A report on the international vigil for Vanunu's freedom and nuclear abolition.

More than seventy anti-nuclear activists, ranging in age from children to elders, came together near Israel's Dimona nuclear facility on Tuesday afternoon, September 22, the beginning of the Jewish New Year. The international demonstrators held signs and banners at the remote desert site calling for nuclear disarmament and for the immediate release of imprisoned nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu.

The demonstration, organized by the Israeli Committee for Mordechai Vanunu and for a Middle-East Free of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Weapons, brought together Israeli activists and representatives of the international campaign to free Mordechai Vanunu from the U.K., U.S., Norway, and Australia. By the side of the road where they gathered, they could see the large dome of the nuclear reactor.

Demonstrators called for the immediate closure of the reactor; that it be opened to international supervision and inspection; and for an immediate halt to the production of weapons of mass destruction in Israel. Several speakers addressed the gathering, including Norway al-Ugbi, representing the Bedouin population in the Negev area. Al-Ugbi called the Dimona reactor "a monster threatening all life in the region."

After the demonstration, when other participants had left, a small International Citizen's Weapons Inspection Team began to walk along the road towards the Dimona reactor, where they planned to carry out a citizen's inspection for weapons of mass destruction. They carried two large banners with them which read, "Warning - Nuclear Weapons Made Here" and "U.N. Arms Inspector Butler - Dimona Nuclear Weapons Plant, This Way."

Soon spotted and pursued by police officers, they attempted to continue peacefully on their way while police insisted that they could not demonstrate without a permit. Wearing badges which read in English and Hebrew "International Weapons Inspector," the team explained their mission to the police and read their statement out loud. They asserted that under international law, they had a responsibility and obligation to carry out their inspection, despite not having an Israeli permit to do so.

After awhile, when stopped from proceeding further, most of the citizen weapons inspectors sat down and linked arms. They continued to explain to the police their purpose for being there: Dimona's connection to Israel's nuclear arsenal, revealed to the world 12 years earlier by Dimona technician-turned-whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu. The police tried to convince the inspectors to leave, but they steadfastly refused. Seven men and three women were then taken in police vans to the station in the nearby town of Dimona. Arrested were Sam Day, Hal Carlstadt, Barry Roth, Eurydice Hirsey, Felice Cohen-Joppa, Art Laffin, Scott Schaeffer-Duffy, John Landgraf (all from the USA), David Polden (UK) and Ruth Haviv (Israel).

People supporting the inspection team soon joined them in the police station. During the four hours they were detained, the ten were warned of various consequences: they would be charged with demonstrating without a permit and spend the night in jail until a judge could be found the next day; they would be immediately deported, not necessarily to their country of origin, except for the Israeli, who would go to jail; they would not be allowed back in the country for a time period ranging from one year to forever; they would be sent to court at night without a lawyer. During questioning, the group consistently refused to sign papers, including an agreement to not return to Dimona for 15 days. Finally, they were told by police that if they each gave a verbal agreement to not return for 15 days to the site, they would be free to go. When they refused this also, the group was released anyway. Authorities evidently decided to keep the event as low key as possible.

The Dimona demonstration and citizen's weapons inspection action occurred during a week-long international vigil calling for the release of Mordechai Vanunu and a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction. Vigilers held signs and banners and handed out leaflets at Ashkelon Prison, where Vanunu has been held since 1986, at the Ministry of Defense, in front of President Weisman's residence, at Prime Minister Netanyahu's office, where petitions were delivered, and at the embassy of India, calling for India and Pakistan to halt their nuclear arms race. International delegates joined with Israeli activists in several public meetings where nuclear weapons and nonviolent direct action were discussed. A visit was also made to Bedouin villages near Dimona. Bedouin lands were confiscated in the 1950's to build the nuclear reactor.

At the end of the week, the new commander of Ashkelon Prison, Avraham Lazarian, refused to let Vanunu's adoptive parents, Americans Mary and Nick Eoloff, have a second brief visit before they returned to the U.S. Lazarian, when assuming command 2 months ago, ordered that Vanunu's cell door be closed except for two one-hour periods each day, when he can take walks in the common yard. In early September, Vanunu's mail was withheld for two weeks after a verbal argument.

For more information, contact the U.S Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu, 2206 Fox Ave., Madison, WI 53711, (608)257-4764, email: nukeresister@igc.org Web: http://www.nonviolence.org/vanunu

Please send a note of support to Mordechai Vanunu, Ashkelon Prison, Ashkelon, Israel.