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Disarmament DocumentationBack to Disarmament Documentation IAEA Director-General Dr Mohamed ElBaradei on Israel, November 9, 2004Eliminating Israel's nuclear arsenal is essential to a lasting peace in the Middle East and should be part of comprehensive talks to solve the dispute over Palestine, says the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog. The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, told the Herald in Sydney yesterday: "This is not really sustainable, that you have Israel sitting with nuclear weapons capability there while everyone else is part of the non-proliferation regime." Dr ElBaradei said Israel's nuclear stockpile created great resentment among Muslims. "It is a very emotional issue in the Middle East." "In my view, in the Middle East you are facing two options. Either we will have in the next 10, 20 years, three or four countries trying to acquire nuclear weapons and, worse, have extremist groups trying to get their hands on nuclear devices," he said. "Or you can try to build a security structure that's built on confidence, co-operation and trust." Middle East nations want Israel to give up its nuclear capability before beginning comprehensive peace talks. Israel insists the peace process must be completed before it considers abandoning its nuclear capability - estimated to amount to up to 200 nuclear bombs. Dr ElBaradei advocates a middle path. "My take on this is that we will probably need to do the two together in tandem. You need a security structure to undergird, if you like - protect - that peace process." "I don't think it's a matter of pressure. It's a question of providing Israel with a credible alternative that they are better off without nuclear weapons." Source: Sydney Morning Herald, http://smh.com.au/ © 2003 The Acronym Institute. |