UN calls on Israel to open nuclear facilities

United Nations: The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling on Israel to quickly open its nuclear programme for inspection and backing a high-level conference to ban nuclear weapons from the Middle East which was just cancelled.

All the Arab nations and Iran had planned to attend the conference in mid-December in Helsinki, Finland, but the United States announced on November 23 that it wouldn`t take place, citing political turmoil in the region and Iran`s defiant stance on nonproliferation. Iran and some Arab nations countered that the real reason for the cancellation was Israel`s refusal to attend. The resolution, approved by a vote of 174-6 with 6 abstentions, calls on Israel to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty "without further delay" and open its nuclear facilities to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Those voting "no" were Israel, US, Canada, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau. Resolutions adopted by the 193-member General Assembly are not legally binding but they do reflect world opinion and carry moral and political weight. Israel refuses to confirm or deny it has nuclear bombs though it is widely believed to have a nuclear arsenal. It has refused to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, or NPT, along with three nuclear weapon states India, Pakistan and North Korea. The Arab proposal to create a weapon-of-mass-destruction-free zone in the Mideast, and to pressure Israel to give up its undeclared arsenal of perhaps 80 nuclear warheads, was endorsed at an NPT conference in 1995 but never acted on. In 2010, the 189 parties to the 1970 treaty called for convening a conference in 2012 on the establishment of a WMD-free zone in the Middle East. The resolution, which was approved by the assembly`s disarmament committee before the conference was cancelled, noted the decision to hold it "with satisfaction." But Israel has long said there first must be a Mideast peace agreement before the establishment of a Mideast zone free of weapons of mass destruction. The region`s Muslim nations argue that Israel`s undeclared nuclear arsenal presents the greatest threat to peace in the region. Just before yesterday`s vote, Iranian diplomat Khodadad Seifi told the assembly "the truth is that the Israeli regime is the only party which rejected to conditions for a conference." He called for "strong pressure on that regime to participate in the conference without any preconditions." PTI