vienna | The head of the United Nations atomic watchdog is asking for international input on how to persuade Israel to join the Nonproliferation Treaty — a move sure to add to pressure on Israel to disclose its unacknowledged nuclear arsenal.
In a letter made available May 5, Yukiya Amano, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, asked foreign ministers of the IAEA’s 151 member states to share views on how to implement a resolution demanding that Israel “accede” to the Nonproliferation Treaty and throw its nuclear facilities open to IAEA oversight.
On May 4, Islamic nations used the second day of a nonproliferation treaty conference at U.N. headquarters in New York to call for a nuclear-free Middle East. They also criticized Israel for not divulging its nuclear capabilities and refusing to sign the nonproliferation treaty.
The United States has cautiously supported the idea while saying that implementing it must wait for progress in the Middle East peace process. Israel also says a comprehensive Middle East peace settlement must come first.
Amano’s April 7 letter came seven months after IAEA member states at their annual conference narrowly passed a resolution directly criticizing Israel and its atomic program. The resolution “expresses concern about the Israeli nuclear capabilities.”
The U.S. and its allies consider Iran the region’s greatest proliferation threat, but Islamic nations insist that Israel is the true danger in the Middle East, saying they fear its nuclear weapons capacity. — ap