VIENNA — A 151-nation meeting of the U.N. nuclear agency narrowly defeated an Arab push Friday to censure Israel for shielding its nuclear programs from inspection in a result that the U.S. said was a positive signal for ongoing Mideast peace talks.
In Jerusalem, the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission expressed hope that the Arab League “will refrain from raising the proposal again next year.” But Iran, a fervent supporter of the Arab motion, vowed that it would be reintroduced at next year’s annual meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s general assembly.
“The U.S. and Israeli allies have confronted ... the whole world and this is a dark page in history for their foreign policy,” Iranian delegate Ali Asghar Soltanieh said. “They put fuel in the fire.”
Of the nations present, 51 voted against a resolution called “Israeli Nuclear Capabilities.” Forty-six voted in favor, 23 abstained and the rest were absent.
Most industrialized countries and their allies voted against the measure, while developing countries backed the Arab-sponsored resolution.
U.S. chief delegate GlynDavies said the vote was significant in the context of continuing Israel-Palestinian peace talks and U.S.-backed plans to stage a major conference in two years on a Mideast nuclear-free zone.
“It preserves a chance for the movement eventually toward a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, once peace there is achieved,” Davies said. “It sends the right positive signal to the peace process and really allows that process to go ahead.”
Before the vote, the U.S. and other allies of Israel had maintained that passage of the resolution would threaten the talks and the chances of staging a high-level Mideast nuclear meeting - arguments countered by Islamic nations and their supporters, who said the resolution would advance the creation of a nuclear-free zone.
Soltanieh said Davies was mistaken if he thought defeat of the resolution would solidify chances of such a meeting.
“In fact, he created obstacles for the goal,” he said.
Israel warned against what it said were attempts by Islamic nations to deflect attention from Iran and Syria, the two nations under nuclear-agency investigation. Iran and Syria deny allegations that they are or were interested in secretlydeveloping nuclear weapons, but both are rebuffing the agency’s attempts to follow up on intelligence suggesting such activities.
“It is Iran and Syria that represent the greatest threat to peace and security to the Middle East and beyond,” Israeli delegate Ehud Azoulay said at the meeting, accusing the two countries of hiding behind “the verbal barrage that is flooding this room.”
The resolution expressed “concern about the Israeli nuclear capabilities,” while urging the Jewish state to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and to open its nuclear facilities to inspection. Davies said the vote had “created neither winners or losers.”
Soltanieh claimed victory despite the motion’s defeat, asserting that the vote and surrounding discussion kept pressure on Israel, which is commonly considered to be the only Mideast nation to possessnuclear weapons.
“This was a big failure of the United States’ foreign policies,” he said of the results, adding that the combined votes for the resolution and the abstentions showed more then 100 nations directly or indirectly backed the measure to criticize Israel.
Arab League head Amr Moussa said the resolution failed after a “worldwide campaign” by Israel’s Western allies to prevent this.
“We see nothing wrong [in calling] for Israel to join the NPT as part of efforts to make the Middle East a zone free of nuclear weapons,” Moussa said.
Senior U.S. officials have said they could envisage a Middle East free of such weapons, even if Israel retains its arsenal.
Moussa rejected that.
“Why should Israel be the only one? The answer is of course no, it shouldn’t be the only one. In fact, there should be no nuclear power in the Middle East,” he said.
“This is a recipe for chaos and for an arms race in the Middle East.”
Davies, the U.S. delegate expressed understanding about Moussa’s anger over the resolution’s defeat.
“I am very aware of the fact that in Arab capitals this is viewed very negatively,” said Davies, acknowledging that “tempers are going to have to cool” before discussions on the envisaged 2012 conference on a Mideast free of nuclear arms can be advanced.
Information for this article was contributed from Jerusalem by Ian Deitch and from the United Nations by Slobodan Lekic of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 09/25/2010