But 45 member states agreed to take the motion off the agenda by adjourning the discussions while 29 voted against and 19 abstained.

The "EU regrets that this issue has been politicised, breaking the consensus," said the ambassador from Finland, which holds the rotating European Union presidency.

South Africa's Abdul Minty, who presided the meeting, said that delegates had tried to thrash out a compromise but to no avail while US ambassador Gregory Schulte said "this is a sad manner to end this conference".

It was the first time such a resolution has been debated at the IAEA in some 15 years, when it was shot down in similar circumstances.

Syria condemned the motion's adjournment and accused Western nations of "double standards" in the differing ways it treated Israel and Iran, which is currently under the threat of UN sanctions over its controversial nuclear programme.

A senior diplomat from an Arab League member country earlier told AFP that Arab League countries had "taken a firm decision this morning to go all the way" to get the resolution adopted.

In recent years similar resolutions against Israel have been proposed, but none found their way on to the IAEA's formal agenda because of Israeli support for an Egyptian appeal for a ban on nuclear weapons in the Middle East.

But Israel's recent offensive against Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon and the growing pressure on Iran over its disputed nuclear programme added new impetus to the call.

The issue rarely comes up at the IAEA because Israel -- unlike Iran -- is not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Israel refuses to acknowledge or deny that it possesses nuclear arms, but most experts agree that it has at least 200 atom bombs at the ready.

The Arab diplomat said that the version presented this year was "more flexible" and calls on Israel to ratify the NPT -- something which Israel has always rejected.

In the case of Iran, world powers have given Tehran until early October to respond to an offer to negotiate the cessation of its uranium enrichment activities or face sanctions, according to diplomats.

Regarding North Korea, the general assembly again adopted a resolution calling on Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear programme, to return unconditionally to multiparty talks, and to resume cooperation with the IAEA.

Six-party talks involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, have been suspended since November when Pyongyang boycotted them in protest at US financial sanctions.

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