[Mb-civic] Uri Avnery: Israel nuclear monopoly is over

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033www.gush-
shalom.org]

[As former Knesset Member Uri Avnery took part in this week's 
Knesset Committee discussion ofthe Vanunu restrictions, and in 
this article reveals some absurd details.He also explainsthe 
significance ofthe sacrifice of Vanunu, forcingthrough the 
nuclear discussion in Israel.]
                       For Whom the Bells Toll
                      Hebrew http://zope.gush-
         shalom.org/home/he/channels/avnery/1114330942òáøéú
Uri Avnery, 23.4.05
An Iranian technician called Jalal-a-Din Taheri, who had been 
working at the nuclear reactor at Bushehr, managed to defect 
Europe, where he disclosed the Ayatollahs' plans for producing 
nuclear bombs.
Taheri was acclaimed a hero throughout the world. A number 
of organizations nominated him for the Nobel Peace Price. 
President Bush praised his courage. Ariel Sharon invited him to 
come and live in Israel, even calling him one of the Righteous of 
the Nations. The Ayatollahs denounced him as a traitor, infidel, 
Crusader and Zionist.
This is, of course, an entirely fictitious story. But it corresponds 
exactly to the story of Mordechai Vanunu, who is considered by 
almost all Israelis as a despicable traitor - proving once again 
that treason, like pornography, is a matter of geography.

This week I used my privilege as a former Member of the 
Knesset to attend a session of the Knesset Committee for "the 
Constitution, Law and Justice", in which the Vanunu affair was 
discussed. In the course of the session, Knesset members 
cursed each other in the language of fishmongers (by which I 
mean no offence to fishmongers). Two Likud members, Ronie 
Bar-On (who once served for several hours as Attorney General 
before being ignominiously removed) and Yehiel Hazan shouted 
that Vanunu had no human rights, since he was not a human 
being. It should be mentioned in all fairness that the chairman 
of the committee, Michael Eytan, also a Likud member, strongly 
condemned these utterances.
Vanunu, who in 1986 disclosed to a British newspaper some of 
Israel's nuclear secrets, was kidnapped soon after by the 
Mossad, smuggled back to Israel and put on trial. He served his 
sentence: 18 years in prison. For most of the time he was held 
in total isolation. (He told me that, in order to keep his sanity, 
he would read the New Testament in English out loud, over and 
over again, and in this way improved his command of this 
language, which he now insists on using instead of Hebrew.)
On his release, he was placed under severe restrictions: he is 
forbidden to go abroad, forbidden to move inside the country 
without prior notification of the authorities, forbidden to speak 
with foreigners, forbidden to give interviews. The Supreme 
Court has upheld these constraints. Vanunu has violated most 
of them, and some weeks ago he was indicted for these 
violations.
The restrictions were initially imposed for one year, which came 
to an end this week. The Knesset committee was about to 
discuss the possibility of their being extended, but a few hours 
before the session, the Minister of the Interior, Ophir Pines 
(Labor Party) signed an order extending for another year the 
prohibition of leaving the country, and the Army Commander of 
the Home Front signed an order to extend the other constraints 
(under Emergency Regulations).
At the committee meeting, the representative of the Attorney 
General set out the government arguments for this extension: 
(a) Vanunu still "holds in his head" dangerous secrets, (b) He 
has a "phenomenal" memory, (c) If given the opportunity, he 
will disclose these secrets abroad.

What is the evidence to support this?
(a) In one of the letters he wrote in prison, Vanunu told his 
correspondent abroad that he was in possession of many more 
secrets, which he had not yet disclosed. He announced his 
intention of revealing these secrets at the first opportunity.
(b) Two years before his release - that is to say, 16 years after 
his work in the nuclear installation - he drew in his cell, purely 
from memory, detailed and amazingly exact blueprints of the 
production process. These drawings were found among the 
more than a thousand documents seized in his cell. 
These facts are more than strange. An inmate who sends letters 
from prison knows, of course, that they are censored. Vanunu 
was bound to know that not only the prison authorities, but the 
intelligence services, too, would read them. When he made the 
blueprints, he certainly knew they would be seized.
All this indicates that he intended to provoke his tormentors 
and show them that he was not broken. It is difficult to take 
the documents seriously, as the Supreme Court did, eight 
months ago, when it confirmed the restrictions. A person who 
intends to disclose dreadful secrets does not announce this in 
advance to the authorities, and does not prepare blueprints for 
his persecutors.

