> > Nuclear Zero Committee

Nuclear Zero Fact Sheet #5
Nuclear Weapons Free Middle East

On September 17, 2009 the Assembly of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted a non-binding resolution urging all Middle East nations to foreswear nuclear weapons: 100 for, 1 against (Israel), 4 abstaining (United States, India, Canada and Georgia).

Background: These are past efforts regarding a Middle East Nuclear Weapons Free Zone:

• in 1974, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution, proposed by Iran, essentially calling for a Middle East NWFZ: Israel abstained.
• in 1980, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution proposed by Egypt, with Israeli support.
• in 1991, the Madrid Conference, led by the US, included a process for negotiating a nuclear free zone: that process halted in 1995.
• in 1991, UN Security Resolution 687, required Iraqi disarmament in the context of "establishing in the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction".
• in 1991, a UN Expert Study proposed a series of measures to achieve a NWFZ.
• in 1995, a package of decisions relating to the indefinite extension of the NPT included a call for practical steps towards the establishment of a verifiable Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction.
• in 2003, in the UN Security Council, a draft resolution calling for a Middle East NWFZ was tabled after a US veto threat.
• in July 2004, during a visit by Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the Internatoinal Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Israeli government agreed to meet with other Middle Eastern states in January 2005 on issues relating to a NWFZ: the meeting never took place.
• in 2005, the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council proposed a zone free of weapons of mass destruction as a stepping stone toward a Middle East zone.
• in July 2008, proposals to remove all weapons of mass destruction from the Middle East were discussed at the Union for the Mediterranean, with Israel and Arab nations participating.

Current Threats to a Middle East Nuclear Weapons Free Zone include:

• the Iranian uranium enrichment program
• the announced intention of the Gulf States and Egypt to develop nuclear energy programs.