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VIENNA (Reuters) - Arab nations have protested over Israel's first hint of a nuclear arsenal to the U.N. atomic watchdog, saying this flouts international commitments to a nuclear arms-free zone in the Middle East, diplomats said.
An Arab statement to the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors this week faulted the IAEA's provision of aid for nuclear energy in Israel even though the country had never joined a treaty banning development of atom bombs.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert raised a stir in December when he implied Israel had nuclear arms, seemingly straying from a longtime policy of "strategic ambiguity" meant to deter potential Arab and Islamic foes, including IranOlmert's remark "represents a new confirmation of international and Arab suspicions about Israel's military nuclear capabilities," said the declaration by 15 Arab states and the Palestinian Authority, obtained by Reuters.
"(This is) a clear violation of the will of the international community" for a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the volatile Middle East, it said.
The statement cited past resolutions by the IAEA and one passed by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference in 1995 and endorsed by the United States, Russia and Britain.
Olmert's comments, it said, underscored the "danger that threatens international peace and security so long as the international community remains incapable of inducing (Israel) to accede to the NPT, to which all Arab states have acceded
"DOUBLE STANDARDS"
"This clearly shows a policy of double standards based on political interests is being followed in the (Middle East)."
The statement called on the IAEA to reconsider its technical aid projects in the Jewish state as long as it did not join the NPT and subject its nuclear facilities to IAEA inspections.
The IAEA's secretariat has frozen many such projects in Iran, an NPT member, to uphold U.N. sanctions slapped on Tehran prompted by suspicions it may be trying to secretly build atom bombs, and its stonewalling of IAEA investigations.Israel is widely believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal -- around 200 bombs. Some Israeli and U.S. officials have mooted possible military action against Iran if diplomacy and sanctions fail to curb its nuclear activity.
Iran insists its nuclear fuel program is for civilian electricity only. It has often complained of being punished while Israel, its arch-foe, has faced no pressure over its presumed nuclear arsenal and shunning of the NPT.
"This is not a matter of point-scoring for Iran's benefit. But we want to demonstrate to Israel that this issue won't just fade away and to remind the international community of its responsibilities," said a senior Arab diplomat in Vienna.
Olmert told German television, when asked if Israel's perceived nuclear might undercut the West's case against Iran's atomic program: "Iran, openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level -- when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons -- as America, France, Israel, Russia?".
Israeli officials swiftly denied Olmert had overridden Israel's traditional strategic ambiguity.
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL0612853120070306?pageNumber=1
An Arab statement to the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors this week faulted the IAEA's provision of aid for nuclear energy in Israel even though the country had never joined a treaty banning development of atom bombs.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert raised a stir in December when he implied Israel had nuclear arms, seemingly straying from a longtime policy of "strategic ambiguity" meant to deter potential Arab and Islamic foes, including IranOlmert's remark "represents a new confirmation of international and Arab suspicions about Israel's military nuclear capabilities," said the declaration by 15 Arab states and the Palestinian Authority, obtained by Reuters.
"(This is) a clear violation of the will of the international community" for a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the volatile Middle East, it said.
The statement cited past resolutions by the IAEA and one passed by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference in 1995 and endorsed by the United States, Russia and Britain.
Olmert's comments, it said, underscored the "danger that threatens international peace and security so long as the international community remains incapable of inducing (Israel) to accede to the NPT, to which all Arab states have acceded
"DOUBLE STANDARDS"
"This clearly shows a policy of double standards based on political interests is being followed in the (Middle East)."
The statement called on the IAEA to reconsider its technical aid projects in the Jewish state as long as it did not join the NPT and subject its nuclear facilities to IAEA inspections.
The IAEA's secretariat has frozen many such projects in Iran, an NPT member, to uphold U.N. sanctions slapped on Tehran prompted by suspicions it may be trying to secretly build atom bombs, and its stonewalling of IAEA investigations.Israel is widely believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal -- around 200 bombs. Some Israeli and U.S. officials have mooted possible military action against Iran if diplomacy and sanctions fail to curb its nuclear activity.
Iran insists its nuclear fuel program is for civilian electricity only. It has often complained of being punished while Israel, its arch-foe, has faced no pressure over its presumed nuclear arsenal and shunning of the NPT.
"This is not a matter of point-scoring for Iran's benefit. But we want to demonstrate to Israel that this issue won't just fade away and to remind the international community of its responsibilities," said a senior Arab diplomat in Vienna.
Olmert told German television, when asked if Israel's perceived nuclear might undercut the West's case against Iran's atomic program: "Iran, openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level -- when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons -- as America, France, Israel, Russia?".
Israeli officials swiftly denied Olmert had overridden Israel's traditional strategic ambiguity.
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL0612853120070306?pageNumber=1
But they don't
