Israel accuses Arabs of halting talks on nukes-free zone

In an apparent blame game, nuclear-armed Israel claims it is the Arab countries in the Middle East that are impeding efforts to create a nukes-free zone.

Tel Aviv has accused the Arab states of halting negotiations on the creation of a Middle East free from nuclear weapons.

"If a serious regional effort has not emerged in the Middle East during the last five years, it is not because of Israel,” read a statement distributed by the Israeli regime on Thursday to the 2015 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference in New York.

Israel, the sole possessor of nuclear warheads in the Middle East and a non-party to NPT, could not officially address the UN meeting, where many signatories expressed their disappointment about the fact that a nuclear-free Middle East  is still far from reality with the Tel Aviv regime a major stumbling block in the way.

The goal, which was set five years ago in the previous conference, required countries in the region as well as the Israeli regime to hold a meeting on the issue. Israel’s distribution of the statement is, in fact, an attempt to acquit the regime, which is believed to have 400 nuclear warheads, but has adopted a policy of ambiguity about them.

The Israeli statement claimed that its Arab partners in the initiative refused to continue the talks after what it called five rounds of consultations from October 2013 and June 2014, which it said was “the first direct engagement between Israel and its neighbors on this issue in over 20 years.”

The statement cited “mistrust and suspicion” as the main reason behind what it said was the Arab governments’ reluctance to engage in talks with Israel. However, it did not explain what disagreement had emerged during those rounds of consultations that finally led to their collapse. 

Israel has also claimed that its presence in the conference as an observer party, which comes for the first time since 1995, reflects the regime’s commitment to “the principle of non-proliferation.”

Speaking on behalf of more than 100 developing countries, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif addressed the conference Monday, calling on Israel to give up its nuclear weapons. Zarif said the nuclear arsenal continues to represent the biggest threat in the region.

Zarif has also called Israel the main impediment to the universality of NPT.

“Unfortunately, Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons and its refusal to engage with the international community has become the greatest impediment to the universality of this treaty,” Zarif told Press TV on the same day.

Zarif also made another reference to the growing threat posed by Israel’s nuclear program when he attended an interview at New York University the on Wednesday, saying “The single biggest threat [to global peace] is the presence of nuclear weapons in the US and the second threat is Israel’s possession of the weapons.”

 MS/NN/HMV

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