A scheduled forum to discuss established nuclear-weapon-free zones and their possible relevance to creating such a zone in the Middle East has been postponed as Israel and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) continue to hash out guidelines for the meeting.
In a Feb. 4 interview with Arms Control Today, IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei stated that he hoped the meeting will still occur this year. He was less hopeful about what it might accomplish, claiming he had “no illusion that this [meeting] will end up in the creation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.” Yet, ElBaradei sees the meeting as a worthwhile starting point for what he deems a “long, long, long-term process.”
“I’ve been advocating for a long time the need for a permanent security dialogue with the peace process in the Middle East,” ElBaradei asserted. He added that any such discussion should cover not only unconventional weapons, but also conventional weapons and confidence building.
According to an Israeli government spokesperson, Israel and the IAEA are still negotiating a few technical issues before proceeding with the meeting.
The forum was scheduled to take place in Vienna from Jan. 31 through Feb. 4. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last July assured ElBaradei that Israel would attend such a conference.
Sharon has maintained that a peace settlement between Israel and its neighbors must be reached before negotiations for a denuclearized zone could begin. (See ACT, September 2004.) Israel, which is not a party to the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), officially remains silent on the question of whether it possesses nuclear weapons, although it is generally recognized as having such an arsenal.
In 1995 the United States and other states-parties to the NPT endorsed “the development of nuclear-weapon-free zones, especially in regions of tension, such as the Middle East,” and have continued to support their creation.
Three nuclear-weapon-free zones are in force today, and two others have been negotiated. Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the South Pacific, and Southeast Asia have all forsworn nuclear weapons by bringing such zones into force.
The Treaty of Pelindaba, which calls for African states to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone, opened for signature in April 1996 with 28 state ratifications needed to make the treaty law. Only 19 states have ratified the agreement.
In the most recent effort, the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan agreed on a nuclear-weapon-free-zone treaty in September 2002 but have delayed signing it until they complete talks with outside nuclear powers on the proposed zone. The approval of these states is not required for the treaty to be opened for signature or to enter into force.
In an effort to raise the profile of denuclearized zones, the Mexican government announced that a conference for signatories to all of the world’s nuclear-weapon-free zone treaties will be held in Mexico City April 26-28.