Arab countries failed to win enough backing for a resolution targeting Israel's widely assumed nuclear weapons programme, at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna on Friday. Several countries explained after the vote at the annual General Conference of IAEA member states that they had not supported the text in order not to threaten the recently restarted peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, according to dpa. "We are not convinced that this resolution would be helpful at this delicate moment of history," the Singapore delegate said. Diplomats also said the Arab proposal would have it made it more difficult to organize a planned 2012 summit on turning the Middle East into a zone free of weapons of mass destruction. In 2009, a nearly identical resolution voicing concern about Israel's nuclear programme and calling on the country to admit IAEA inspectors passed narrowly with the votes of Arab and many developing countries. This year, several developing and emerging countries including Singapore decided to abstain rather than back the Arab text, helping Western countries gain a majority. Israel's delegate welcomed the outcome. "It strengthens those who are in favour of cooperation and constructive dialogue," he said. Arab countries did not share this view of the vote and warned Western countries of the consequences of backing Israel while pressuring Iran and Syria over their nuclear activities. "This would lead to a serious arms race and undermine all international efforts to control nuclear weapons and create a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East," Arab IAEA members said in a joint statement. Unlike Syria and Iran, Israel has no obligation to let the IAEA probe its nuclear installations, as it has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. A group of 51 mostly Western countries rejected the resolution. It had the support of 46 countries, including UN Security Council members Russia and China.
