Israeli
soldiers (AFP Photo/Menahem Kahana – think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)
MaliaJYy - Israel
dalam simpanan senjata kimia dekad yang lalu - dokumen CIA. Israel dipercayai
telah diam-diam membina simpanan sendiri senjata kimia dan biologi dekad yang
lalu, laporan Dasar Luar, memetik satu dokumen CIA baru-baru ini ditemui.
Intipan
satelit Amerika ditemui pada tahun 1982 “yang kemungkinan CW [senjata kimia]
saraf agen kemudahan pengeluaran dan kemudahan penyimpanan . . . di Dimona
Kawasan Penyimpanan sensitif di Gurun Negev, “kata rahsia 1983 CIA anggaran
perisikan yang diperolehi oleh Dasar Luar (FP). “Lain-lain pengeluaran CW
dipercayai wujud dalam industri kimia Israel maju,” dokumen itu menambah.
Menurut
FP, agensi perisikan Amerika Syarikat hampir pasti bahawa Israel mempunyai
simpanan stok senjata nuklear yang negara Timur Tengah yang dibangunkan pada
1960-an dan 1970-an sebagai sebahagian daripada pertahanan terhadap serangan
mungkin dari jiran-jiran Arab.
Israel
stockpiled chemical weapons decades ago – CIA document. Israel is believed to
have secretly built up its own stockpile of chemical and biological weapons
decades ago, reports Foreign Policy, citing a recently unearthed CIA document.
American
surveillance satellites uncovered in 1982 “a probable CW [chemical weapon]
nerve agent production facility and a storage facility . . . at the Dimona
Sensitive Storage Area in the Negev Desert,” states the secret 1983 CIA
intelligence estimate obtained by Foreign Policy (FP). “Other CW production is
believed to exist within a well-developed Israeli chemical industry,” the
document adds.
According
to FP, US intelligence agencies are almost certain that Israel possesses a
stockpile of nuclear weapons that the Middle Eastern country developed in the
1960s and 1970s as part of its defense against a possible attack from Arab
neighbors.
Laporan FP adalah
berdasarkan halaman dari rahsia, 15 September 1983, CIA Khas Anggaran Perisikan
Negara bertajuk “Implikasi Penggunaan Kimia Soviet dan Toksin Senjata bagi Kepentingan
Keselamatan Amerika Syarikat.” Sebahagian daripada dokumen itu telah
dikeluarkan pada tahun 2009 di Arkib Negara, tetapi sekeping di atas Israel telah
dikeluarkan dari versi itu. (The FP report is based on a page from a secret,
Sept. 15, 1983, CIA Special National Intelligence Estimate entitled
“Implications of Soviet Use of Chemical and Toxin Weapons for US Security
Interests.” Part of the document was released in 2009 in the National Archives,
but the piece on Israel was extracted from that version).
Bagi
tahun, penganalisis senjata kawalan telah membuat spekulasi bahawa Israel
membina pelbagai kimia dan biologi senjata untuk melengkapkan senjata dikatakan
nuklearnya.
Perhatian
pakar-pakar, khususnya, telah memberi tumpuan kepada Israel Institut
Penyelidikan Biologi (IIBR) di Ness Ziona, yang terletak 20 kilometer ke
selatan Tel Aviv. Pusat penyelidikan yang sangat sulit dikendalikan dan
dibiayai oleh Kementerian Pertahanan Israel yang dikatakan sebagai kemudahan
ketenteraan pembuatan kimia dan senjata biologi. IIBR yang didakwa terlibat
dalam beberapa “kemalangan.” Dalam salah seorang daripada mereka, menurut
Laporan Luar British pada tahun 1998, pihak berkuasa telah hampir pesanan
pemindahan rumah di kawasan itu sebelum saintis mendapati tiada ancaman kepada
penduduk.
Walau
bagaimanapun, setakat ini tidak banyak bukti telah diterbitkan mengenai Israel
memiliki senjata nuklear atau kimia. Yang baru ditemui CIA memo boleh menjadi
petunjuk yang kuat lagi, FP menulis.
