Israel Matzav

All five permanent Security Council members on nuke free Middle East bandwagon

All five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have jumped onto the 'nuclear free Middle East' bandwagon.

"We are committed to a full implementation of the 1995 NPT resolution on the Middle East and we support all ongoing efforts to this end," the five permanent UN Security Council members said in a unanimous statement issued at a conference taking stock of the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The 1995 resolution adopted by signatories of the landmark arms control treaty called for making the Middle East a zone without nuclear arms.

Israel, which is widely believed to have nuclear weapons, is the only country in the Middle East not to have signed the treaty and, along with India and Pakistan, one of only three countries worldwide outside the agreement. Iran, though a signatory, is accused by the West of flouting treaty requirements to disclose its nuclear activities.

"This conference represents a pivotal turning point in the history of the treaty, and an opportunity that may be the last and that must be seized," Egyptian UN Ambassador Maged A. Abdelaziz told delegates Wednesday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had a slightly different take on the 'nuclear free zone' with an important difference.

"We support efforts to realize the goal of a weapons-of-mass-destruction-free-zone in the Middle East in accordance with the 1995 Middle East resolution," Clinton told delegates at the opening of a month-long review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in New York.

That would pick up the chemical and biological weapons possessed by countries like Egypt and Syria.

Still, that's small consolation given how easily Iran and North Korea have torn up the NPT and are developing nuclear weapons. Besides, wasn't this conference supposed to be dealing with Iran? How can anyone equate an Iranian nuclear weapon to Israel?

For forty years, the United States and Israel had an agreement in which Israel's possible nuclear capabilities were not discussed. The Obama administration reaffirmed that commitment several months ago. But as with so many other commitments made to Israel, this administration is now abandoning that one too. And the consequences for Israel are potentially deadly.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:29 AM