Iranian Nuclear Bomb Within 5 Years
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 12:18:30 +0100
From: elbaum@dircon.co.uk (Leiah and Jason Elbaum)
Agence France-Presse reports (26 September) that this week's Israel-PLO
accord grants some 87% of West Bank territory to the Palestinian Authority
by the end of the scheduled Israeli withdrawals, according to the PA's
Economy Minister Ahmed Korei. This covers all areas but the Jewish
settlements, Jerusalem and "military border regions" -- all of which are up
for negotiation beginning May 1996. The rest "will be under the Palestinian
state," he said.
Korei said this was "more than I expected" and more land than the original
1993 Israel-PLO agreement called for.
London's Sunday Telegraph reports (24 September) that "the final piece in
Iran's nuclear jigsaw is now in place." Chinese technicians have given Iran
the technology needed to produce weapons-grade enriched uranium, enabling
Iran to produce its own nuclear bomb within five years. Furthermore, though
Russia cancelled a nuclear contract with Iran earlier this year under
American pressure, Russian scientists still work at most of Iran's nuclear
facilities. By next year, over 10,000 Russians will be employed by the
Iranian nuclear establishment.
The Zionist Organization of America's Israel News Connection (ZINC) reports
(21 and 28 September) that the Israel Bonds campaign is suffering due to
disillusionment with the Israeli government's negotiating policies and its
suppression of opposition demonstrations. Citing the U.S. Jewish weekly The
Forward (15 September), ZINC says that many Orthodox synagogues in the U.S.
are cancelling or otherwise modifying their annual High Holiday bond
appeals. Some are urging donors to give instead to the Yesha / One Israel
Fund, which supports the humanitarian needs of the 150,000 Israelis living
in settlements in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Others are holding appeals for
the settlements alongside the bond drive. According to the Forward, one
reason the Israeli government rushed to sign the recent accord this week was
to mitigate damage to bond sales.
ZINC adds that initialling the accord just before the Jewish New Year
festival minimized opposition demonstrations in the US and Israel. (To
subscribe to ZINC's daily e-mail updates, write to Michael C. Hoffman at
<michaelh@clark.net>.)
Jason and Leiah Elbaum
IRIS
IRIS Web Page: http://www.netaxs.com/~iris/
Opinions expressed above are not necessarily those of IRIS or its staff.
Back to IRIS Home Page