ACDN - Action of Citizens for Nuclear Disarmament
logo ACDN banniere ACDNVisiter ACDN
Accueil-Home ACDN Contact ACDN Consulter le plan du site - SiteMap Other Version
vous etes ici Homepage > News > External sources > Arab states say Israel used ammo in Gaza that contained depleted uranium
ACDN, What is it ?

News
Communiqués
External sources
Letters from ACDN
News Articles

Actions
2nd RID-NBC
3rd RID-NBC
Campaign "The Very Last Atom!"
Gathering for a Livable World

Petitions

Correspondance
International

Medias

Background papers

EUROPE

French Elections
News of the Presidential Campaign

Arab states say Israel used ammo in Gaza that contained depleted uranium
By The Associated Press


Published 20 January 2009

Arab nations accused Israel on Monday of blasting Gaza with ammunition containing depleted uranium, and urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to investigate reports that traces of it had been found in victims of the shelling.


In a letter on behalf of Arab ambassadors accredited in Austria, Saudi ambassador Prince Mansour Al-Saud expressed "our deep concern regarding the information ... that traces of depleted uranium have been found in Palestinian victims."

A final draft of the letter was made available to The Associated Press on Monday. It urgently called on IAEA Director General Mohammed ElBaradei to carry out a "radiological and physical assessment in order to verify the presence of depleted uranium in the weaponry used by Israel ... in the Gaza Strip."

Officials at the Israeli mission to the UN nuclear watchdog said they were in no position to comment without having seen the letter.

IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming confirmed receipt of the letter and said a response might be issued later in the day.

The letter - which spoke of medical and media sources as the origin of its allegations - appeared to be alluding to health concerns related to depleted uranium but the effects of exposure to the substance are unclear.

An IAEA article on the issue says that while the substance is "assumed to be potentially carcinogenic ... the lack of evidence for a definite cancer risk in studies over many decades is significant and should put the results of assessments in perspective."

Still, says the article, "there is a risk of developing cancer from exposure to radiation emitted by... depleted uranium. This risk is assumed to be proportional to the dose received."

It is not the first time Israel has been accused of using ordnance containing depleted uranium, which makes shells and bombs harder and increases their penetrating power. The Israeli army declined comment. But the U.S. and NATO have used uranium-depleted rounds in Bosnia and Iraq.

According to the World Health Organization, the weapons are lightly radioactive, though under most circumstances, use of DU will make a negligible contribution to the overall natural background levels of uranium in the environment.

But researchers have suspected depleted uranium may be behind a range of chronic symptoms suffered by veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf War. Some of the symptoms include memory and thinking problems, debilitating fatigue, severe muscle and joint pain, depression, anxiety, insomnia, headaches and rashes.

Syria, which is being investigated by the Vienna-based agency for alleged secret nuclear activities, says traces of uranium found by IAEA experts at a site bombed by Israel jets Sept. 6, 2007 likely came from bombs or missiles used by the Israelis.

The Israelis have denied using such weaponry in that raid, and on Monday two diplomats accredited to the IAEA and familiar with its Syria investigations told the AP that the agency has virtually ruled out Israeli munitions as the source of the uranium. They asked for anonymity for discussing confidential information.

The IAEA investigation is based in part on intelligence from the U.S., Israel and a third, unidentified country, alleging that the bombed site was a nearly completed nuclear reactor built with North Korean help and meant to produce plutonium - which can be used as the payload of nuclear weapons.

The uranium traces were revealed by an analysis of environmental samples collected by IAEA experts during a visit to the site, in a remote part of the Syrian desert. Since that initial trip in June 2008, Syria has refused or deflected requests for follow up inspections both to the site and others allegedly linked to it.

Source: Haaretz


Arabs: Israel ammo in Gaza had depleted uranium

Jan. 19, 2009, Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST

Arab nations are accusing Israel of attacking Gaza with ammunition containing depleted uranium, and they are calling for a UN investigation of reports that traces of the substance has been found in victims of shelling carried out Operation Cast Lead.

The nations appear to be alluding to concerns of a health hazard through radiation emitted by depleted uranium, which makes munitions harder and more effective. The IAEA says the material is potentially carcinogenic, but says long-term studies have not definitely established that.

The allegations were made in a letter Monday written on behalf of Arab ambassadors accredited in Austria and made available to The Associated Press. It expresses concern about alleged information that traces of depleted uranium have been found in Palestinian victims.



L'argent est le nerf de la paix ! ACDN vous remercie de lui faire un DON

Other versions
print Printable version
pdfPDF Version


Share through social networks

Also in this section

Gaps
Mikhail Gorbachev: When The Pandemic Is Over, The World Must Come Together
"The ocean is broken"
Czechs object to US military show of strength: “Tanks? No, thanks!”
Nuclear Posture Review: Rhetoric vs. Reality
Republican Presidential Candidates Back Nuclear Strike Against Iran
On Indo-US Nuke Deal
Nuclear Clouds Gather Over Asia
Toward a different nuclear policy
Toward a Nuclear-Free World

navigation motscles

Depleted Uranium
Israel did use Depleted Uranium weapons in the Gaza Strip
Genocide by Depleted Uranium in Gaza: the dossier
The Iraq lesson: the attack on “Forward Base Falcon”
UK radiation jump blamed on Iraq shells. Europe contaminated?
Towards a UN Investigation into Depleted Uranium in Gaza
We are killing our own!
Belgium becoming the first country in the world to ban uranium weapons
Depleted Uranium in Gaza: the UN must investigate.
Depleted Uranium Situation Worsens Requiring Immediate Action By President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, and Prime Minister Olmert
In Gaza, Genocide by Depleted Uranium has begun
Gaza
Gaza War Crimes: Israeli Government Contradicts its Own "Self-Defense" Argument
The death-cult
Crime against Humanity in Gaza
War crimes in Gaza - the data on depleted uranium
Goldstone Report: Human Rights in Palestine
Israelis Attack Humanitarian Aid to Gaza
Not in Their Name, Not in Ours
Ugly reverberations from the orgy of killing and destruction in the Gaza Strip
Arab Commission for Human Rights Probe Mission Does its Job in Gaza
Metals detected in Palestinian children’s hair suggest environmental contamination
ISRAEL
Israelis consider attack on Iran
Dennis Ross tells ’Post’ why Obama
"Israel will not lower its guard." Nor will Bush and Sarkozy.
WHO IS LYING? AND FEEDING DISINFORMATION? WHO IS OPPRESSING WHOM?
Letter to the Ambassador of Israel in Paris
Appeal for Immediate Cessation of Hostilities in Lebanon and Gaza
Mordechai Vanunu again in jail. Let’s not forget him!
For a Middle East without Weapons of Mass Destruction
Viable Proposal for Disarming the Middle East of Weapons of Mass Destruction
Israel’s Nuclear Weapons - the definitive proof

visites :  1225158

Home | Contact | Site Map | Admin |

Site powered by SPIP
design et fonction Easter-Eggs