CAIRO,
December 10, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Newly declassified British
documents showed London helped Israel obtain its nuclear bomb 40 years
ago, the Guardian reported Saturday, December 10.
"The
main Israeli achievement in the importing line relates to 20 tonnes of
heavy water ... which the UK Atomic Energy Authority had contracted to
buy from Norway and later found to be surplus to their requirements
... negotiations were undertaken whereby the water ultimately passed
into Israeli hands," read a Joint Intelligence Bureau report to
spy chiefs dated March 27, 1961.
Documents,
revealed under the Freedom of Information Act, not only confirm that
Britain was a knowing party to the deal, but also contain intelligence
assessments confirming that the sale of heavy water was crucial to
Israel's nuclear weapons program, according to the British daily.
Israel's
nuclear arsenal has reportedly grown from an estimated 13 nuclear
bombs in 1967 to 400 nuclear and thermonuclear weapons.
The
CIA and the Pentagon have estimated that Israel now has between 200
and 400 enhanced radiation and hydrogen weapons.
