Israel Matzav

Good news: Nuclear disarmament conference final statement will criticize Israel but not Iran

A draft declaration prepared by conference president Libran Cabactulan of the Philippines fails to mention Iran or its nuclear program, though it names India, Pakistan and Israel as NPT holdouts. Diplomats said Iran had threatened to veto any final declaration if it was named.

The draft also names North Korea, which pulled out of the NPT several years ago.

Ray Acheson of Reaching Critical Will, a nuclear disarmament group, said the Iranian delegation had insisted that if it were named, the United States and others should be as well for "serious noncompliance with Article I of the NPT."

Article I of the NPT obliges the five nuclear powers -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- not to transfer nuclear weapons technology to other countries.

Diplomats said the reference to Article I violations was a dig at Western support for Israel, which is presumed to have a sizable nuclear arsenal but neither confirms nor denies it.

The draft calls on NPT holdouts Israel, India and Pakistan to sign the treaty and allow U.N. inspectors to inspect their atomic facilities. It also says the conference "deplores" nuclear tests by North Korea, which left the NPT in 2003.

A deal on a declaration, Western envoys say, now hinges on whether Arab delegates are willing to compromise on a possible conference to discuss ways of making the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction. Such a plan could eventually force Israel to give up any atomic arms it has.

"If we can't get a Middle East deal, there will be no outcome document and we'll have another failure," a Western envoy said on condition of anonymity. "The Arabs have to decide whether they want something [on a WMD-free zone] Israel can participate in, or if they just want to beat up on Israel."

There is only an indirect reference to Iran in a paragraph of the 29-page draft declaration, obtained by Reuters, that says the NPT review conference "expresses its concerns with cases of noncompliance of the Treaty by States parties."

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:33 PM