Makhoul called on environmental organizations to “Break the taboo surrounding Israel’s Nuclear policy, and to force a thorough public debate on the environmental consequences of this policy”. According to Makhoul, “the public should not rely on the calming words of the Nuclear establishment”. He called to open the nuclear facilities for civil inspection, conducted by experts who are not dependent on the Nuclear or Security industries for their livelihood.
In March 17th 2004, the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) discussed a bill, put forward by Makhoul, aimed at closing the nuclear reactor in Dimona. In the discussion, Makhoul presented the conclusions of a research, conducted at the request of the then US President, Bill Clinton, that was published in January 2000. The results of this research show that in nuclear reactors that use similar materials to the ones in use in Dimona (Uranium, Beryllium, Plutonium 237, Iodine 131, Tritium), there were twenty-two different kinds of cancer discovered in among the employees.
“The Dimona reactor is a clear danger, with these newly published Uranium experiments, but also without them”, says former MK Makohul. “Nuclear Ambiguity exists today only towards Israel’s citizens”, he said, and added that “they and only they cannot fulfill the function of democratic control over our government, because it hides from us the truth in a matter in which all of our lives are depended on”.
Issam Makhoul is currently the Chairperson of the Emile Touma Institute for Palestinian and Israeli Studies, that organized “For a Middle East Free of Nuclear Weapons and Weapons of Mass Destruction” conference, last week in Haifa. This conference, organized to commemorate the anniversary of the Nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, dealt, among other issues, with Israel’s policy of Nuclear Ambiguity, and its consequences.
For further details:
Issam Makhoul – +972-50-5510433
The story in "Haaretz": http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1107980.html
