I/II. http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.657783
U.S. blocks NPT conference statement over Israeli objections The statement was expected to task the UN secretary general with convening an international conference on making the Middle East a nuclear weapons-free zone by March 2016. By Barak Ravid and Reuters | May 23, 2015 | 6:09 AM The United States blocked the issuing of a concluding statement for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference that closed Friday night in New York, following objections voiced by Israel. The balanced final draft of the concluding statement was expected to task the UN secretary general with convening an international conference on making the Middle East a nuclear weapons-free zone by March 2016. Israel objected to the deadline. According to the U.S. the statement wasn't issued because the members were unable to overcome disagreements on an atomic weapons ban for the Middle East. The super-power blamed on Egypt. After four weeks of negotiations at the United Nations on ways to improve compliance with the pact, there was no consensus among its 191 signatories. U.S. Under Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller announced there was "no agreement" and accused some countries of undermining the negotiations. Gottemoeller did not say which nations had tried to "cynically manipulate" the conference, though she accused Egypt and other Arab states of bringing "unrealistic and unworkable conditions" to the negotiations. A senior Western diplomat was more blunt: "Egypt wrecked the conference. ... Egypt overshot the runway and has prevented the region from moving closer to a region free of (weapons of mass destruction)." Egypt denied trying to wreck the conference. The U.S. concerns were echoed by Canada and Britain. Cairo's top delegate, Assistant Foreign Minister Hashim Badr, blamed Washington, London and Ottawa for the failure to achieve consensus, saying it was a "sad day for the NPT." Last month, Egypt, backed by other Arab and non-aligned states, proposed that UN. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon convene a regional conference on banning weapons of mass destruction (WMD) as called for at the 2010 NPT review. The conference would be with or without Israel's participation, without agreement on an agenda and with no discussion of regional security issues. Those conditions are unacceptable to Israel and Washington. Decisions at NPT review conferences, which are held every five years, are made by consensus. Israel neither confirms nor denies the widespread assumption that it controls the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal. Israel, which has never joined the NPT, agreed to take part in the review meeting as an observer, ending a 20-year absence. The call for a 2012 conference on a regional WMD ban, approved at the 2010 NPT review meeting, infuriated Israel. But diplomats said Israel eventually agreed to attend planning meetings. The 2012 conference never took place, which annoyed Egypt and other Arab states. Egypt's proposals, Western diplomats say, were intended to focus attention on Israel. Washington and Israel say Iran's nuclear program is the real regional threat. Iran says its program is peaceful. It is negotiating with world powers to curb it in exchange for lifting sanctions. Israel has said it would consider joining the NPT only once at peace with its Arab neighbors and Iran. Fears of a 'rerun' of 2010 When the conference opened a month ago, Egypt submitted a proposal that would mandate holding the Mideast conference with or without Israeli agreement. Moreover, the Egyptian proposal would make Israel's nuclear program the conference's focus. Israel, the United States and other countries objected strenuously to the Egyptian proposal. The Israeli position holds that such a conference should deal with all regional security problems, including missiles and terrorism, rather than the nuclear issue alone. Israel also demanded that any such conference be conditioned on all participating countries agreeing on the agenda. Earlier this week, Spain, after consulting with Egypt, presented a compromise proposal that essentially rejected this Israeli condition, stating that if no consensus is reached on the agenda before December 2015, the UN secretary general will be empowered to decide whether to convene the conference, and on what terms. Over the last few days, Jerusalem and Washington have held intensive talks in an effort to reach understandings on the issue. A senior Israeli official involved in the talks said that Thomas Countryman, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, has been in Israel since Tuesday, talking with officials from the Foreign Ministry, the National Security Council and the Israel Atomic Energy Commission. The senior Israeli official said Israel feared a "rerun" of what happened at the last NPT Review Conference in 2010, when Egypt succeeded in forcing the U.S. to include a section in the concluding statement that addressed Israel's nuclear capabilities and urged it to open all of its nuclear facilities to UN inspections. The 2010 statement also called for convening a conference on making the Middle East an area free of weapons of mass destruction within