ABSTRACT
Israel is believed to have launched nuclear research and development activities shortly after it declared independence in 1948, under the leadership of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. As early as 1949 HEMED GIMMEL, a special unit of the Israel Defense Forces Science Corps initiated a two-year geological survey of the Negev desert to search for uranium deposits and, at the same time, instigated research for a new method of heavy-water production. Possibilities of obtaining foreign assistance from a Western power were explored by Israel from the early stages of the development of its nuclear programme. Israel's nuclear ambiguity serves a number of strategic, international, regional and domestic imperatives. The decision of the Ben-Gurion-led Government to develop a nuclear option was certainly one of the most daring and far-sighted initiatives of the early years of Israel's establishment. It remains difficult to predict what direction Israel's nuclear doctrine and policy will take over the next decade.
