Berlin Conference Highlights Problem Of Israeli Nukes In Mideast

Berlin, Sept 30, IRNA -- A conference at the German parliament in Berlin dwelt on the problem of Israeli nuclear weapons for Middle Eastern security and stability, according to IRNA. Addressing the expert-level meeting, a nuclear expert of the German section of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) warned of Israeli nukes as endangering security in the volatile Middle East region. Xante Hall stressed there was a 'security deficit in the Middle East, primarily because of Israeli atomic weapons.' She expressed strong support for the creation of a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East. Hall's remarks were partially echoed by a leading German nuclear expert at the Frankfurt Peace Institute, Giorgio Franceschini who emphasized that Israel's nuclear arms were in fact a problem for the Arab people. The conference at the German parliament comes on the heels of recent warnings by the country's influential peace movement, saying Israeli atomic weapons have been a destabilizing factor in the Middle East for the past four decades. Israel's exclusive right to have nuclear arms has made the Mideast more unstable and insecure, the spokesman of the German peace movement Peter Strutynski was quoted saying. The Mideast crisis has been precipitated by Israel's stockpile of nuclear weapons, Strutynski added. In one of the world's worst-kept secrets, the Zionist regime has reportedly turned into a nuclear giant. It is estimated to have hundreds of atomic weapons, an arsenal that ranks it fifth among nuclear powers and dwarfs the programs of India, Pakistan and North Korea. Muslim and non-aligned countries have repeatedly lambasted western hypocrisy in tolerating Israel's atomic build-up while condemning Iran for its civilian, legal nuclear activities which is under full control of the UN nuclear watchdog./end