UAE Warns Against The Danger Of
Allowing Israel To Maintain Its Nuclear Arsenal
Source: Emirates News Agency
URL Source: http://wam.org.ae/NASApp/cs/Content ...
e5a5&pagename=WAM%2FWamLocEnew
Published: Oct 20, 2005
Author: WAM
Post Date: 2005-10-20
15:35:55 by Brian S
2 Comments
New York, 19
Oct.2005(WAM)--The United Arab Emirates - UAE has warned
against the danger of allowing Israel to maintain its
nuclear arsenal at a time when peace and stability in the
region are at a stake.
+Despite incessant efforts
by Arab countries, including the UAE, to make the Middle
Eastern region a nuclear-free area, global peace and
stability are a stake as a result of the Israeli
intransigence to maintain its nuclear arsenal+, said Hend
Abdul Aziz Nasser Al Owais, member of the UAE delegation
to the UN.
The UAE also urged the
international community to back two proposals being put
forward by the Arab bloc at the UN to address the danger
of continued Israeli possession of weapons of mass
destruction. One of the proposals is create a nuke-free
zone . The other being a commitment by UN member states
to halt all forms of assistance related to Israeli
nuclear programme as provided for in the relevant UN
resolutions.
The UAE also expressed
concern over the exemption of Israel from signing the
non-proliferation treaty as well as from subjecting its
nuclear installations to UN inspections.
"The failure of the
international community to establish a nuke-free zone in
the Middle East stems from the very policy of double
standards that is being practiced", said Hend,
adding that this failure has emboldened Israel to further
develop its nuclear programme. Other countries also
sought to revive their nuclear aspirations on the basis
of security deterrence, she said.
"The international
community must fulfill its obligations with respect to
bringing about peace and stability in the Middle East by
forcing Israel to dismantle its nukes and open up its
installations for inspections by the International Atomic
Energy Agency", said Hend. She pointed out that all
countries must bring pressure to bear on Israeli to
respect the international will and sign the
non-proliferation treaty or else face imposition of
sanctions, particularly economic sanctions.
UN member states,
particularly nuclear powers should also cease their
technical , financial, scientific and nuclear-related
assistance to Israel, she said.
"Such measures will
restore confidence in the region and promote peace and
stability. It will also help in the efforts to stop such
weapons from falling into the hands of terrorist
groups", said Hend in remarks during the discussions
of the General Assembly Committee on nuclear weapons.
And now a month later:
U.S.-Funded Report Urges Israel To Take
First Step Toward Nuclear Disarmament
By ORI NIR November 25, 2005
http://www.forward.com/main/printer-friendly.php?id=6924
WASHINGTON - A new study commissioned and partially
funded by the Pentagon urges Israel to take the first
step in launching a nuclear disarmament process in the
Middle East, arguing that such a move is the only way to
block Iran's development of weapons of mass destruction
and head off a regional arms race.
The report, titled "Getting Ready for a
Nuclear-Ready Iran" and published last week by the
U.S. Army War College, argues that Tehran's march toward
nuclear weapons cannot be stopped by any of the military
or diplomatic options currently on the table. Nuclear
nonproliferation expert Henry Sokolsky and Iran
specialist Patrick Clawson edited the 314-page document.
"Iran is now no more than 12 to 48 months from
acquiring a nuclear bomb," wrote Sokolsky, executive
director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center.
He added that Tehran "lacks for nothing
technologically or materially to produce" such a
weapon.
The report, which states that it doses not necessarily
reflect the official policy or the position of the
Department of Defense, argues that America and its allies
should prepare for a long-term "competition"
with Iran, which will resemble Washington's Cold War
against the Soviet Union and hopefully end with the
emergence of a more open, less belligerent Iranian
regime.
The report all but rules out the most commonly discussed
policy options for stopping Iran's nuclear quest: bombing
or bribing the Islamic Republic. Both options are likely
to fail and could backlash with disastrous repercussions,
the study concludes. Instead, the report recommends that
the United States encourage Israel to
"mothball" its Dimona nuclear reactor and agree
to international monitoring. If other Middle Eastern
countries, including Egypt or Algeria, reciprocate, a
regional halt to the production of fissile material could
isolate Iran, the report suggests.
The report argues that once other countries in the region
take similar steps to suspend their own nuclear-related
activities, Israel could offer to close the Dimona
reactor and place the nuclear material produced there
under the supervision of a trusted international ally. If
Israel's neighbors - including Iran - reciprocate,
Jerusalem would dismantle the Dimona reactor and hand
over its weapons-usable fissile material to a third
party, under the supervision of the International Atomic
Energy Agency.
