..Since 1984, Israel had been operating a plutonium extraction plant in a secret

underground bunker at Dimona in the Negev Desert. Built by the French in the late

1950s, the Dimona plant also included facilities for manufacturing atomic bomb

components.

'The most powerful reason for Israeli willingness to bear the undesirable

consequences of expanded and more open trade with South Africa may be her desire

to acquire material necessary to manufacture nuclear weapons," wrote a military

analyst in 1980.'

To that must be added Israel's great desire to test the nuclear

weapons it already had, and the attractions of South Africa's vast territory and

proximity to even vaster uninhabited spaces-the Atlantic and Indian Oceans

The South Africans began teaching the lessons of Israel's 1967 war at their maneuver

school, and Israeli advisers began teaching the Boers the arts of suppressing a captive

population and keeping hostile neighbours off balance...

The white government's practice of domestic counterinsurgency combines outright

military brutality with the extensive use of informers and collaborators. It is impossible to

know how many refinements of these age-old techniques have been borrowed from the

Israelis' occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights.

The Israeli system of village leagues is obviously comparable to the hated town councils

imposed on segregated townships by the apartheid government. The collective punishment

employed by the Israelis, such as the destruction of a whole family's home when one of its

members is arrested as a suspect in an act of resistance, has lately been matched by the

recent South African practices of sealing off townships, and assaulting entire funeral

processions..

President Samora Machel (Mozambique) likened the Israeli Government to the Pretoria regime. He said that because of its inability to contain the fury of the Palestinian people led by

the PLO, the Zionist regime is trying to transfer the war to other regions.

The model provided by Israel, which punishes every internal act of resistance and

violent act outside its jurisdiction with a bombing raid on Palestinian targets in

Lebanon-almost always refugee camps cynically identified by the Israelis as

"terrorist bases" or "headquarters"-has served South Africa well.

When Israel re-established relations with Zaire (in 1982) and began to train Zairian

forces in the Shaba border province, Angola had cause for concern. The leader of the

FNLA had been Holden Roberto, brother-in-law of Zairian president Mobutu, Israel's

new client.

In 1986, it would be established that Zaire acted as a funnel for "covert" U.S. military

aid for the Unita forces of Jonas Savimbi. In 1983, the Angolan News Agency reported

that Israeli military experts were training Unita forces in Namibia. Since Zaire began

receiving military aid and training from Tel Aviv, Angola has been ill at ease.

Its worries increased after discovering that:

Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon was personally involved in the organization,

training and equipping of "commando" units of the army of Zaire, especially organized

for missions along the borders of the RPA [Angola].

In 1984, the Financial Times (London) wrote of "joint Israeli-South African support

for Unita forces." Other sources also report the transfer of Israeli arms and financial