VIENNA/CAIRO, 20 September 2007 — Egypt and Syria urged the UN nuclear watchdog yesterday to pass a resolution condemning Israel for possessing nuclear weapons. Israel insisted there was no basis for the resolution, scheduled to be presented today, and called upon the other member states of the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to reject the proposal.
Egyptian Ambassador Ihab Fawzy said the IAEA must pass the resolution against Israel to show it is committed to “the principles and declared stances regarding peace, stability and security in the Middle East region.” Syrian Ambassador Ibrahim Othman told the IAEA general conference in Vienna “Arab countries will with greater determination ... present to this conference a draft resolution for its adoption.”
Israel’s policy is one of “nuclear ambiguity,” neither confirming nor denying it has nuclear weapons even if, in an apparent blunder, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appeared to imply late last year that his country does in fact have the bomb.
The Arab states insist, however, that the Jewish state does have such weapons and is a danger to peace and stability in the Middle East. Traditionally at the IAEA’s general conference, Arab states introduce a resolution on the Israeli nuclear threat but in the face of strong Western opposition, they withdraw the text. It is then postponed to the following year in return for Israel agreeing to a call for a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East.
However, the Egyptian and Syrian ambassadors yesterday signaled that their patience was wearing thin. “The fact that many UN and IAEA resolutions with regard to Israel’s nuclear capabilities are not carried out increases the frustration of the Arab peoples and threatens an arms race that could also threaten the peace and security of the region and the world,” said Othman.
He complained that Israel was the only country in the Middle East “to have nuclear weapons and nuclear capabilities which are not under international control.” It was, therefore, a legitimate concern “to ask Israel to join the other countries in the NPT” (the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty), Othman said.
The Jewish state’s steadfast refusal to put its nuclear facilities under international control constituted a “danger” to peace in the region and internationally, he argued. Syria supports setting up a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East and “expresses its deep anxiety regarding the obstacle that Israel places to setting up such an area,” Othman said.
Iran warned yesterday that it could bomb Israel if it was attacked by the Jewish state, as the international war of words over the Islamic republic’s nuclear drive escalated further. The declaration by Iran’s deputy air force commander Mohammad Alavi was immediately denounced by the United States, Israel’s staunchest ally, which accuses Tehran of seeking to build an atomic bomb.
“We have come up with a plan that in the event of possible foolishness by this regime, Iranian bombers can carry out an attack in retaliation against Israeli soil,” Alavi said, quoted by the Fars news agency. “In addition to our missiles, whose range covers the whole soil of this regime, we can attack them with our fighter jets and respond to any attack — an unlikely event — with an air attack on their soil.
Egypt yesterday rejected military action against Iran over its nuclear program, as Cairo works toward restoring ties with the Shiite state, frozen since 1980. “Egypt completely disagrees with resolving the Iranian nuclear issue through violence or a military act,” Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters in Cairo.
Egypt supports “a peaceful solution through negotiations which would guarantee Iran’s right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, without allowing nuclear (weapons) proliferation in the Middle East,” he said.
Aboul Gheit’s comments come after French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Sunday said the world had to “prepare for the worst” and characterized the worst as “war” over Iran’s contested nuclear program.
The French diplomat lashed out at the press on Tuesday, in the aftermath of the uproar sparked by his comments, and accused the media of manipulation. “I don’t want war, I want peace,” he said, calling for continued negotiation with Iran.
Aboul Gheit confirmed Egypt’s announcement on Tuesday that it was engaged in dialogue with Iran with a view to restoring diplomatic ties. “We seek to normalize relations with Iran through constructive consultations,” he told reporters.
Aboul Gheit said no date had yet been set for a meeting with Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki and there were no plans for talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next week.
Egypt’s announcement came following talks in Cairo between Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Hussein Dirar, Egypt’s assistant foreign minister for Asian affairs.
Iran and Egypt currently only have interests sections in each other’s country after Iran cut ties in 1980 following the Islamic revolution in protest at Cairo’s recognition of Israel and hosting of the deposed shah. Egypt is the only Arab state with which Iran does not have normal relations. It became the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, followed by Jordan in 1994.
