ISRAEL'S SMOKE SCREEN
Raheel Mohammed talks to BBC reporter Olenka Frenkiel about her controversial film investigating Israel's undeclared nuclear weapons
Israel's Secret Weapon/ The Dimona Syndrome premiered at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in London. As part of the BBC's Correspondent series it was due to be shown on Sunday March 16th at 7.15pm. According to the BBC the programme was rescheduled for Monday March 17th at 11.20pm because of an unscheduled news bulletin about the Azores summit. The BBC received 4,000 complaints, from among others the Free Vanunu campaign, accusing the corporation of bowing to political pressure. The BBC denies these allegations.
The gas tasted like sugar and smelt like mint.
Within hours, 180 Palestinians, young and old in the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza, were convulsing with severe stomach cramps, vomiting and loss of consciousness as medical staff, baffled by the symptoms, battled to treat the victims of an Israeli army gas attack in February 2001. One thing was certain. This was not tear gas.
Dr Mohammed Salam, Director of the Palestinian Health Authority, said: "'We asked what kind of gas but no one verified what type of gas it was to give an antidote. We are in an occupied area and it is impossible to send samples to an international lab to test it.'"
These are the veils of secrecy that the documentary Israel's Secret Weapon / The Dimona Syndrome tries to lift.
"The Israeli authorities say that they only use tear gas but others including the Deutsche Presse-Agentur news service;, the Palestine Centre for Human Rights;, James Longley's film Gaza Strip, which had acclaimed reviews from The New York Times and The Washington Post,; and James Brooks' series The Israeli Poison Gas Attacks: A Preliminary Investigation, suggest it was something quite different '" says Olenka Frenkiel, the reporter on the film for the BBC's Correspondent programme.
Doctors at the scene described symptoms closer to nerve gas. One Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist described how all the patients appeared to be suffering from epileptic fits.
The Israeli authorities have been reported as saying that these people were suffering from anxiety because of "something new".
Israel's Secret Weapon tells the story of Mordechai Vanunu, a former nuclear technician who blew the whistle on Israel's secret nuclear bomb factory at Dimona. He was kidnapped by Mossad agents, charged with treason and espionage in a secret trial and sentenced to 18 years in 1986, 11 of which were in solitary confinement.
"In Israel, discussing the country's nuclear biological and chemical weapons has been a taboo for 40 years" explains Olenka. "But today, for many Israelis the policy of 'nuclear ambiguity' where the authorities neither confirm nor deny that they have weapons of mass destruction is an anachronism. What my film tried to do was to look at this taboo,".' explains Olenka.
As the film shows, Israel has no outside inspections and has not ratified any biological and chemical weapon treaties. Its allies turn a blind eye. It is permitted to continue with its nuclear programme as long as it is not made public; a secret deal agreed by Nixon and supported by every US President since.
The film follows an elderly couple, the Eoloffs, to Israel. Outraged at Vanunu's treatment and imprisonment, they adopted him hoping, wrongly it turned out, he'd be extradited to the US. Now they visit him regularly.
Olenka also meets other workers who worked at Dimona and have subsequently been diagnosed as having cancer. They were all too frightened of Israel's secret agents to talk on film.
Olenka, frustrated with the silence she faces, says: "'If this was the Soviet Union, Iraq or North Korea, I'd understand why people were too scared to talk, but this is Israel, it's supposed to be a democracy.'"
Former Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who ordered Vanunu to be captured and the father of Israel's secret nuclear programme, looks disgusted when Olenka questions him about Vanunu's kidnapping, Israel's nuclear weapons and the lengths they have gone to hide it from the rest of the world. His face twitches dangerously but he retains his composure.
"'Asking about Israel's nuclear secrets was like uttering an obscenity'" explains Olenka. "'I had to go to great lengths to speak gently, in a way that didn't appear too threatening because there was a constant danger that he would just walk out of the interview.'"
Peres talks about needing deception if you feel you are under attack, but what he also adds, which was cut from the film, is: "'It is justified to kill people if you think they are going to attack you.'"
Olenka believes that this very sentiment has gripped the US since 9/11. A more objective, reasoned diplomacy has been replaced by an indiscriminate revenge agenda. "It's like everyone's wearing 'This time it's personal' tattooed to their foreheads".
Few people in Israel have any sympathy for Vanunu, who is seen there not just as a traitor. His apostasy, his abandonment of Judaism and conversion to Christianity is a betrayal which strikes deep into the Israeli psyche. Even dissidents in Israel, even those who want Dimona closed, will distance themselves from Vanunu. By betraying the nuclear secrets, a symbol for many Israelis of the last defence against another holocaust, he is seen to have gone too far.
But outside Israel too, Vanunu's treatment has been ignored. Neither the British nor US Governments have said a word.
This secrecy is symptomatic of a wider malaise that has gripped Israel and its allies. Olenka also believes that the international community's decision to ignore Vanunu highlights the blind spot it has towards the Palestinian-Israeli issue.
"On the streets, at every anti-war demonstration around the world Palestine is still THE issue but at official levels, apart from the occasional mumble from Washington and London about a '"road map for a settlement in the Middle East"' the subject is avoided.
"How can you hope to carry public opinion with you and claim any moral authority to rid Iraq of its evil tyrant when you ignore what is happening in Gaza and continue to bankroll Israel?"
The question that is inevitably asked is why Israel is treated in such a special way.
"'It is expedient for the US to treat Israel as a special case,'" explains Olenka. "'For one - in Washington, they are the '"good guys"' which is Washington-speak for '"they're on our side".' The problem with that is - not so long ago, Saddam was a '"good guy'" too. The problem is they keep changing.
"But most importantly, Israel provides the US with a military foothold and an inspection-free zone in the Middle East for which they can be unaccountable. The US has destroyed its chemical and biological weapons as part of its post Cold War treaty obligations with Russia. But Israel which receives more than $3bn a year from the US and is currently asking for more, reserves the right to have as many as it wants and is answerable to no-one."
This special relationship is highlighted further in the making of the film when Olenka tries to secure an interview with somebody in the Bush administration about Israel's weapons of mass destruction and the balance of power in the Middle East. An interview is arranged with Douglas Feith, an Under-Secretary for Defence. Feith is no dove. The Pentragon's man with special responsibility for US-Israeli military co-operation, he has business links with Israeli settlers in the West Bank and is known to be one of Bush's '"neo-conservatives"', one of the '"young Turks"' from the Richard Perle school of diplomacy, who disputes the legitimacy of any Palestinian land claims in Israeli- held territory.
As soon as his press office learns that the interview is about Israel, it is cancelled. The Correspondent team receive an email saying that Mr Feith is unwilling to answer any of their questions and that they should, "'resubmit their questions as soon as possible. Questions directed towards the current Iraqi situation'".
As Olenka points out: "'Questions about Israel, it appears, are strictly off-limits.'"
On February 19th, Vanunu was once again refused parole. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2003.