U.S. Not Seeking Disclosure of Israeli Nuclear Arsenal

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U.S. Not Seeking Disclosure of Israeli Nuclear Arsenal

U.S. Not Seeking Disclosure of Israeli Nuclear Arsenal
Friday, Oct. 2, 2009

The Obama administration does not intend to press Israel to give international monitors access to its nuclear weapons, the Washington Times reported today.

Israel has never officially acknowledged possession of what is believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, which is roughly estimated at between 100 and 200 warheads.

Then-U.S. President Richard Nixon and former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meier in 1969 reportedly agreed that Washington would not challenge Jerusalem on the issue. The deal -- of which there is no official accounting -- essentially means that "the United States passively Israel's nuclear weapons status as long as Israel does not unveil publicly its capability or test a weapon," according to expert Avner Cohen.

The understanding has held up for 40 years. President Barack Obama indicated during a meeting in May with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he did not intend to change that policy, three officials told the Times.

Arms Control Association chief Daryl Kimball played down the importance of Obama's decision, but said Netanyahu should not believe that the U.N. Security Council resolution passed last week in hopes of promoting nuclear disarmament does not apply to his nation.

"I would respectfully disagree with Mr. Netanyahu. President Obama's speech and U.N. Security Council Resolution 1887 apply to all countries irrespective of secret understandings between the U.S. and Israel," Kimball said. "A world without nuclear weapons is consistent with Israel's stated goal of achieving a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction. Obama's message is that the same nonproliferation and disarmament responsibilities should apply to all states and not just a few"

http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20091002_7204.php

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Obama reaffirms Israel-US secret accord on nuke bombs
Sindh Today
October 2, 2009

US President Barack Obama has assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the four-decade-old secret Israel-American accord, allowing Israel to keep a nuclear arsenal without opening it to international inspections, would continue.

.... Israel had been nervous that Obama would not continue the understanding because of his strong support for non-proliferation and priority on preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

In fact, Netanyahu ’s reaction to a question last week clearly reflected of the continuing US-Israel understanding, but it went unnoticed.

‘Iin my first meeting with President Obama in Washington I received from him, and I asked to receive from him, an itemized list of the strategic understandings that have existed for many years between Israel and the United States on that issue. It was not for naught that I requested, and it was not for naught that I received.’

The chief nuclear understanding was reached at a summit between President Nixon and Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir that began on Sept. 25, 1969.

Although there is no formal record of the agreement, the Nixon library declassified a July 19, 1969, memo on the issue.

‘While we might ideally like to halt actual Israeli possession, what we really want at a minimum may be just to keep Israeli possession from becoming an established international fact,’ it said.

http://www.sindhtoday.net/news/1/56534.htm

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Obama agrees to keep Israel's nukes secret
By Eli Lake
Washington Times
October 2, 2009

President Obama has reaffirmed a 4-decade-old secret understanding that has allowed Israel to keep a nuclear arsenal without opening it to international inspections, three officials familiar with the understanding said.

The officials, who spoke on the condition that they not be named because they were discussing private conversations, said Mr. Obama pledged to maintain the agreement when he first hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in May.

Under the understanding, the U.S. has not pressured Israel to disclose its nuclear weapons or to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which could require Israel to give up its estimated several hundred nuclear bombs.

Israel had been nervous that Mr. Obama would not continue the 1969 understanding because of his strong support for nonproliferation and priority on preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The U.S. and five other world powers made progress during talks with Iran in Geneva on Thursday as Iran agreed in principle to transfer some potential bomb fuel out of the country and to open a recently disclosed facility to international inspection.

Mr. Netanyahu let the news of the continued U.S.-Israeli accord slip last week in a remark that attracted little notice. He was asked by Israel's Channel 2 whether he was worried that Mr. Obama's speech at the U.N. General Assembly, calling for a world without nuclear weapons, would apply to Israel.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/02/president-obama-has-reaffirmed-a-4-decade-old-secr/?feat=home_top5_shared#

You can read the complete news articles at the above posted links.