Global Security Newswire

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, shown last month, on Wednesday said Israel should participate in a planned 2012 meeting on establishing a Middle Eastern WMD-free zone (U.N. photo).

Israel should be present at a planned meeting later this year on promoting the elimination of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday (see GSN, Jan. 31).

Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty member states in 2010 called for a meeting this year aimed at establishing a Middle Eastern WMD-free zone. The event is slated to take place in Helsinki, Finland, with Finnish envoy Jaakko Laajava acting as its "facilitator" (see GSN, Oct. 17, 2011).

Israeli and Iranian participation in such a meeting would be critical to its effectiveness, according to diplomatic officials. Israel is widely thought to be the region's sole nuclear-armed state, but the nation has publicly neither confirmed nor denied possessing such weapons. There are also widespread concerns about Iran's atomic activities (see related GSN story, today).

"Israel will be invited and they should be there but nothing has been decided yet," Agence France-Presse quoted Ban as saying. The U.N. chief said he had not addressed the planned gathering while conferring beforehand with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but the two officials addressed Iran during their discussion in the Israeli capital.

Ban said he was "actively consulting the parties concerned" to help lay the groundwork for the meeting.

"Considering all the presidential elections in major countries we are looking at the possibility of convening this meeting at the later stage of this year," the U.N. secretary general added. The official, who has established nuclear abolition as one of his key focuses, was speaking primarily in reference to the U.S. presidential poll scheduled for November, according to AFP.

"Nothing has been decided for the exact date," he said. "I have received an initial report from my facilitator (Laajava), but it is going to happen" (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Feb. 2).

Separately, an intergovernmental panel urged Arab nation leaders to pursue consensus on a prospective Middle Eastern nuclear weapons ban, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

Options for resolving uncertainty over Israel's atomic work were another focus of the panel, which includes delegates from 15 nations and the Arab League General Secretariat, along with the head of the Arab Nuclear Energy Authority.

The group examined the potential for an unsuccessful outcome at the planned Middle Eastern WMD-free zone meeting, and it weighed input from a team of high-level government personnel established by the Arab League.

Arab states should expedite development of a thorough assessment of a preliminary Arab proposal linked to Israel's atomic efforts, according to the panel. The measure would enable the Arab League General Secretariat to provide the Arab Foreign Ministers Council before an upcoming meeting with information on formulating plans for the next International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference (see GSN, Sept. 26, 2011; Kuwait News Agency, Feb. 1).