Don’t Bomb Iran

Arab Gulf states announce they intend to pursue a nuclear energy program, and receive a surprising welcome from Israel. The Gulf Arab states’ declaration is seen as an open (Sunni) threat of a nuclear arms race with Iran if the West does not stop (Shia) Iran’s nuclear program - which explains why Israel supports it. Report from Rupert Murdoch’s The Australian newspaper is below. However, there is no evidence that Iran is building nuclear weapons. So to this writer it seems odd that Israel supports Arab threats to build nukes.
Israel supports Arabs on N-power
Abraham Rabinovich, Jerusalem
12dec06

A DECLARATION by Arab Gulf states that they intend to pursue a nuclear energy program has drawn a surprising welcome from Israeli officials.

Leaders of six Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, ordered a feasibility study of a joint atomic energy program at the conclusion of a two-day summit of the Gulf Co-operation Council in Riyadh.

The oil-rich countries, all predominantly Sunni Arab states, made it clear their declaration was intended to prod the West into stopping Shia Iran from gaining nuclear weapons, lest the Sunni Arab world also embark on a nuclear arms race.

Israel has always feared the Arab world obtaining nuclear arms but is now encouraging an unspoken alliance with Sunni states, which share an interest in curbing the growth of Iranian power.

Israeli officials in Jerusalem said they viewed “positively” the pressure that Gulf states were beginning to direct at Iran, including the atomic announcement. “This move is directed against Iran,” said an official, who requested anonymity.

“You have a situation where these countries see Iran going full-steam ahead without any external interference. They want to send a clear message to major countries that more needs to be done.”

This assessment was echoed by Abdelaziz Sager, chairman of the Gulf Research Centre, in Dubai. “They are trying to say that if the Iranian program continues, you (the West) will oblige us to become nuclear-capable too.”

The Gulf Co-operation Council is made up of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.

Israeli officials say non-Gulf Sunni nations, such as Egypt and Jordan, share the council’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear program.

Israel has felt itself increasingly exposed to the Iranian nuclear threat as Europe and even the US appear to step back from confrontation with Tehran, whose leaders have called for Israel’s destruction.

But Jerusalem has drawn some comfort from the convergence of interests with Sunni states that is emerging on the Iranian issue.

News of the council’s announcement came amid persistent reports in the Israeli media that the army was preparing for a major war with Syria, and perhaps Hezbollah, next year.

At the weekend, two Israeli generals offered assessments that appeared to contradict each other. Brigadier General Yossi Baidatz, the No2 in Israeli military intelligence, told the cabinet that Syrian President Bashar Assad had stepped up production of long-range missiles and ordered that anti-tank missiles be moved closer to the border in anticipation of war.

“He is preparing the Syrian army for the possibility of a military conflict with Israel,” General Baidatz said. “On the other hand, he is not ruling out the possibility of reaching a political settlement with Israel.”

But a member of the general staff, speaking anonymously, said there was no indication from either Hezbollah or Syria that they were preparing for imminent war.

“All the talk of war in the (northern) summer of 2007 is irresponsible,” he said.

The comments came days after a report by a high-level US panel recommended that Israel relaunch peace talks with Syria, which have been frozen since 2000.

The Baker-Hamilton report said Israel should return the Golan Heights, seized from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War, as part of a peace deal with Damascus that would halt Syrian support for radical Palestinian and Lebanese militants and end Syrian meddling in Lebanon.