Regional Balance of Power (1992)

The Persian Gulf War and new East-West relations have provided the impetus to move towards an international agreement to limit the flow of arms to the Middle East.

The U.S. is the primary convener of the working group on arms control that was organized at the multilateral negotiations following the Madrid peace conference. In addition to Israel and several Arab states, a number of outside powers, which have been among the most active arms suppliers to the region, are participating in these negotiations.

Syria has continued to pour enormous amounts of money into acquiring the most sophisticated conventional and non-conventional weapons systems including Scud missiles. Despite Operation Desert Storm, the Iraqi threat has not been totally eliminated.

Women’s League for Conservative Judaism supports:

1. Global bans on the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons.
2. Multilateral initiatives to curb the flow of arms to the Middle East, without undermining Israel’s security.
3. Maintaining Israel’s qualitative, strategic and military edge.
4. No arms sales to Arab states that have not renounced the state of war and established full normalized relations with Israel.
5. Negotiations toward making the Middle East a nuclear weapon-free zone.