MIDDLE EAST: The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency, Dr Mohammed ElBaradei, pressed Israeli officials yesterday on the idea of turning the Middle East into a zone free of weapons of mass destruction, but was met with concerns about Iran's nuclear programme and the threat this posed to Israel, writes Peter Hirschberg in Jerusalem
Dr ElBaradei, who is on a two-day visit to the Jewish state and will meet Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon today, said after meeting the head of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission that "[the Israelis\] were expressing concern about Iran". Israel has a longstanding policy of "nuclear ambiguity", whereby it neither admits nor denies possessing nuclear weapons. According to foreign news reports, it has up to 200 nuclear warheads.
Arab countries have demanded that Israel open its reactor in the southern desert town of Dimona to inspection and accuse Israel of introducing nuclear weapons into the region. But the Jewish state says it is not willing to discuss weapons of mass destruction until a peace agreement has been reached in the region and its existence is no longer threatened.
"The majority of the countries in the Middle East feel there is this security imbalance in the Middle East, this double standard," Dr ElBaradei said.
The quartet of Middle East mediators, "sick and tired" of Palestinians' failure to carry out reforms, told their leaders yesterday to act soon or risk losing international support and funding, diplomats said.
The envoys from the United States, Russia, United Nations and European Union told Palestinian Prime Minister Mr Ahmed Qurie in a meeting the international community had had enough of "empty promises" about reform from President Yasser Arafat. - (Reuters)