official said.
"It definitely flew over Dimona, although we are still trying to determine what that entailed and the military is now handling the matter," the official said.
An IDF spokeswoman said an Israeli warplane "shot down a suspicious flying object, probably a balloon, in southern Israel". Israeli media reports said the balloon was unmanned but powered by an engine.
Airspace over the reactor, where Israel is believed to have built more than 200 nuclear warheads, is a no-fly zone.
Last October, IDF warplanes intercepted an Israeli ultralight aircraft that accidentally flew into the area and forced it to land at an airstrip in southern Israel.
During the 1967 Middle East war, an Israeli surface-to-air missile downed a crippled Israeli fighter-bomber that strayed into the restricted zone. Its pilot was killed
http://bit.ly/dOSq3E 31 mar 2012, 23:26 , Respect -
Maria 17 dec 2010
European nuclear research group accepts Israel as candidate for membership
Israel is expected to become a full member of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in two to three years.
Israel is expected to become a full member of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in two to three years time. After many years of continuous diplomatic efforts, the 20 member states on the CERN board accepted Israel's request to become a candidate for full membership to the most important particle physics research center. The board also accepted requests issued by Slovenia, Serbia, Cyprus and Turkey.
To date, all countries that have been candidates for full membership to CERN have become full members.
Israel currently holds observer status in the prestigious organization, which allows it to participate in research. Dozens of Israeli researchers have benefited from this standing. Israel is also able to participate in the open conferences of the CERN board, but without voting rights.
Beyond the recognition of Israel's scientific infrastructure and capabilities, its acceptance as a full member of CERN will allow it to fully participate in the meetings of the governing body of the organization and its decisions. Moreover, in addition to having to pay membership fees of about $10 million, joining CERN will enable high and medium-tech companies from Israel to participate in tenders opened by the organization.
Israel is currently limited to bid on tenders of maximum 600,000 Swiss Francs.
Membership will also make it easier for young Israeli scientists to work and train in the advanced laboratories of CERN, including its famous particle accelerator. In addition, Israel will be able to join the organization's administration.
"This is a great achievement for Israel that will advance science and enable more Israeli scientists to participate in this international project," said President Shimon Peres, who recently met with CERN Director-General Rolf Heuer during a visit to Israel.
"This is an important day, on which science in the State of Israel has received important international recognition once again for our leading contribution to international research in general, and to CERN in particular," Science and Technology Minister Daniel Hershkowitz said.
The chairman of the Israeli Committee for High Energies, Professor Eliezer Rabinovici, who was central to the efforts to join CERN, said last night that "Israel is on its way to becoming a full member in the organization, which is the diamond in the crown of European science. From our point of view, this is recognition of decades of work by the best Israeli scientists at every institution in Israel - experimental and theoretical scientists - who have contributed a great deal to CERN."
Israel's successful bid to be accepted by CERN was the joint work of many institutions, ministries and official bodies, including the Council for Higher Education, the Foreign Ministry, the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry, and the Science Ministry. Two year ago, an application to upgrade Israel's standing in CERN was filed, following which Israel embarked on a diplomatic campaign to counter countries that expressed reservations or opposed Israel's full membership.
http://bit.ly/hECxXl 31 mar 2012, 23:26 , Respect -
Maria 29 dec 2010
British secret file confirms Israeli nukes
Israel's Dimona nuclear plant in the Negev Desert
A newly released British document confirms that Israel has possessed nuclear weapons for more than three decades.
Secret files released by Britain's National Archives said on Wednesday that British officials feared Tel Aviv would use its nuclear weapons in case of another war with Arab countries in the region.
Israel, which is considered as the sole possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, has never confirmed or denied that it has produced nuclear warheads. It has also refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It has also adamantly rejected international inspection of its nuclear facilities.
Former US President Jimmy Carter acknowledged for the first time in May 2008 that Tel Aviv has 150 nuclear warheads in its arsenals.
In 1986, Israeli nuclear technician, Mordechai Vanunu, leaked the news that Israel had between 100 and 200 nuclear weapons.
Vanunu was a former worker at the country's Dimona nuclear reactor in the Negev desert.
In May 2010, the UK's Guardian newspaper said secret South African documents reveal that in 1975, Israel offered to sell nuclear warheads to the then-apartheid regime in South Africa.
