The International Atomic Emergy Agency (IAEA) report said Director General Yukiya Amano met with Israeli leaders during a visit to Israel last month to discuss an Arab-led push for the Jewish state to accede to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.By staying outside the treaty, Israel has maintained secrecy over a program widely believed to have yielded the Middle East’s only atomic arsenal -- seen as an irritant and threat among its neighbors. The issue is expected to be debated again at IAEA board and general assembly meetings later this month in Vienna.
Last year, Arab countries backed by Iran won narrow backing for a non-binding assembly resolution urging Israel to join the NPT and asking Amano to consult “concerned states” on how to achieve this and report back to this month’s meeting. The IAEA report said Amano during his visit to Israel had conveyed the assembly’s concern about the Israeli nuclear capabilities and “invited Israel to consider to accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and to place all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards,” as requested by last year’s resolution. Israel has conditioned its joining the NPT on comprehensive Middle East peace -- something unlikely when powers like Iran refuse to recognize the Jewish state.
Western powers, which see Iran as the region’s main nuclear proliferation threat, have warned that singling out Israel could jeopardize broader steps aimed at banning weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. Western diplomats say it could complicate a plan to hold a conference in 2012 to discuss banning weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. Amano’s report was published a day after Israeli and Palestinian leaders meeting in Washington agreed to a series of direct talks, seeking to forge the framework for a US-backed peace deal within a year.
