VIENNA: Member states of the UN atomic agency adopted a resolution on Friday calling on all countries in the Middle East to join a global anti-nuclear treaty, after a debate that highlighted deep divisions between Israel and Arab states.
Israel and the United States abstained in the vote on the Egyptian-proposed text, entitled "Application of IAEA Safeguards in the Middle East," while most others backed it at the annual member state meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Israel welcomed as a "positive move" a decision by Arab states not to single out the Jewish state with a resolution condemning its assumed atomic arsenal.
Arab delegations earlier said they would not submit a resolution entitled "Israeli Nuclear Capabilities" for a vote at the annual member state gathering of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as they had in 2009 and 2010.
They described this as a "goodwill" gesture ahead of rare IAEA-hosted talks later this year on efforts to free the world of nuclear weapons that is expected to be attended by both Israel and Arab countries.
"The decision by the Arab group, from whatever motivations and constraints, not to table this year a draft resolution is … a positive move," David Danieli, deputy director of Israel’s atomic energy commission, told the IAEA conference.
"However in order to foster genuine trust and confidence among all regional parties, this must be accompanied next year by withdrawing permanently this politically divisive item from the agenda of the conference," he said.
Israel is widely believed to harbor the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal, drawing frequent Arab and Iranian condemnation. The Jewish state is the only Middle East country outside the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Israel and the United States regard Iran — and to a lesser extent Syria — as the Middle East’s main proliferation threats, accusing Tehran of seeking to develop a nuclear arms capability in secret.
Egypt wins seat
Meanwhile, Libya’s new rulers may be basking in international goodwill after Moammer Qaddafi’s overthrow but that support failed to win them a coveted UN atomic agency board seat on Thursday when most delegates backed neighboring Egypt instead.
In a rare display of regional disunity on nominating members for the 35-nation board of the IAEA, the African group failed to agree on which two countries should represent them over the next two years.
Egypt and Libya, which have both seen the overthrow of strongmen this year, both sought one of the two African seats, alongside Tanzania.
The issue had to be settled by a vote in the full plenary of the annual gathering of the IAEA’s 151 member states, which Egypt went on to win by 87 ballots against 28 for Libya.
Libyan Ambassador Ahmed Menesi expressed disappointment, saying Tripoli’s candidacy had been confirmed by the African Union back in January, when Qaddafi was still in power.
"We wished that Libya, new Libya, would have a seat in the board of governors," he told Reuters.
The IAEA board of governors is the Vienna-based agency’s main decision-making body, grouping heavyweights such as the United States, China, and Russia, as well as rotating members from the various regions such as Europe, Africa and Asia.
It meets regularly and has the power to report countries to the UN Security Council for not complying with its nuclear safeguards obligations, which it did in the case of Syria in June and Iran in 2006.
