Tue, Jul 14, 1998
Peres Indicates Israel's Nuclear Capability
By Michal Yudelman and news agencies
AMMAN (July 14) - In the clearest admission ever made by an Israeli leader, former prime minister Shimon Peres yesterday said Israel had "built a nuclear option not in order to have a Hiroshima but an Oslo."
Peres, who is credited with constructing Israel's nuclear facility, said, "We thought the reasons Israel was attacked five times without any provocation was because some of our neighbors thought they could overpower us, and we wanted to create a situation in which this temptation would no longer exist," he said. "I think without it, we would not have the Oslo Agreement."
Peres was speaking in Amman during his visit there yesterday.
He also urged the US to maintain its role as mediator in the peace process and warned that an American withdrawal from the process would be a blow to the region.
Peres, who was visiting Jordan's King Hussein in his Amman palace, told reporters the Americans "are playing a positive role [in the negotiations], and if they retreat from the Middle East the region would not be better off, politically or otherwise."
Referring to Washington's reported intention of walking away from the stalled peace process, Peres said "I think we must put pressure on the US not to leave the Middle East.
Peres also met Crown Prince Hassan and addressed a UN seminar on leadership for Jordanian, Israeli and Palestinian youth.
His visit is part of a series of meetings between the Jordanian rulers and Labor's leadership: MK Yossi Beilin visited Amman on Sunday and Labor leader Ehud Barak is scheduled to meet Hussein today.
"We talk like friends, his concerns are my concerns," Peres said, describing his relations with Hussein.
Hassan, who met Beilin on Sunday, urged Israel to adopt the American peace initiative in the region, noting it was "very fair, taking both sides into consideration."
Peres criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government for not striving toward an agreement with the Palestinians "as energetically as it should" and called on Netanyahu to leave the subject of Jerusalem to the final status talks with the Palestinians.
Addressing a gathering of 150 officials, professors and students in Amman, Peres said he disagreed with Netanyahu's policy of expanding settlements and his government's decision to extend Jerusalem's municipal area.
"Maybe the time has come to change the government in Israel," Peres said.
