ABSTRACT
A secret nuclear strategy was formulated soon after the creation of Israel, when the country’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, was able to secure crucial assistance from France. Israel’s nuclear programme alarmed Egypt, Tel Aviv’s most powerful Arab neighbour, but Nasser and his successors were never absolutely certain if nuclear weapons had actually been produced at Dimona. The nuclear success story of Pakistan is the result of a carefully planned and clandestine effort to buy vital components of uranium centrifuges from the West. Non-proliferation measures may, therefore, delay but cannot prevent the research and development of nuclear weapons in the Middle East. The existence of age-old enmities within the Middle East, quite apart from the Arab-Israeli dispute, creates a powerful incentive to develop nuclear weapons. The nuclear race will continue until these disputes are settled and lasting political stability is achieved in the Middle East.
