UN Calls for Israel, the Only Middle Eastern Country That Is Not Party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, to Put Its Nuclear Facilities Under International Oversight
December 2, 2014
AP - The U.N. General Assembly
overwhelmingly approved an Arab-backed resolution Tuesday
calling on
Israel to renounce possession of nuclear weapons and put its nuclear
facilities under international oversight.
The
resolution, adopted in a 161-5 vote, noted that Israel is the only
Middle Eastern country that is not party to the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. It called on Israel to "accede to
that treaty without further delay, not to develop, produce test or
otherwise acquire nuclear weapons, to renounce possession of nuclear
weapons" and put its nuclear facilities under the safeguard of the
U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency.
The United States and Canada were among four countries that joined Israel in opposing the measure, while 18 countries abstained.
Israel is widely considered to possess nuclear arms but declines to confirm it.
The
resolution, introduced by Egypt, echoed a similar Arab-backed effort
that failed to gain approval in September at the Vienna-based IAEA. At
the time, Israel criticized Arab countries for undermining dialogue by
repeatedly singling out the Jewish state in international arenas.
Israel's U.N. Mission did not immediately return a request for comment
Tuesday.
The U.N. resolution,
titled "The risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East," pushed
for the establishment of a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East
and lamented that U.S.-backed efforts to convene talks were abandoned in
2012.
Israel has long argued that a full Palestinian-Israeli
peace plan must precede any creation of a Mideast zone free of weapons
of mass destruction. The country also argues that Iran's alleged work on
nuclear arms is the real regional threat. Iran denies pursuing such
weapons.
General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but
carry moral weight because it is the only body where all 193 U.N. member
states are represented.
U.S. representative Robert Wood, in
voting against the resolution at the committee-level last month, said
the measure "fails to meet the fundamental tests of fairness and
balance. It confines itself to expressions of concern about the
activities of a single country."
Wood
said the U.S. will continue pushing a Middle East free of weapons of
mass destructions, but he warned that such resolutions only undermine
prospects for progress.
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