Sokolsky told the Forward that this proposal is based on
the assumption that Iran's current efforts to develop
nuclear weapons would lead other countries, including
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Algeria, to consider similar
steps.
"You would have a whole neighborhood of folks
poised, at any time, to go nuclear," Sokolsky said.
He acknowledged that the call for Israel to suspend
activity at the Dimona reactor was controversial, but he
said, "We know what the alternative is, and you
don't win that one."
A Middle East with yet more nuclear powers could turn
into "a big, big death bath," he warned.
The idea, Sokolsky said, is not for Israel unilaterally
to give up its nuclear weapons, hoping that others will,
too. Instead, he said, Israel simply would take a small,
reversible first step in an effort to promote a
reciprocal process that would de-escalate the region's
nuclear arms race.
Israel never confirmed officially that it has nuclear
weapons, but numerous credible reports indicate that it
has a sizable arsenal of nuclear bombs as well as the
missiles and aircrafts to deliver them to any destination
in the Middle East. The Israeli nuclear program is
commonly seen as deterring conventional attacks from
hostile neighbors, but some observers say it may also
have motivated other countries to pursue a nuclear
option.
Sokolsky said that he has discussed the idea with Israeli
officials, who rejected it.
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
dismissed the idea that Israel would lead a regional
nuclear disarmament process in reaction to a
nuclear-ready Iran. Israel's position, the official said,
is that a nuclear-free Middle East could be achieved only
through comprehensive regional peace treaties.
Shlomo Brom, the former director of strategic planning in
the Israeli army's general staff, also dismissed the
idea. "Knowing what the Israeli establishment
thinks, there is no chance for this to be
considered," said Brom, who is a guest scholar at
the U.S. Institute of Peace. The institute is a think
tank funded by Congress. "Israel will always be on
the losing side when a disarmament agreement is signed,
simply because we adhere to agreements and the other side
does not," Brom said.
Despite such comments, Clawson, the co-editor of the
recent report, told the Forward that Jerusalem has
signaled it does not reject the proposal completely.
According to Clawson, deputy director of the Washington
Institute for Near East Policy, it is important for
Israel to find ways to be seen as striving for a peaceful
Middle East, "where nuclear weapons are not
necessary in order to preserve the security of the State
of Israel."
Earlier this year, Israel agreed to participate in a
U.N.-sponsored seminar to discuss what Middle Eastern
countries could learn from the success of other
nuclear-free zones worldwide. The seminar, a brainchild
of the director general of the atomic agency, Muhammad
ElBaradei, ended up failing because of conditions posed
by Arab governments.
Rice dismisses EU-US nuclear offer to
Tehran
11.11.2005 - 09:44 CET | By Lisbeth
Kirk
US secretary of state
Condoleezza Rice has denied there is any EU-US backing of
a Russian proposal to resolve a long-running nuclear
dispute with Iran.
"There is no US-European proposal to the Iranians, I
want to say that categorically," Mrs Rice told
reporters, according to the BBC.
"There isn't and there won't be. We are not parties
to these negotiations and we don't intend to become
parties to the negotiations."
The proposal would permit Iran to conduct very limited
nuclear activities on its own soil, while the enrichment
of uranium would take place in Russia.
Without a new proposal to break the current impasse over
Tehran's nuclear program, the dispute may be referred to
the UN Security Council for possible sanctions to be
imposed on Iran.
Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is entirely
intended for peaceful purposes.
Deep divisions
The latest proposal was discussed at length earlier this
week at a meeting between Condoleezza Rice and Mohamed
ElBaradei, the director general of the International
Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear
monitoring agency, the New York Times reported.
But the new proposal has deeply divided the Bush
administration, according to the paper.
"The problem with this offer is that if the Iranians
have a secret enrichment plant someplace that we don't
know about, we're leaving them with the raw material they
need," a senior American official was quoted saying.
The US fears Iran could use the highly enriched uranium
to build a nuclear weapon.
Only a few weeks ago Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad sparked massive international protests, when
he stated that Israel should be "wiped off the
map".
His remarks fuelled efforts by the US and the EU to have
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) refer Iran
to the UN security council at its meeting in Vienna later
this month.
France, Germany and the UK the EU 3 signed
a deal with Iran in Paris last November under which
Tehran agreed to halt enrichment while negotiations
continue.
But Iran rejected the EUs trade-based proposal over
the summer and resumed enrichment at its plant in
Isfahan, claiming a right to nuclear energy under
international law.
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