Concerning the matter itself:
(a) Does he "hold in his head" secrets that he has not disclosed 
in the past?
Unlikely. 
First of all, Vanunu's knowledge concerns processes as they 
were 18 years ago. Can such knowledge be useful today? Hard 
to believe. As Knesset Member Zehava Galon (Yahad) remarked 
at the session: "It is terrifying to imagine that nothing has 
changed in Israel's nuclear techniques for 19 years!"
Secondly, before the British paper published his disclosures, 
Vanunu was cross-questioned for two whole days by one of the 
world's leading nuclear scientists. It is hard to believe that after 
that he still had any undisclosed secrets left.
Thirdly, it borders on paranoia to think that he was so 
sophisticated as to decide, 18 years ago, to "hold in his head" 
secrets in order to publish them 20 years later.
Fourthly, Vanunu is no scientist. He worked at the reactor as a 
technician. Even if he has a "phenomenal" memory, and even if 
his blueprints are uncannily exact, it is hard to believe that 
they have any remaining significance today.

If this is the case, how to explain the renewal of the 
restrictions?
The Attorney General's representative insisted that their 
purpose is not to punish him for things he has done in the 
past, which would be illegal (since he has already been tried 
and served his full sentence), but to prevent new crimes (the 
disclosure of further secrets).
I doubt this. One cannot silence Vanunu. The whole world is 
interested in him, and the more he is persecuted, the more this 
interest will grow. Vanunu cannot be deterred - he is simple 
undeterrible (to coin a word). Quite the contrary. Also, it is 
impossible to prevent him from coming into contact with 
foreigners.
(Some months ago, I was sitting in the evening in the garden of 
the fabulous American Colony hotel in East Jerusalem, 
chatting with the British actress Vanessa Redgrave, a tireless 
campaigner for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Suddenly I noticed 
Vanunu strolling by. I called him over. Vanessa Redgrave was 
very interested in his experiences in prison. How can one 
prevent this sort of things happening?)
There remains only one explanation: Revenge. Yehiel Horev, the 
chief of the Internal Security Division of the Ministry of 
Defense, cannot forgive Vanunu for making a mockery of his 
security arrangements by wandering around the parts of the 
installation in which he had no business to be, freely taking 
photos in Israel's most secret installation and smuggling them 
abroad. That is indeed infuriating. But vengeance, too, must 
have its limits.
The more so as the Attorney General's man, answering a query 
from Knesset Member Etti Livni, admitted that the same 
arguments voiced now will also be valid in another year's time, 
as well as in five and ten years. In other words, the constraints 
may be lifelong.

As for my personal opinion about the substance of the matter:
Nuclear weapons are a threat to all of us. It is impossible to 
prevent indefinitely the acquisition of nuclear weapons by more 
countries in the Middle East - with Iran in the lead. Other 
categories of Weapons of Mass Destruction (chemical and 
biological) do already exist in neighboring countries.
For years, Israel has enjoyed a nuclear monopoly in the region. 
My friends and I have warned that this monopoly is temporary, 
and that we must use the time to achieve peace. The hubris of 
our leaders has prevented this.
Now, the aim must be to free the whole region from weapons of 
mass destruction, under strict international and mutual 
inspection, as part of a comprehensive peace settlement. That 
is both possible and practical. When Vanunu rings the bells, he 
contributes to the public awakening.
His action is also important for another reason: for the first 
time, he has drawn the attention of the Israeli public to the real 
danger inherent in the old reactor, which is now more than 40 
years old. Several former employees have now sued the 
government, claiming that they have contracted cancer (and 
some have died) because of safety failures. What will happen in 
the case of a Chernobyl-like disaster? Or an earthquake, or a 
missile strike? Who is thinking about this? Whose 
responsibility is it? Who oversees those responsible?
Vanunu rings the bells to call attention to a real danger. The 
question is not whether he is a pleasant person, whether his 
views are popular or what he thinks about the State of Israel, 
after 12 years of solitary confinement. The question is whether 
he is doing a good job.
I, for one, believe he is.
#


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