Arab states are lobbying the European Union for support in their drive to force Israel to open up its secretive nuclear program to international perusal, documents made available to The Associated Press show, AP reported. In a letter addressed to Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, Amre Moussa, secretary general of the 22-nation League of Arab States, urges Sweden to back an Arab resolution entitled «Israel's Nuclear Capabilities.» The document is to be submitted for a vote at next month's 150-nation general assembly of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Sweden currently holds the EU's rotating presidency. Diplomats from EU member countries and from other nations accredited to the IAEA told the AP Thursday that the same letter was sent to the foreign ministers of the other 26 EU member countries. While Israel has never confirmed its status, it is commonly considered to have nuclear weapons, and Arab states regularly push at the annual IAEA conference for it to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and open its facilities for IAEA perusal. But the efforts are regularly defeated, and the league's lobbying efforts reflected Arab determination to push the measure through come September. The votes of the 27 members of the EU are important for both opponents and proponents of censuring Israel at the conference _ the motion critical of the Jewish state was only narrowly defeated last year. That indicated growing support for the Arab initiative, particularly among developing countries. General conference resolutions sponsored by the Arab League express concern about «Israeli nuclear capabilities» and ask the IAEA to help implement the nonproliferation treaty regime on Israel. A draft of the resolution prepared for next month's conference that was attached to the letter to Bildt gives voice to those same concerns and demands. But in a new twist, it welcomes «recent initiatives calling for a 'nuclear weapons-free world»' _ an allusion to President Barack Obama's April call to abolish nuclear weapons. Muslim nations consider Israel the region's main nuclear threat. «We are hopeful that your country would support the Arab draft resolution,» says the June 29 letter to Bildt. -- SPA
