U.S. urges Arab states to drop Israel nuclear treaty demand

[Poll_Blind]

Source: Haaretz

The U.S. envoy to the UN atomic watchdog urged Arab states on Monday to withdraw a resolution calling on Israel to sign an anti-nuclear arms treaty, warning it would send a negative signal to Middle East peace talks.

Arab countries, backed by Iran, are seeking to build on a victory at an assembly meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency last year when they narrowly won support for a
non-binding resolution calling on Israel to join the Non-Proliferation treaty. They are expected to propose a similar text to this year's meeting of the 151-nation assembly starting on Sept. 20, diplomats say.

The United States says that zeroing in on Israel, widely believed to be the region's only nuclear power, could jeopardize an Egyptian-proposed conference in 2012 to discuss creating a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.

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Israel, which would have to forswear atomic arms and place all its nuclear facilities under the IAEA's watch if it signed the NPT, says full Middle East peace is a condition for it to join

Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/u-s-urges-arab-states-to-drop-israel-nuclear-treaty-demand-1.313622

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The whole article is worth a read. Our widely-varied treatment of India, Pakistan, North Korea, Iran and Israel when it comes to the NNPT is one of the reasons why we have pissed away any authoritative voice when it comes to negotiating the matter.

I don't think it's controversial to call policy enforcement of the NNPT by the United States one-sided and politically-motivated...at best. Considering Iran doesn't even have nuclear weapons, the focus we put on them above India & Pakistan (who are actually much more likely to actually use nuclear weapons, especially in a destabilized Pakistan) is a J-O-K-E.

PB