Israel Matzav

At IAEA meeting, most Arab countries have nothing to say about Israel

This is curious. There's a two-day IAEA meeting in Vienna on Monday and Tuesday, which is supposed to prepare the groundwork for a 2012 conference at which Israel and the Arabs are supposed to make the Middle East a nuclear free zone. Iran didn't show up. Syria and Lebanon criticized Israel. But curiously, the other Arab countries have remained silent.

But officials reporting on the closed International Atomic Energy Agency gathering said that except for Syria and Lebanon, its lockstep ally, other Arab nations speaking at the meeting were lower-key than usual in chastising the Jewish state for refusing to open its nuclear program to UN perusal.

Israel, for its part, restated its view: no discussions on a nuclear-free zone without peace in the Middle East.

"Experience shows that such a process can only be launched when normal, peaceful relations exist in the region, when the threat perception of all regional members is low, and only after basic confidence is established among states of the region," noted David Danieli, Israel's deputy nuclear chief.

For now, he said, "Political instability, open hostilities, deep mistrust and noncompliance with international obligations are too common in many parts of the Middle East region."

Despite the sharp Syrian remarks, one of the officials who attended the meeting said the atmosphere was "much less confrontational, much less hostile" than at other IAEA gatherings focused on the Middle East that traditionally see Muslim nations speaking with one strongly critical voice about Israel's nuclear capabilities. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was held in private.

Anyone think the Arabs might be leery of criticizing Israeli nukes because they will be necessary to take out Iran's nuclear program? Hmmm.

Labels: IAEA, Iranian nuclear threat, Israeli nuclear capability, nuclear-free Middle East

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:57 PM