Baradei calls for freeing the ME from Weapons of Mass Destruction

Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohammed el-Baradei said "turning the Middle East into a zone free of all kinds of weapons of mass destruction requires that all the states of the region should accept the Non-Proliferation Treaty."

In an interview to Egyptian al-Ahram newspaper published on Tuesday, Baradei added that Israel is still outside this treaty, as well as the Biological Non-Proliferation Treaty.

He pointed out that turning the region free of those weapons constitutes one of the main factors of achieving security and stability in the Middle East.

He called on Israel to join the Charter of the IAEA and to open its nuclear facilities to the Agency's overall guarantees system.

On his latest visit to Israel during which he was prevented from visiting Dimona reactor, he said " the problem is not the reactor itself, but in Israel being outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty."