Israel must join NPT, its nuclear facilities inspected -- Arab Group

VIENNA, March 5 (KUNA) -- Israel must be made to join the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT) and its nuclear facilities must be subjected to international inspection, said the Arab Group in Vienna on Thursday.
In a speech at the meeting of IAEA board of trustees, the Group's representative and Egyptian ambassador to Austria Khalid Shamaa noted that Israel's repeated spurning of NPT and rejection of the notion of ever joining it is a source of anxiety in the Middle East region and a threat to its security and peace.
He said Israel is disingenuous when it claims that a Mideast peace agreement must precede the decision to have the region become officially one that is free from nuclear weapons.
He explained that "what worries us about Israel's possession of nuclear weapons is that its leadership has shown the propensity to use power disproportionately and recklessly in the face of defenseless civilians as we have often seen it do against the Palestinians." He expressed the Arab Group's disappointment with some member countries of the IAEA who seem to look the other way when it comes to holding Israel accountable for its intransigence at joining the NPT.
He urged the board of trustees to keep and not abandon the subject of Israel's nuclear capability on its regular agendas. (end) amq.ajs