Posted on 01/05/2008 8:05:21 PM PST by blam
Israel warns of Iranian missile peril for Europe
By Carolynne Wheeler in Jerusalem
Last Updated: 1:50am GMT 06/01/2008
Iran is developing nuclear missiles capable of reaching beyond its enemies in the Middle East to Europe, President George Bush will be warned when he visits Israel and the Palestinian territories for the first time since entering the White House.
A senior Israeli cabinet minister has told The Sunday Telegraph that his government is convinced Iran is intent on becoming the first Muslim superpower, with weapons capable of striking not only at Israel but also Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia as well as Greece and other parts of south-eastern Europe.
Avi Dichter, the Israeli minister of public security, will warn President George Bush about Iran's nuclear capabilities
The Israeli government is furious about the recent US intelligence assessment which concluded that Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons programme in 2003, and hopes to convince the American leader that work is continuing on a bomb that poses a widespread threat.
In an exclusive interview, Avi Dichter, the Israeli minister of public security, warned that Iran was developing missiles with a range of more than 1,250 miles.
"Iran is a big, strong rich country, and that competition in leading the Muslim world is well-known to all Arab and Muslim countries," he said.
"Once you can reach with your missile double the distance between Iran and Israel, it means there is some farther target. Is it Egypt? Libya? Saudi Arabia? A European country?"
The Israeli intelligence community insists there is no proof that Iran has abandoned its weapons programme indefinitely.
Mr Dichter said it was working to develop missiles with a range that suggested ambitions beyond threatening Israel.
He said Israeli officials would warn Mr Bush that failing to take action would have serious consequences beyond the Middle East, where Iran was funding groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
The Sunday Telegraph revealed last year how Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, were spending billions of pounds on upgrading their armed forces to contain the growing threat from Iran.
Mr Bush, who is due to arrive on Wednesday, hopes to make progress on the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations launched at the Annapolis summit in Maryland in late November.
But talks have made little or no progress since, with Israeli officials accusing the Palestinians of not doing enough to dismantle militant groups.
Instead, Israel has prepared a long list of concerns for Mr Bush, including those over the US intelligence estimate and the need for peace talks with Syria.
Mr Dichter said Israel wanted to bring Syria out of the Iranian "axis" of influence towards a peace treaty, which would mirror Israel's 1979 peace agreement with Egypt.
Peace with Syria would reduce Hezbollah's influence, force Hamas's leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal, who now lives in Damascus, to relocate, and improve Israel's image and standing in the Arab world.
Mr Bush is expected to spend two to three days meeting separately with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian authority president, and Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, before going to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.
Mr Dichter said, however, that there was almost no hope of an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord this year, and that a major operation against Hamas and other Islamist groups in Gaza would eventually be needed.
He added that the Palestinian authority's loss of Gaza to Hamas in June showed it was not ready to take full control of security in an eventual state, and that Gaza must be brought back under control before a Palestinian state is created.
The Palestinian authority has deployed hundreds of extra troops in Nablus and Bethlehem as the start of a crackdown on militant groups, and Mr Dichter's Palestinian counterpart, the interior minister Abdel-Razek al-Yahya, said last week it had dismantled the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a violent Fatah offshoot.
Palestinians also argue, however, that their efforts to crack down on militant groups are hampered by Israel's refusal to permit them to be properly equipped.
I wonder if Europe listening about Israel warning
PROBABLY NOT
Ping.
Europe will believe it when they see it. The big mushroom cloud in the sky.
ping -
Oriental ping
But western Europe is not listening. ...too busy screeching that Iran is only after Israel. ...same with the USA (NIE, etc.).
S. Korea, U.S. verifying reports on test of new N.K. missile in Iran: source
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1834307/posts
(4,000 kilometer range—will reach London and the Vatican—May 16th, 2007)
Iran produces nuclear fuel pellets [for heavy water reactor]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1930458/posts
Iran is working toward building hundreds of nukes—not only a few—and longer range missiles. North Korea is further along with technology than you know, thanks to the vanity of our fellow countrymen inclined to continue parroting silly, baseless propaganda for the enemy (”was a dud,” etc.). Iran has announced its intents to spread nuclear technologies to Syria, Sudan, the Saudis and others. Build fallout shelters for yourselves in the boonies.
But no one is listening, not even President Bush, who is bent on forcing a political solution on Israel in relation to Palestine. And the Israelis are not asking for much, just Palestinian recognition of Israel as a state, and Hamas has refused. Soon Israel will lose its strategic edge to take down Hamas without Iranian missile retaliation. So Hamas is going down, soon. The Israelis will be forced to invade.
Iran will not stop with a 1250 mile missile either. Their next step will be an ICBM, and who will help them in return for oil contracts? The name starts with a C and ends with an a. And it will begin right after the 2008 Olympics are finished.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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