"There have been lots of developments (concerning suspected nuclear arms programs) in the Middle East, such as Iraq and Iran. Israel also has to be mentioned," an Arab diplomat told AFP.

Referring to Israel, the Arab League resolution said "the only state in the Middle East region that is not party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to accede to it without delay."

It also "urged" all states supplying Israel with "nuclear materials, equipment and related assistance" to apply NPT safeguards to such exports.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, which has been holding meetings in Vienna since last week, has called on Iran to prove by October 31 that it is not secretly developing nuclear weapons.

The IAEA is also eager to continue enforcing its UN mandate and get back to Iraq to carry out monitoring of nuclear activities.

Israel, which is believed to have nuclear weapons but has not confirmed this, is a member of the IAEA.

But Israel has not signed the NPT, which went into effect in 1970 to guarantee the non-proliferation of atomic weapons.

"Israel's possession of nuclear weapons is likely to lead to a destructive nuclear arms race in the region, especially if Israel's nuclear installations remain outside any international control," the Arab League states said in an explanatory memorandum.

The resolution is expected to be considered Friday on the last day of a general conference of the IAEA's 136 members states which has been meeting since Monday.

The annual conference is not expected to take any new decision regarding either Israel or other thorny issues, such as the verification of nuclear programs in Iran, Iraq and North Korea, spokesman Mark Gwozdecky told AFP.

Gwozdecky said the conference mainly endorses decisions made by the IAEA's executive arm, the 35-nation board of governors, which last week imposed the deadline on Iran.

Still, the discussion on Israel should be heated.

The Iranian ambassador to the IAEA Ali Akbar Salehi said bitterly when the agency imposed the deadline on Iran last Friday that it was unfair that "among those who have pursued and produced nuclear weapons... Israel gets away with murder."

"It is pampered instead of being chastised," Salehi said.

Resolutions on Iraq and North Korea were also being considered in committee work but it was not certain they would be tabled, diplomats said.

They said France would like to see a resolution urging the IAEA to continue its work in Iraq but that the United States and Britain opposed Iraq being brought up at the IAEA conference.

"It's a question of whom do you address the resolution to," said one diplomat referring the the fact that there is only a provisional, but not elected, Iraqi government under the US occupation.

Canada, meanwhile, is sponsoring a hardline resolution on North Korea for its nuclear weapons activities, but the text faces opposition from China, diplomats said.

The IAEA wants its inspectors to return to North Korea, where they were expelled in December as Pyongyang angrily withdrew from the NPT amid US charges that it was developing nuclear weapons.

All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

Quick Links
SpaceWar
Search SpaceWar
Subscribe To SpaceWar Express

SpaceWar Search Engine

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SPACEWAR NEWSLETTER SubscribeUnsubscribe