[Institute for National Security Studies-Tel Aviv University] Ephraim Asculai - Israel was one of the founding members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which was established in 1957. Now having turned into a highly political body, the IAEA General Conference passed a resolution on Sept. 18, 2009, that "calls upon Israel to accede to the NPT and place all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards." The resolution did not call on India and Pakistan, two countries that carried out underground nuclear tests, to accede to the NPT, and there was no resolution reprimanding Iran for its continuous non-adherence to IAEA requests for information on its suspect nuclear program. Interestingly, the vote on the "Israeli Resolution" was almost evenly split (49 voted for, 45, including most of the Western countries, against, and 16 abstained).
2009-10-09 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive