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Op-Ed: UN conference fails to agree on Middle East nuclear weapons ban

Israel does not officially even admit it has nuclear weapons although the program was revealed ages ago by whistle blower Mordecai Vanunu in 1986:He was subsequently lured to Italy by a Mossad agent, where he was drugged and abducted by Israeli intelligence agents.[4] He was transported to Israel and ultimately convicted in a trial that was held behind closed doors.[4] Vanunu spent 18 years in prison, including more than 11 in solitary confinement.

US officials had been to Israel in recent days hoping they could get Israel to agree to a vaguely worded statement about an eventual nuclear-free Middle East. Given that Israel does not even officially admit to having nuclear arms and has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty(NPT), it was not about to sign anything. India and Pakistan, which both have nuclear weapons, have not signed the treaty either.The U.S. blamed Egypt for the failure of the conference as it had brought up the issue of Israel’s nuclear weapons. Originally the U.S. had given its backing for the review.

The conference was to review the NPT and was designed to improve compliance with the act. There are 191 countries that have signed the treaty. The U.S. Under Secretary of State, Rose Gottemoeller announced there was “no agreement” and she also accused some countries from undermining the negotiations. Diplomats said she was referring to Egypt. She claimed: “We have made clear throughout the process that we will not accept the efforts by some to cynically manipulate the (conference) or try to leverage the negotiation to advance their narrow objectives.” Egypt denied that it had tried to wreck the conference. The U.S. objections were backed by Canada and the UK. The top Egyptian delegate, Assistant Foreign Minister Hashim Badr blamed the U.S., Canada and the UK for the failure of the conference. Decisions at the review conferences that are held every five years are by consensus. Israel took part as an observer attending for the first time at this review session.

Last month, Egypt and other Arab States as well as non-aligned states, proposed the UN convene a regional conference discussing banning weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the Middle East. This was called for in the 2010 NPT review.The discussion would take place with or without Israel’s participation, with no set agenda, except there would not be discussion of regional security issues. Israel insists that any talk of nuclear weapons be linked to security issues. Often Arabs states too stress that linkage when it comes to Iran’s nuclear facilities. Since both Israel and Washington objected to the conditions the discussions never took place.

A similar conference on a regional WMD ban was called for in 2012 at the 2010 NPT. This move infuriated Israel, although it did eventually agree to attend planning meetings. However, to the annoyance of Egypt and other Arab States the 2012 conference never took place.

The call for a 2012 conference on a regional WMD ban, approved at the 2010 NPT review meeting, infuriated Israel. But diplomats said Israel eventually agreed to attend planning meetings. The 2012 conference never took place, which annoyed Egypt and other Arab states. Do not accept any agreement on a nuclear-free or WMD-free Middle East any time soon.

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