JERUSALEM, 29 April 2004 — UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed El-Baradei, who has called for Israel to dismantle a nuclear arsenal it has never admitted possessing, is expected to visit the country this summer, officials said yesterday.
“This is a routine visit that has been in the works for months. We expect Mr. El-Baradei to visit Israel in the summer, probably early July,” Gabriella Gafni, Israel’s permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told Reuters by telephone from Vienna, the UN agency’s base.
Israeli diplomatic sources said El-Baradei was tentatively scheduled to arrive on July 8 for a two-day visit. The IAEA confirmed the visit, but said the dates had yet to be finalized.
“Israel is a member state of the IAEA and it is six years since (El-Baradei) was last there,” agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said.
El-Baradei, an Egyptian lawyer, has headed the agency since 1997, when he replaced Sweden’s Hans Blix.
“Naturally, he would intend to use such a trip to consult on his mandate from the (IAEA) General Conference to promote non-proliferation and a nuclear weapon-free zone in the Middle East, as well as to discuss bilateral cooperation in nuclear sciences and applications,” Fleming said.
Analysts estimate Israel has an arsenal of hundreds of nuclear weapons. Keen to ward off regional foes while avoiding arms races, it neither confirms nor denies pursuing weapons of mass destruction, under a policy of “strategic ambiguity”.
