Arab states have dropped plans to submit a resolution at next week's annual general conference of the UN atomic agency condemning Israel, diplomats to the Vienna-based body told AFP Thursday.

The resolution, which would have urged Israel to accede to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), has been "frozen", an Arab diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity. Western envoys said they had understood the same.

A similar resolution, despite being only symbolic, caused a storm in 2009 when it was adopted by a very narrow majority at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s general conference.

Last year it was only narrowly defeated after a major diplomatic effort led by Washington, which even flew to Vienna US President Barack Obama's top nuclear advisor Gary Samore, to press Arab nations to drop their plans.

The Arab diplomat said that Arab states had decided to refrain this year as a "confidence-building measure" ahead of a conference on a nuclear weapons-free Middle East to be held in 2012.