Israel Renews Call for Nuclearfree Zone in the Middle East

Israel renewed its call today for establishing a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East through negotiations by the states of the area.

Addressing the General Assembly, which started a debate on Israel’s attack on Iraq’s nuclear facility June 7, Yehuda Blum, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, declared: “Israel believes that the most effective way to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to the Middle East is through the creation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the region, modeled on the Tlatelolco Treaty, which is based on the initiative of Latin American states and on direct negotiations among them.”

During his address, Blum repeated Israel’s contention that in destroying the Iraqi nuclear plant “Israel was exercising its inherent and natural right of self-defense, as understood in general international law.”

Blum also said that over the last six years Israel has tried to have the Iraqi nuclear threat halted by diplomatic means, but without success. He said Israel conducted since 1975 diplomatic contacts with various governments “which Israel believed could avert the dangerous development in Iraq.” In a document circulated here by Israel this week, Israel named those governments as France, Italy and the United States.

The debate in the General Assembly was initiated by Iraq despite the fact that the Security Council met last June and discussed the Israeli attack on the Iraqi nuclear plant. The Security Council at that time condemned the attack and called upon Israel to open its nuclear facilities to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection.

OBJECTIVES OF THE IRAQI’S

According to diplomats here, the current debate in the Assembly will last at the most three days. The diplomats said that the Iraqis want the Assembly to adopt a resolution calling on the Security Council to reconsider imposing sanctions on Israel and demand compensation from Israel for the damage it caused Iraq by destroying its nuclear facility. The Iraqis are also likely to ask that all UN member states join in a ban of arms shipments to Israel, the diplomats said.

At the opening of today’s debate, Blum requested that the president of the General Assembly, Ismat Kittani of Iraq, should not preside over the debate. The situation was “incongruous,” Blum said. Kittani refused to step down and said that it was appropriate for him to govern the proceedings.

“We will leave it to the judgment of member states of the Assembly as a whole,” Kittani said, as to whether the President of the Assembly handled the debate impartially. Since there was no objection from any other representatives, Kittani’s ruing was not put to a vote and he presided over the debate.