IAEA to meet amid row on Israel nukes
Tags:
Vienna, Sept. 19: A bitter row over Israel’s assumed nuclear arsenal looks set to dominate the annual general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency which begins on Monday.
Every year at the week-long conference which brings together all 151 member states of the IAEA, Arab nations table a resolution urging Israel to foreswear atomic weapons and sign up to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Because the resolution is non-binding and the Jewish state — believed to be the only West Asia power to possess nuclear weapons — steadfastly refuses to become a signatory of the NPT, it is purely symbolic.
But the issue has nevertheless led to long and bitter debates at past conferences, pitting highly developed western countries against emerging powers, particularly in the Middle East.
When the resolution was passed with a very narrow majority in 2009, the IAEA’s new director-general, Mr Yukiya Amano, was instructed to “work with member states towards achieving” the goal of persuading Israel to join the NPT.
And, Mr Amano provided an update of his efforts in an 81-page report published at the beginning of September.
Nevertheless, Arab states quickly dismissed Mr Amano’s findings as “weak and disappointing” and criticised the report for being “devoid of any substance and not up to the typical level of the agency’s reporting.”
They accused the IAEA, which has long been investigating both Iran and Syria for alleged illicit nuclear activity, of using “double standards” when dealing with Israel.
By contrast, the US and its Western allies believe that pressing ahead with the resolution again this year could jeopardise newly-launched West Asia peace talks.
It would also not help in efforts to persuade Israel to attend a conference in 2012 on freeing the West Asia of weapons of mass destruction, they argue.
Post new comment