Israel's national scientific-technical R&D capabilities in the CW field are believed to be advanced. Though Israel's chemical industry is of a modest size, it is assumed that Israel could easily divert national dual-use capacities to quick production.
In the absence of any public data it is difficult to assess the precise nature of Israel's capabilities in the CW field. The most extensive investigation into the Israel Institute of Biological Research (IIBR)—where CW research is undertaken—was conducted by a Dutch reporter named Karel Knip, who conducted the most extensive investigation into IIBR's history and research activities. By searching Internet-based databases of scientific and medical literature, Knip turned up hundreds of scientific publications written by some 140 scientists affiliated with IIBR over nearly 50 years. Aided by eminent world authorities on chemical and biological weapons, Knip reconstructed a rough history of the kind of CW research that was conducted at IIBR in Ness Ziona.[18]
On the chemical side, according to Knip's analysis, the IIBR was involved in an extensive effort to "identify usable methods of synthesis for nerve agents (such as tabun, sarin, and VX) and other organophosphorus and fluorine components."[19] Knip's findings are consistent with other indications that Israel initiated a CW program in the mid-1950s. Those indications suggest that in the early to mid-1960s, Israel upgraded its offensive chemical capability to counter the Egyptian CW arsenal.[20] An IIBR publication in 1963 disclosed "all but the last step" in the synthesis of the VX nerve gas. This observation suggests that IIBR scientists were engaged in developing VX-related nerve agents, as the chemical structure of VX was not then known outside the United States.[21]
Key Sources and Notes:
[18] Karel Knip's detailed expose was published as a series of articles in February 1999 in the Dutch daily newspaper, NRC Handelsband. The articles in Dutch can be found on the NRC Web site at the following address: <www.nrc.nl/w2/Lab/Ziona/>. Karel Knip generously provided the author a nine-page English translation of his article. All of the citations that appear here are quoted from the English document that Knip provided.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Egypt was the first Arab country to develop, produce and deploy chemical weapons. During the period of Egypt's military involvement in the Yemen civil war (1063-67) Egypt used CW several times against civilian populations. Egypt had also initiated a secret program to develop and produce ballistic missiles, with aid of German scientists who had worked on the V-2 rocket during World War II. The story of the Egyptian missiles program has not yet been told in full. For a partial account, see M. Navias, "Ballistic Missiles Proliferation in the Middle East," Survival, (May/June 1989); Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman, Every Spy a Prince (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1990).
[21] Julian Perry Robinson, "Behind the VX Disclosure," New Scientist, 9 January 1975, p. 50. The 1963 scientific paper which Robinson refers is by Z. Pelchowicz and H. Leader, "Organophosphours Compounds, Part V," Journal of Chemical Society (1962), pp. 3320-23. Professor Zvi Pelach (Pelchowicz) was himself a student of Bergmann, and the head of the chemistry division at IIBR for many years.
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Updated February 2006 |
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