Israel declines appeals to sign Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

Sunday, May 30, 2010

On Friday, the 189 Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) agreed to a final resolution calling for steps toward the banning of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the Middle East. The resolution directs United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to organize a conference of all the Middle East states.

The resolution singles out Israel, calling on "all states in the Middle East that have not yet done so to accede to the treaty as non-nuclear weapon states so as to achieve its universality at an early date." In an official statement from the Prime Minister's Office, Israel said the resolution, "is deeply flawed and hypocritical. It ignores the realities of the Middle East and the real threats facing the region and the entire world." The statement went on to state, "[the resolution] singles out Israel, the Middle East's only true democracy and the only country threatened with annihilation. Yet the terrorist regime in Iran, which is racing to develop nuclear weapons and which openly threatens to wipe Israel off the map, is not even mentioned in the resolution."

An Arab-backed proposal for a WMD-Free zone in the Middle East, supported in 1995 by the NPT Conference, was never acted upon.

As a non-signatory state, Israel is not bound by any resolutions of the NPT.

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Sources

Joseph Nasr. "Israel rejects call to join anti-nuclear treaty" — Reuters, May 29, 2010
Edith M. Lederer. "Israel key to conference on banning nuclear arms" — Associated Press, May 29, 2010
Attila Somfalvi. "PM's Office: Israel won't comply with NPT resolution" — Israel News, May 29, 2010
"NPT Conference Document Urges 2012 Meeting on WMD-Free Middle East" — Global Security Newswire, May 26, 2010

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Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.