VIENNA, 22 September 2007 — Arab nations condemned Israel for having nuclear weapons, on the final day yesterday of a general conference of the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency. Omani Ambassador Salim Mohammed Al-Riyami presented the agenda item “Israeli nuclear capabilities and threat” saying there was concern over the “failure of the universality” of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) since Israel refuses to sign it.

Israel neither confirms nor denies it has nuclear weapons, although it is believed to have some 200 atom bombs. “Israel still benefits from total freedom to develop its nuclear capacities,” Riyami told the 144 member states of the IAEA, which uses safeguard agreements to monitor compliance with the NPT.

Riyami had said in a document submitted along with the agenda item: “The policies of successive Israeli government have obstructed the peace process in the Middle East and all initiatives to free the region ... of weapons of mass destruction, and in particular of nuclear weapons, have failed.” The IAEA was also set to debate a resolution on safeguards, with Muslim nations pushing for changes in the text to target Israel for having nuclear weapons.

At the conference, which began Monday Arab states on Thursday pushed through a resolution clearly aimed at Israel, calling for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons. The general conference approves broad policy lines for the IAEA. But the IAEA’s 35-nation board of governors, which meets separately from the general conference, makes decisions for the agency on how policy is implemented.

Egypt criticized the European Union yesterday for failing to support the IAEA resolution calling on all Middle East nations to renounce atomic weapons — a clear reference to Israel’s undeclared arsenal. In Cairo, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry signaled out EU states in its criticism for the lack of Western support for the non-binding resolution, which highlighted Arab frustration about Israel’s presumed nuclear might.

“The European Union movement was a clear contradiction with the principles it claims to defend regarding nuclear disarmament and the prevention of nuclear proliferation,” the official Middle East News Agency quoted a ministry statement as saying. A similar resolution urging all Middle East nations to adopt IAEA safeguards on nuclear work passed overwhelmingly at last year’s IAEA general assembly, with only Israel and top ally the United States opposed, as they were again on Thursday.