Israeli Missile Defense Systems: The US-Israeli Connection
By Bahig Nassar 
There are two options to deal with the problems of nuclear weapons and their missiles proliferated and deployed in the Middle East. Peace movements and forces consider steps leading to disarmament, particularly the elimination of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their delivery vehicles - the way to achieve security for all peoples of the region. The second option is to concentrate on building up military forces as the road to security. Missiles and nukes acquired in the region are used as a pretext to build up national military forces in order to implement the policies of the relevant states. Consequently an open-ended wave of arms races will be triggered blocking the road to peace.
The book Israeli Missile Defense Systems: The US-Israeli Connection focuses on the first option.
The first and second chapters discuss the problem as a historical phenomenon. The consequences of the US-Soviet nuclear and missile race after Word War II lead to the dangerous threat of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD). To prevent the actual use of nuclear weapons and their missiles, this process was crowned by the conclusion of the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems. It prohibited the deployment of any nation-wide ABM system in any of the two countries. Thus, MAD remained intact and "strategic stability" was maintained.
New Areas of Nuclear Confrontations
However, this strategic stability could not continue unabated due to the worldwide contradiction between the US and the Soviet Union. Either the contradiction would be gradually resolved conducive to zero nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles or it would escalate leading to the collapse of the strategic stability.
In the late 1970s and the early 1980s, intensive competition between both super-powers erupted, mainly in three areas: the nuclear confrontation between them as a result of the deployment of their medium range missiles in Europe, East and West; their sharp competition in the Third World Countries, each seeking to entrench its influence; and the manipulation of regional crises particularly in the Middle East.
In the course of these developments the US established its Rapid Deployment Force to project power on any hostile state, created "freedom fighter" groups and Special Units to deal with low intensity conflicts in developing countries of Asia and Africa, and initiated the famous "Star Wars" project to deploy missile defense systems and weapons in space. By the year 1983, when President Reagan announced this project, strategic stability with the Soviet Union neared collapse.
Various ballistic missile "defense" systems are examined, mainly the Reagan, Clinton, and Bush projects with special emphasis on those tested or deployed after the end of the Cold War. Four main conclusion are drawn:
Theater Missile Defense (TMD) systems are now deployed in many regions.
National or Global Missile Defense system will be produced with the aim of deploying weapons in space.
US efforts have been made to warm its relations with Russia.
While not excluding possible rivalry between the US and Russia, the main targets are now countries hostile to US policies in any region, including China.
Thus the areas of nuclear and missile confrontation have been mainly shifted from Europe and the US in the North to regions in the South and East.
The US-Israeli Connection
Before this background, the third chapter examines nuclear and missile deployment in the Middle East. The central point of this survey is the US-Israeli connection. President Reagan declared that Israel is a "strategic asset", and a memorandum of strategic understanding was signed by US and Israeli Defense Ministers at the time of his presidency allowing the latter to join the "Star Wars" project.
Consequently technical assistance was provided to develop Israeli missiles, satellites, and space technology. In addition, Israel acquired US TMD systems (Patriot-3), produced the Arrow system jointly with the US, and even conducted tests with the US in order to develop laser systems - the main future space weapon. A decision to this effect was taken by President Clinton. To counter these threats, other countries of the region seek all means to acquire more missiles to compensate for the effect of US-Israeli TMDs.
Also, the integration of all US weaponry systems, land, air and sea, together with the interrelationship among US military strategies, is discussed in the book. Among the latter are the counter proliferation strategy to use force combined with effective nuclear deterrence against countries which may try to acquire WMDs and missiles, the projection of power by the nuclear capable Rapid Deployment Forces against any country hostile to US policies, and the use of special units in secret operations. Most alarming is the integration of all these systems and strategies with ballistic missile defense systems, produced by the US and Israel, a step which will create a variety of intensive and very effective deterrence leveled by their conventional and non-conventional weapons.
Thus, the countries of the region face two deadly threats: Israeli nuclear weapons threats and US military threats if any of them will try to acquire WMD and missiles to counter Israeli nuclear weapons.
The Alternatives
Alternatives to all these grave threats are examined in the fourth chapter, and the author heavily draws on papers and conclusions of the panels of the INESAP project "Moving Beyond Missile Defense" (MBMD). These conclusions are adapted to reflect the Middle East conditions.
Instead of banning missile tests in order to prevent the deployment of missile defense systems (as called for at a MBMD meeting in Santa Barbara in early 2001), a call for banning development (R&D), test, and deployment of these systems in the Middle East is endorsed because TMDs have already been deployed in the region.
Also, the transformation of the Middle East into a zone free of WMD - nuclear, chemical and biological - including delivery vehicles is highlighted as the best option to put an end to the threats of all these weapons, to ban all missile defense systems and to prevent US counter proliferation strategies and its policies against the so-called rogue states.
Finally, the political conditions to implement the alternatives are briefly examined. Among them are the necessity of socio-economic and human development as the assured base to secure national security; the elimination of the root causes of conflicts to be pursued instead of conflict management, the transformation of civil society into human society, and other appropriate conditions which ensure the implementation of the alternatives.