“Walaupun
kita tidak boleh mengesahkan sama ada Israel mempunyai bahan kimia maut,”
dokumen CIA itu dipetik sebagai berkata, “beberapa petunjuk membawa kita untuk
percaya bahawa mereka ada untuk mereka sekurang-kurangnya agen saraf berterusan
dan bukan berterusan, ejen mustard, dan beberapa agen kawalan rusuhan, berarak
dengan sistem penyampaian yang sesuai.”
“ejen
tiada-persistent” yang disebut dalam dokumen rahsia adalah sarin mungkin -
sebuah gas saraf yang didakwa telah digunakan dalam 21 Ogos serangan senjata
kimia di pinggir bandar Damsyik, FP menulis. Amerika Syarikat menyalahkan
kerajaan Syria untuk menyerang dan mengancam untuk melancarkan serangan tentera
sebagai tindak balas.
1983
memo CIA mendedahkan bahawa perisikan Amerika Syarikat menyedari aktiviti
senjata ujian kimia yang didakwa Israel sejak awal 1970-an - apabila mereka
belajar daripada sumber-sumber risikan tentang kewujudan senjata kimia menguji
alasan. Ia adalah hampir pasti bahawa kawasan-kawasan ujian yang terletak di
Negev Desert, di selatan Israel, FP menulis.
Israel
meningkatkan penyelidikan dan kerja pembangunan ke atas senjata kimia berikutan
berakhirnya tahun 1973 Perang Arab-Israel, menurut dokumen CIA. Peperangan ini
bermula apabila Mesir dan Syria melancarkan serangan mengejut bersama terhadap
Israel sebagai negara itu menyambut Yom Kippur - hari yang paling suci dalam
kalendar Yahudi.
“Israel,
mencari dirinya dikelilingi oleh barisan hadapan negara Arab dengan keupayaan
CW tunas, semakin sedar kelemahan kepada serangan kimia,” dokumen itu berkata. “Sensitiviti
yang telah tergalvani oleh menangkap kuantiti besar Soviet peralatan
CW-berkaitan dalam kedua-dua tahun 1967 Arab-Israel dan 1973 Yom Kippur
peperangan. Hasilnya, Israel telah menjalankan program persediaan peperangan
kimia di kawasan-kawasan kedua-dua serangan dan perlindungan.”
Laporan
itu juga mendakwa bahawa pada bulan Januari 1976, perisikan Amerika dikesan “ujian
mungkin” senjata kimia Israel kemungkinan besar telah berlaku di Gurun Negev.
FP memetik risikan pegawai bekas Tentera Udara Amerika Syarikat, yang
memberitahu majalah itu bahawa Agensi Keselamatan Negara memintas komunikasi
yang menunjukkan bahawa tentera udara Israel pejuang-pengebom menjalankan
simulasi misi penghantaran senjata kimia peringkat rendah di pelbagai
pengeboman di Negev.
Ia
adalah tidak diketahui sama ada Israel masih menyimpan stok didakwa senjata
kimia. Pada tahun 1992, kerajaan Israel menandatangani Konvensyen Senjata
Kimia, yang mengharamkan senjata itu. Yang penting, bagaimanapun, Israel tidak
mengesahkan perjanjian itu.
Pengarang
artikel FP mendakwa bahawa selepas carian di Google Maps, beliau mendapati apa
yang dia percaya adalah “lokasi saraf Israel kemudahan pengeluaran ejen kimia
dan kawasan penyimpanan yang berkaitan dengannya senjata” di Negev Desert timur
kampung Al ‘Kilab, kira-kira 10
kilometer barat bandar Dimona.
Kedutaan
Israel di Washington tidak bertindak balas kepada permintaan FP untuk mengulas
mengenai artikel itu.
Dokumen
CIA muncul sebagai Amerika Syarikat mulls atas mungkin serangan “terhad”
ketenteraan terhadap rejim Syria bahawa Presiden Barack Obama telah menolak
untuk mengikuti serangan senjata kimia bulan lepas.