According to documents obtained by the newspaper, a secret meeting between the then-Israeli defense minister, Shimon Peres, and his South African counterpart, P.W. Botha, ended with an offer for the sale of warheads in three sizes.
The Guardian claimed that those sizes referred to conventional, chemical and nuclear weapons.
Israel has initiated several wars in the region in its 60-year-old history of occupation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/157794.html 31 mar 2012, 23:26 , Respect -
Maria 30 dec 2010
'Israel nukes, no big secret'
Secret files released by Britain's National Archives confirm that Israel has possessed nuclear arms for more than three decades and there are fears that it may use such weapons.
The following is the transcript of Press TV's interview with Director of IGA (Institute for [Persian] Gulf Affairs) Ali al-Ahmed about the issue:
Press TV: The British have expressed concern over Israel being ready to use its nuclear weapons as it cannot sustain a long war. How likely is that scenario in your view?
Ahmed: Well it is very likely, given the fact of what happened in 2006 in Lebanon. The Israeli forces were drained very quickly after only few weeks of war, because Israel does not have the geographical depth. As the experience of long wars [show], any war with a formidable state in the region or a formidable force in the region will push Israel to use something more than conventional weapons.
Press TV: As the evidence mounts, Arab states have failed to present a united front regarding Israeli nukes as they once did. Why is that so and what implications does that hold?
Ahmed: I think the Arab countries and lot of the regimes in the Arab world are losing their legitimacy very quickly and they need outside support [from] the Unites States and even Israel to maintain their position in power. So, because of that, they are now dependent on the Americans and even Israel for the survival of this regime.
So, that is why they do not pose a threat against Israel and at the same time, they are divided because are not building a state or a country, they are building regimes for themselves.
Press TV: Israel neither confirms nor denies the existence of its nuclear arsenal as it believes the ambiguity gives it an advantage in the region. With evidence now proving that Israel does indeed possess the nukes, does Israel still enjoy an advantage?
Ahmed: We have known this is an open secret. Israel has had nuclear weapons as early as 1963 and it was basically transferred from Pennsylvania, the United States. The fact that Israel has been able to develop its own nuclear stockpile is an open secret and it gives it an advantage obviously, because anyone who has nuclear weapons has the deterrence factor on its side against forces that could overwhelm Israel. The wars there have been limited wars and they have not yet threatened the existence of Israel.
Press TV: Also, what is interesting is that Britain has had this knowledge for a while now. Why hasn't Britain reacted to this, instead of allowing this secrecy to continue?
Ahmed: They are allies and Israel enjoys a very special place in the UK and the United States. They are allies; they are friends that have founded and established it. This shows the double standard in the West's policies against Iran and Israel [regarding] the nuclear issue. They do not raise this issue with Israel, but they are driving the issue with sanctions and other moves against Iran, despite the fact that Iran has not, at least yet, developed any nuclear stockpile.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/157867.html 31 mar 2012, 23:26 , Respect -
Maria 30 dec 2010
British archives show fears Israel could nuke Arab states
LONDON (AFP) - British diplomats feared Israel would use nuclear weapons in the event of another war with its Arab neigbors, secret files have shown.
In 1980, British officials were concerned that Israel could be heading for a new conflict, despite signing a peace treaty with Egypt the year before, according to official papers released from the National Archives after being kept secret for 30 years.
"The situation in the region is deteriorating and with it Israel's dangerous mood of isolation and defiance will grow," warned a cable from the British embassy in Tel Aviv, dated May 4.
"If they (Israel) are to be destroyed they will go down fighting this time. They will be ready to use their atomic weapon. Because they cannot sustain a long war, they would have to use it early."
Israel has never confirmed or denied reports that it has produced nuclear warheads.
The files also showed how prime minister Margaret Thatcher, elected to office the year before, found Middle East diplomacy exasperating.
She confided in then French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing that she "had never had a more difficult man to deal with" than Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin.
She had also tried to tell Begin that his policies towards Jewish settlement building on the West Bank were "unrealistic" and "absurd".
"His response was that Judea and Samaria had been Jewish in biblical times and that they should therefore be so today," she told Giscard d'Estaing.
Thatcher was also unimpressed by Foreign Office attempts to persuade her that the Palestine Liberation Organisation should not be seen as a "purely terrorist organisation", but also as a political movement.
"This analysis just doesn't stand up. It is riddled with inconsistencies," she scrawled on one briefing paper.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=346618