two years. Israel was furious and accused the U.S. administration of reneging on its prior commitments to Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then demanded "compensation" from Washington, and received it during a visit to the White House in July 2010, when U.S. President Barack Obama promised that there would be no change in American policy on Israel's nuclear program and that Washington would not seek to undermine Israel's policy of nuclear ambiguity. Israel had the same concerns this time, too, the senior Israeli official said, It was feared that Washington's desire for a concluding statement dealing with making the Middle East a WMD-free zone would lead the Americans to make concessions to Egypt that will undermine Israel's security interests. The U.S. administration rejected Israel's fears. Bernadette Meehan, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, said the language of the concluding statement hadn't yet been finalized, and the U.S. would work to ensure that the final statement would satisfy both U.S. and Israeli interests. "Both the United States and Israel support the creation of a WMD-free zone in the Middle East," said Meehan. "We are working closely with our Israeli partners to advance our mutual interests, including preserving the NPT." "This Administration and this President do not break commitments to our Israeli partners," she said. II. http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/05/22/412300/Israel-NPT-Nuclear-Conference-US-Middle-East- Israel concerned over NPT conference final resolution Fri May 22, 2015 10:7AM The file photo shows Israel's nuclear facility in the Negev Desert outside Dimona. The file photo shows Israel's nuclear facility in the Negev Desert outside Dimona. Israel is concerned that the final resolution of a UN conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) may pressure the Tel Aviv regime into acknowledging its nuclear arsenal, a report says. The Israeli officials are worried that the NPT Review Conference would ratify a resolution to launch another forum on making the Middle East region free from nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction, said a report by Bloomberg View. The NPT conference started a month ago in New York and is scheduled to end on Friday. At the beginning of the conference, Egypt urged another conference on the establishment of a nuclear-free Middle East, saying Israel's nuclear program should top the meeting's agenda. The Egyptian proposal also obviated the need for the Israeli regime to approve the holding of such a forum. Israel and the United States objected to Cairo's proposal, saying that the event's agenda must be approved by all the participating sides, including Tel Aviv. Earlier in the week, Spain rejected Tel Aviv's condition and submitted another proposal which empowers UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to decide on the meeting's agenda in case all the involved sides fail to reach a consensus on the issue. Israel now fears that the United States would succumb to pressure from the international community and allow the ratification of the anti-Israel resolution. "Israel is increasingly concerned that the United States is not going to prevent the NPT review conference currently meeting in New York from adopting a resolution on the Middle East that would jeopardize" the regime's secret nuclear program, Bloomberg View quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying. The Israel official added that any such resolution would run counter to "a US commitment made to Israel as publicly stated in 2010 by President Obama and then National Security Adviser James Jones." US National Security Council Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan This is while the spokesperson for the US National Security Council has vowed that Washington will never renege on its promises to its staunch ally. "This administration and this president do not break commitments to our Israeli partners, and any suggestion to the contrary is offensive," said Bernadette Meehan, adding, "We are working to ensure that it [the resolution] meets our interests and those of Israel." The Israeli regime maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity over its nuclear activities and refuses to allow its nuclear facilities to come under international regulatory inspections. Earlier in the month, Israel's minister of military affairs, Moshe Ya'alon, said Israel might take certain steps against Iran like what the US did in "Nagasaki and Hiroshima, causing at the end the fatalities of 200,000." Israel's minister of military affairs, Moshe Ya'alon Tehran lashed out at Ya'alon's hostile remarks, saying the threat exposes the regime's possession of nuclear weapons. Israel is widely believed to be the sole possessor of a nuclear arsenal in the Middle East and has so far blatantly violated the international rules regarding nuclear non-proliferation. Back in December 2014, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution urging Israel to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and put its nuclear facilities under the safeguard of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency. FNR/MKA/HMV -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
