Pentagon Discloses Israel Nuclear Missile

A Pentagon report, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and made public on the eve of a crucial visit to the White House by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, disclosed Tuesday that Israel has nuclear and chemical warheads for its Jericho I missile.

Disclosure of the report is certain to increase pressure on Shamir when he meets President Bush today to talk about a U.S. plan to revive the stalled Middle East peace process.

The Pentagon document lists “nuclear, chemical or HE (high explosive)” as the warheads for the tactical ballistic missile, which has been in the Israeli arsenal for more than 20 years. The Jericho I reportedly has a range of about 400 miles. A newer version has a range of about 900 miles.

Although there has been speculation for years that Israel has both nuclear and chemical armaments, the Israeli government has steadfastly refused to discuss the matter. The U.S. government, Israel’s closest ally, also had declined to confirm the reports.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, a private organization with a generally liberal outlook, obtained the Defense Intelligence Agency report titled “Surface-to-Surface Missile Systems Handbook--Free World” under the Freedom of Information Act. Five heavily censored pages were made available to The Times.

Ruth Yaron, a spokeswoman for the Israeli Embassy, said of the report: “I can only reiterate our traditional position which says that the state of Israel will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East.”

Shamir, who arrived in Washington on his 74th birthday Tuesday, hopes to persuade Bush and Secretary of State James A. Baker III to give his government certain assurances regarding proposed U.S.-mediated talks with the Palestinians.

In return for participating in the talks, Israel wants an understanding that it will not be expected to discuss anything but its plan for West Bank and Gaza Strip elections and will not be asked to negotiate with Palestinians who do not live in Israeli-occupied territory.

Israel’s policy-making inner cabinet accepted “in principle” Baker’s five-point plan for Israeli-Palestinian dialogue earlier this month, but it conditioned its endorsement on U.S. acceptance of Israeli conditions expected to make the plan unacceptable to the Arab world. Baker said last week he had told Israel the conditions were unacceptable before the Cabinet voted, but he has refrained from rejecting the proposals out of hand.

The secretary of state said last week he was awaiting an official reaction from Egypt, which is acting as surrogate for the Palestine Liberation Organization, to his five-point peace initiative.

Washington has sent unmistakable signals of its annoyance with Shamir’s position. Although the prime minister announced long ago that he planned to make a “private” visit to the United States, the White House put off until last week an announcement that Bush would agree to a meeting.

As if to underline the message, Bush met Tuesday with Tunisian President Zine Abidine ben Ali, who was also in Washington on an unofficial trip. The White House said later that the Tunisian leader was invited to make a state visit to the United States in May.

Shamir also was greeted by harsh criticism from some U.S. Jews. Although mainline Jewish groups repeated their support for Israel and Shamir, the Jewish Peace Lobby released an open letter signed by more than 200 American rabbis urging Shamir to agree to a land-for-peace deal that would establish a Palestinian homeland in return for Arab approval of a peace treaty with Israel.