Before Vanunu went to the press, nobody even knew Israel *had* nuclear weapons. If your enemies don't *know* you have nuclear weapons, they can't work as a detterent.
No, they didn't know beforehand, but they know now. Besides, in a war, Israel could easily declare or threaten that they DO have nuclear weapons, and the Arabs would then have to think hard whether Tel Aviv is a fair trade for Damascus.
Since then, there have been wars against Israel and a couple of Intifadah's -- which is a strong indication that Israel's nuclear weapons are not much of a deterrent...
Different kind of war. Nuclear Weapons deter countries with standing armies. They will NOT deter a guerilla war. If you start dropping nuclear weapons on the Palestinian Occupied Territories, the results will be nearly as bad for Israel as for the Palestinians.
So, if the reason isn't deterrence, what is it? If and when the Arabs start a war against Israel, will the Israelis be crazy and suicidal enough to throw all their WMD's (nuclear, biological and chemical) at their enemies when they realise they are going to lose the war?
Or perhaps there hasn't been a 5th Arab-Israeli War BECAUSE of the presence of nuclear weapons.
Damon.
------------------------------------------------------------ Damon Agretto [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum." http://www.geocities.com/garrand.geo/index.html Now Building: On Hiatus :) ------------------------------------------------------------
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