Israel is the first nuclear power of the Middle East. It has the longest-established programme of nuclear research in the region, the largest unsafeguarded reactor, the only confirmed and functioning plutonium-reprocessing plant and probably the biggest and best-qualified pool of scientists. British and American experts who debriefed Vanunu are convinced that Israel is an established nuclear weapons power and probably ranks sixth in the world after the United States, the Soviet Union, China, France and Britain. The remarkable history of Israel’s nuclear programme is almost as old as the state itself. Israel’s earliest foreign contacts in nuclear research were with the United States and France. The French-Israeli agreement on nuclear co-operation has been the subject of speculation ever since it was signed in 1957. Although Israeli nuclear research has been heavily influenced by military considerations, political leaders have from time to time expressed interest in the civil uses of nuclear power.