Saudi Arabia celebrates Earth Day on April 22 amid concerns of radioactive contamination that threatens the region due to nuclear-powered warships and submarines entering Gulf waters. Oblivious to this threat are the people who will mark Earth Day by cleaning up public parks and planting home gardens or rehabilitating mangrove marshes.
The Kingdom celebrates the day in partnership with the Presidency of Meteorology and the Environment and the US Consulate in Jeddah and the Saudi Environmental Society (SES). Together they will hold a three-day event with essay and poster contests to reinforce the global concern about climate change.
It seems that all our environmental experts have turned a blind eye to a potential nuclear disaster. How can we be so indifferent to a threat so real and more frightening than climate change? No one denies the global concern over climate change; however, for Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region the greater, more immediate threat is a nuclear accident. It is imperative that the SES should initiate a campaign on this occasion to raise more awareness on the protection of our environment against radiation hazards and nuclear leakage.
The US Consulate in Jeddah should commemorate the Earth Day by conveying Saudi concerns about the potential for radioactive contamination if a nuclear-powered American warship is attacked. It would be an attack threatening innocent women and children living all around the Gulf. If Iran’s nuclear program were halted by airstrikes the potential for radioactive contamination again would be a serious possibility.
It should be the national duty of every Saudi nuclear scientist and environmentalist to sound the alarm about the consequences of an attack on Iran’s nuclear reactors that are more dangerous than Iran’s nuclear program itself. Of course, Iran’s nuclear program itself also presents dangers for the region.
The Earth Day celebrations should be an opportunity for Arab opinion leaders to draw world attention to a looming nuclear arms race fueled by military conflicts that surround us. The people of this region should demand that radiation levels in the Gulf be monitored — both for water and air. If it is determined that these vessels pose a threat, there should be a call to remove nuclear-powered warships from Gulf waters immediately. Governmental and nongovernmental organizations, the private sector and religious leaders all should speak with one voice to demand an end to this potentially lethal situation that gets more serious with each new escalation of tension in the region. Just as the United States expects North Korea to disclose its nuclear arsenal, so should it have the same expectation for Israel.
We have seen the consequences of the nuclear arms race during the Cold War era; we certainly do not need another nuclear arms race in the Middle East. In the absence of significant action by governments and world leaders, we should mobilize world public opinion to make nonproliferation a priority that all the peace-loving people need to address. We need to combine forces with international organizations to pressure governments to take immediate action and stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction that is endangering the Gulf and the Middle East and could lead to World War III. The consequences of a possible attack on Iranian reactors receives low-key media coverage, and only limited discussions are reported concerning national plans to deal with any potential leakage of radioactive material in the Kingdom.
Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal has repeated his concerns several times; however, the media have been very reluctant to take on the issue and raise the alarm over the potential threat, keeping the public in the dark about the extent of the danger they could face. It has been reported recently that the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology has prepared a proposal to confront possible radioactive fallout in case of an attack against Iran; however, there were no details to assure the public of safety measures in place. There were also some reports about Gulf environmentalists who complained of nuclear-powered warships plying Gulf waters with no oversight, which means at present we don’t know whether we are at risk or what the extent of that risk might be.
It is so shameful that we do not hear of any protests from the Gulf states to the United Nations, or a national alert to mobilize international condemnation of any nation’s military policies that endorse the use of weapons of mass destruction. There will be no winners in a nuclear exchange between the US and Iran — just a planet full of losers.
The conflict in the region is going from bad to worse with no attempt at efforts aimed at peace or reconciliation. America continues to threaten Iran and warns of a possible attack on its nuclear reactors but at the same time it does not heed to Arab concerns over Israel’s nuclear arsenal.
On the occasion of Earth Day and in the name of every mother and child living in the Gulf and the Middle East, I urge the United States to remove the nuclear-powered warships from the Gulf. In the name of humanity I call upon the American women and children to put pressure on their government to reverse these policies that are creating a tinderbox out of what should be a peaceful and productive part of the world.
It is time to find a new way to bring peace to these lands without destruction. If America is truly committed to peace in this region, it can start by forcing Israel to the negotiating table under the threat of losing American support. Nobody needs new fighter planes, smarter weapons, nuclear capabilities or other means of destruction. Everybody needs peace, and that should be America’s largest export to the region. What we are getting instead is the potential for a never-ending war that darkens the future of all mankind.
In the name of our beloved Earth, I ask the United Nations to work harder to protect our environment and end the threat of nuclear contamination that could endanger the ecology and marine life of the Gulf region and its inhabitants. I hope the whole world will celebrate Earth Day this year with a concerted effort to protect our children and the environment — not only from climate change but from weapons of mass destruction, as well. Hiroshima and Chernobyl should have taught us important lessons. If we haven’t learned them, then heaven help us all.
— Samar Fatany is a Saudi radio journalist.