Pada
hari Selasa, Obama menggesa Kongres Amerika Syarikat untuk menangguhkan undi
untuk membenarkan tindakan ketenteraan, dan berkata beliau mencari penyelesaian
diplomatik kepada perang Syria yang sedang berjalan. Obama memetik cadangan
Rusia untuk meletakkan senjata kimia Syria di bawah kawalan antarabangsa antara
sebab-sebab bagi kelewatan. Damsyik minggu ini bersetuju untuk menyerahkan
senjata kimia untuk penyelia antarabangsa, dan menandatangani Konvensyen
Senjata Kimia.
For
years, arms control analysts have speculated that Israel built up a range of
chemical and biological weapons to complement its alleged nuclear arsenal.
Experts’
attention, in particular, was focused on the Israel Institute for Biological
Research (IIBR) at Ness Ziona, located 20 kilometers south of Tel Aviv. The
highly-classified research center operated and funded by the Israel Ministry of
Defense is alleged to be a military facility manufacturing chemical and
biological weapons. The IIBR was
allegedly involved in several “accidents.” In one of them, according to the
British Foreign Report in 1998, authorities were close to ordering evacuation
of homes in the area before scientists discovered there was no threat to the
population.
However,
to date not much evidence has been published about Israel possessing chemical
or nuclear weapons. The newly-discovered CIA memo may be the strongest
indication yet, FP writes.
“While
we cannot confirm whether the Israelis possess lethal chemical agents,” the CIA
document is quoted as saying, “several indicators lead us to believe that they
have available to them at least persistent and non-persistent nerve agents, a
mustard agent, and several riot-control agents, marched with suitable delivery
systems.”
The
“non-persistent agent” mentioned in the secret document was likely sarin – a
nerve gas that was allegedly used in the August 21 chemical weapons attack in a
Damascus suburb, FP writes. The US blamed the Syrian government for the attack
and threatened to launch a military strike in response.
The
1983 CIA memo reveals that US intelligence was aware of Israeli alleged
chemical weapons-testing activities since the early 1970s – when they learned
from intelligence sources about the existence of chemical weapons testing
grounds. It is almost certain that these test areas were located in Negev
Desert, in southern Israel, FP writes.
Israel
stepped up its research and development work on chemical weapons following the
end of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, according to the CIA document. The war began
when Egypt and Syria launched a joint surprise attack against Israel as the
nation was celebrating Yom Kippur – the most sacred day in the Jewish calendar.
“Israel,
finding itself surrounded by frontline Arab states with budding CW
capabilities, became increasingly conscious of its vulnerability to chemical
attack,” the document says. “Its sensitivities were galvanized by the capture
of large quantities of Soviet CW-related equipment during both the 1967
Arab-Israeli and the 1973 Yom Kippur wars. As a result, Israel undertook a
program of chemical warfare preparations in both offensive and protective
areas.”
The
report also claims that in January 1976, American intelligence detected
“possible tests” of Israeli chemical weapons very likely to have taken place in
the Negev Desert. FP cites a former US Air Force intelligence officer, who told
the magazine that the National Security Agency intercepted communications
indicating that Israeli air force fighter-bombers carried out a simulated
low-level chemical weapons delivery missions at a bombing range in the Negev.
It
is unknown whether Israel still keeps its alleged stockpile of chemical
weapons. In 1992, the Israeli government signed the Chemical Weapons
Convention, which outlaws such arms. Crucially, however, Israel has not
ratified the agreement.
The
author of the FP article claims that after a search on Google Maps, he found
what he believes to be “the location
of the Israeli nerve agent production facility and its associated chemical
weapons storage area” in the Negev Desert east of the village of
al-Kilab, about 10 miles west of the city of Dimona.
The
Israeli embassy in Washington did not respond to FP’s requests to comment on
the article.
The
CIA document emerged as the US mulls over a possible “limited” military strike
against the Syrian regime that President Barack Obama was pushing for following
the chemical weapons attack last month.
On
Tuesday, Obama the urged the US Congress to postpone a
vote to authorize military action, and said he was seeking a diplomatic
solution to the ongoing Syrian war. Obama cited the Russian proposal to put Syria’s chemical weapons under
international control among the reasons for the delay. Damascus has this week
agreed to hand over its chemical weapons to international supervisors, and to sign the Chemical Weapons Convention.