Jean Luc Renaudie

Israel will continue to keep mum on whether it has atomic weapons, officials said on Thursday after the incoming United States defence secretary described the Jewish state as a nuclear power. "Israel won’t say, or not say, whether we have nuclear weapons," Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres told public radio. "It suffices that one fears that we have them and that fear … constitutes an element of dissuasion."

Israel’s ruling Kadima party on Thursday threatened to exclude the centre-left Labour from the new government as coalition talks took an increasingly bitter turn after the Passover holiday. Although prime-minister designate Ehud Olmert has reached an agreement in principle with Labour on joining the incoming government, a definite deal has remained elusive.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was tinkering with his "disengagement" plan on Tuesday to scale down the evacuation of Jewish settlements after his ruling Likud party rejected his original, United States-backed proposal. The watered-down plan could be proposed by Sharon in an effort to win the approval of the government and Parliament.
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