nation meeting of the UN nuclear agency narrowly defeated an Arab push Friday to censure Israel for not opening its nuclear activities to inspection in a closely watched result that the US said was a positive signal for ongoing Mideast peace talks. Of nations present at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assembly, 51 voted against a resolution called “Israeli Nuclear Capabilities.” Fifty-one voted for, 23 abstained and the rest were absent. A senior US envoy said the vote was significant in the context of continuing Israel-Palestinian peace talks and US-backed plans to stage a major conference on a Mideast nuclear free zone in two years. “It preserves a chance for the movement eventually toward a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, once peace there is achieved,” said Glyn Davies, Washington's chief IAEA delegate. Before the vote, the US and other allies of Israel had maintained that passage of the resolution would threaten both the talks and the chances of staging a high-level Mideast nuclear meeting – arguments countered by Islamic nations and their supporters, who said the resolution would advance the creation of a nuclear free zone. The resolution expressed “concern about the Israeli nuclear capabilities,” while urging the Jewish state to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and to open its nuclear facilities to IAEA inspection. Davies said the vote had “created neither winners or losers.” Arab representatives said that Israel's presumed nuclear arsenal threatens regional peace and stability. The Jewish state is the region's only country outside the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel says it will not consider joining the NPT until there is comprehensive Middle East peace. If the Jewish state signed the NPT, it would have to renounce nuclear weaponry. Arab states say there cannot be genuine peace in the Middle East until Israel gives up nuclear weapons. Israel has never confirmed nor denied having atomic bombs, under a policy of ambiguity to deter its “Arab and Islamic foes”.
