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NUKEWARS
Egypt accuses Israel of gall in nuclear row
by Staff Writers
Vienna (AFP) Sept 22, 2010


Syria denies stonewalling UN atomic probe
Vienna (AFP) Sept 22, 2010 - Syria denied Wednesday that it was not cooperating with a UN atomic watchdog probe into alleged illicit nuclear activities, insisting it had answered all the agency's questions. "I would like to assure you that Syria was and still is committed to cooperation with the agency," Syria's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Bassam Sabbagh, told the body's annual general conference being held here this week. "Syria has supplied the agency with information and with the necessary replies to all their queries and this was sufficient to verify the nature of this site," he said.

Syria is accused of building a covert nuclear reactor at a remote desert site called Dair Alzour with the help of North Korea until it was bombed by Israel in September 2007. Damascus allowed IAEA inspectors to visit the site once in 2008, but has refused to permit any follow-up visits. The IAEA has said the building bore some of the characteristics of a nuclear facility and UN inspectors also detected "significant" traces of man-made uranium at that site. But these have not yet been explained by Damascus.

The IAEA also requested access to three other locations allegedly functionally related to Dair Alzour, also so far to no avail. In his latest update on the probe, circulated to member states earlier this month, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano complained that time was pressing in the two-year investigation because some of the information concerning Dair Alzour was "further deteriorating or has been lost entirely". "I would like to point out that Syria has allowed the agency's team to visit the site of the destroyed building in Dair Alzour in 2008. It also allowed this team free mobility and allowed them to obtain samples without any obstruction," Syrian ambassador Sabbagh said Wednesday.

Egypt accused Israel of gall Wednesday in a bitter exchange over nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in the Middle East at a meeting of the UN atomic watchdog.

Egypt's delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency conference said Israel's attitude to disarmament, as expressed by its representative Tuesday, showed its "chutzpah" -- a Hebrew word for "nerve" or "temerity".

Israel's nuclear chief Shaul Chorev had questioned Egypt's own commitment to a Middle East free of nuclear weapons, and reiterated the Jewish state's stance that acceding to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) would run against its national interests.

"The only purpose that the remarks by the representative of Israel has served was to demonstrate to this body the full meaning of the word 'chutzpah'," Egypt's Aly Omar Sirry told the 151-nation meeting Wednesday.

Chorev also accused the Arab nation of waging a "harmful political campaign" against Israel and choosing to single it out over "meaningful discussion of regional security in the Middle East."

Israel is the only Middle East power believed to possess nuclear weapons, but it has never officially confirmed or denied this, opting instead for a policy of ambiguity.

Israel "values the non-proliferation regime, recognises its importance and has always demonstrated a responsible policy of restraint in the nuclear domain," Chorev insisted.

In his riposte, Sirry said: "The question that begs for an answer is: what exactly ... is Israel restraining itself from doing."

Israel "is widely known to pay no more than lip-service to the objective of a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East," he said.

On the other hand, "Egypt's consistent efforts, as well as the concrete steps it has take over the years and continues to take including in this body are extensively and well-documented," he said.

As every year for the past few years, Arab states have tabled a resolution at this year's IAEA general conference calling on Israel to foreswear nuclear weapons and sign up to the NPT.

The NPT, which came into force in 1970, has been signed by 189 states. Only three countries -- India, Pakistan and Israel -- have not signed it.

North Korea is among those that acceded to the treaty but violated it and withdrew in 2003.

The resolution is expected to come up for debate on Thursday.

.


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NUKEWARS
Anti-nuclear deal against Israel's interests: chief
Vienna (AFP) Sept 21, 2010
It is against Israel's interests to join a global anti-nuclear arms treaty and the UN atomic watchdog is overstepping its mandate in demanding it to do so, its nuclear chief said Tuesday. Arab states have tabled a resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency annual conference in Vienna for Israel to foreswear nuclear weapons and sign up to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). ... read more


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