All countries in Middle East must take responsibility against nuclear weapons

VIENNA // Concerns among Arabian Gulf states about Iran’s nuclear programme were posing a serious challenge to achieving a Middle East free of nuclear weapons, experts said in Vienna on Monday.

But involving young people and starting a serious process of discussion between Israelis and Arabs could start the process of disarmament, they said.

“The Middle East weapons of mass destruction-free zone is long overdue,” said Hamad Al Kaabi, the UAE’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“Challenges continue to exist today, including the Israeli nuclear arsenal, non-compliance issues and lack of political will in some cases.

“The 2010 nuclear non-proliferation treaty review meeting called for a conference to be convened in 2012 on the establishment of a zone. However, it was not convened, which is a major setback.”

Mr Al Kaabi was at a workshop for Middle East journalists in Vienna, organised by Atomic Reporters and the Vienna Centre for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.

Arabs and Israelis continued to consult at meetings hosted by the Finnish facilitator of the Middle East Action Plan, said Mr Al Kaabi.

“These consultations are an opportunity to make progress, but so far no substantive progress has been made on agreeing on a date or agenda for the conference,” he said.

Experts say the path to disarmament is long.

“A meeting in itself isn’t enough,” said Tariq Rauf, the director of arms control and non-proliferation at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

“There needs to be the identification of the start of a process. There’s a lot of hostility among Gulf Arabs concerning the Iranian nuclear programme, so this is a challenge for them.”

A proposal for the Middle East to be free of weapons of mass destruction [WMD] was put forward by Mohamed Shaker, the chairman of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, in November. “It touches on what kind of weapons will be banned,” Mr Shaker said this week. “It also deals with whether we need regional verification, security assurances, peaceful nuclear cooperation … so we are at this stage.

“The facilitator promised to give it a serious look but we need a great push.”

He said more progress could be made if Arabs and Israelis held more discussions.

“I strongly believe that if Israelis and Arabs sit together and work on issues, such as what kind of weapons should be banned, and make progress on certain elements of the zone and what it should look like, gradually you move forward to make it an easier task later on,” said Mr Shaker.

“I’ve tried, in the absence of progress, to think a bit about success on a certain conclusion, like isn’t it time to prepare some ideas about what a zone would look like and what kind of a zone we want.

“This paper has the ingredients of a solution.”

Political turmoil and tensions in the Middle East pose another major obstacle.

“The WMD situation has improved and the way forward would be for Israel to get rid of its weapons on its own,” said Mr Rauf. “At the moment, the Arab world is fractured and too busy dealing with its domestic problems.

“The conditions on the ground are not right enough but, for the first time in a decade and a half, all sides are sitting at the table discussing. We need a regional security system. We cannot live forever without one.”