Syria calls for a MidEast free from WMD

Syria on Thursday renewed its call to free the Middle East region from weapons of mass destruction (WMD), particularly the nuclear weapon, underlying that Israel is the only side in the region which didn't join the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) "Israel, backed by a nuclear superpower country, still rejects the international community will as well as it escapes from subjecting its nuclear facilities to be verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," Syria's Permanent Envoy to the UN HQ in Geneva Bashar al-Jaafari said during a speech to a session of the General Disarmament Conference.

"Syria has spared no efforts, whether in the framework of the Arab League or the UN, through adopting a number of draft resolutions and initiatives, to make the Middle East region free from WMD," Jaafari added, reminding participants of the Syrian latest initiative submitted, by the name of the Arab League, to the UN Security Council in December 2003.

"In return of those Syrian constructive efforts, Israel still prevents the inspectors of the IAEA to verify its nuclear facilities which became, according to many international reports, a timed bomb that poses a threat to Man and Nature." He added that Israel has buried its nuclear wastes in the occupied Syrian Golan in a violation of all international conventions and norms.

Jaafari stressed that Syria had expressed readiness to join a general accord of opinions regarding a comprehensive work program at the UN Security Council based on the initiative of the five envoys of the permanent member countries at the UN to discuss the disarmament of the nuclear weapon.

In this context, The Arab League showed great interest to disarm weapons of mass destruction (WMD ) in general, and freeing the Mideast region from WMD, Arab League Spokesman Hussam Zaki said today.

During a meeting between the Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and the EU Secretary General Representative for the WMD non-proliferation affairs Anna Lisa Jianelli, Moussa renewed the Arab states call for the necessity of Israel to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty on nuclear arms.

Jianelli, for her part, announced that the EU Commission is determined to hold a forum in the near future, on disarming WMD in the Mideast region.