Arab League closely monitoring Israeli nuclear policy

The Arab League said Thursday it was following up very closely Israel's nuclear policy and reiterated the need that Tel Aviv join the non-proliferation treaty.

"Keeping the Israeli nuclear policy undercover does not help to erase doubts and suspicion in the Arab world, which have negative impacts on the Middle East peace process," said Arab League Secretary General Esmat Abdul Meguid.

Abdul Meguid was commenting before reporters on plans by the Israeli Knesset to discuss the country's nuclear policy.

Complete transparency should prevail over the nuclear issue in the Middle East, he said, in order to help build mutual confidence needed for improving economic and social conditions of peoples.

"This will help remove nuclear weapons from the region completely once and for all," he said.

Abdul Meguid's statements came after an Arab technical committee formed a draft regional treaty to clear the Middle East region from weapons of mass destruction.

Zakarya Ismail, responsible for the league's mass destruction weapons file, said the treaty aimed at bringing all concerned countries in the region to place their nuclear installations under supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

He said the Arab countries would urge, in the non-proliferation conference in New York next April, the U.S., Britain and Russia to pressure Israel to join the treaty.