United Nations investigators, ordered to write a report about Israel\u2019s atomic capabilities, said they couldn\u2019t compile enough information to assess the extent of the country\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n
The International Atomic Energy Agency released documents today showing a split between member countries who want more light shed on Israel\u2019s nuclear work and others that say the Vienna-based organization doesn\u2019t have the right to pry. The IAEA\u2019s 151 members voted in September 2009 to have the agency review Israel\u2019s program as part of an effort to create a nuclear-weapons-free Middle East.<\/p>\n
Israel declined to cooperate with IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano\u2019s inquiry on \u201cpolitical and legal\u201d grounds, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said in a July 26 letter among the 81 pages of documents, calling the probe \u201cunjustified.\u201d Amano asked Israel to consider signing the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty when he visited the country last month.<\/p>\n
Countries including Canada, the U.K. and U.S. opposed the probe, saying that the inquiry risked turning the IAEA into a political battleground, according to the documents. Others, including China, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey, supported the investigation. Divisions over Israel will be discussed at the IAEA\u2019s annual General Conference which convenes Sept. 20 in the Austrian capital, according to a provisional agenda of the meeting.<\/p>\n
Israel has refused to open its nuclear facility in Dimona to UN inspectors. It says the site is a research facility. IAEA inspectors make routine checks, aimed at preventing the removal of atomic bomb-making material, from Israel\u2019s Soreq Nuclear Research Center.<\/p>\n
While Israel has never acknowledged having atomic weapons, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington- based policy study group, estimates that the Jewish state possesses enough material for between 100 and 170 weapons.<\/p>\n
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Editors: Eddie Buckle, Philip Sanders.<\/em><\/p>\n