Features

by Keisuke Yoshihara, Staff Writer

The Middle East is a focal point at the NPT Review Conference

One of the focal points of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference is said to be nuclear issues involving the Middle East. While the de facto nuclear weapon state of Israel is a non-signatory of the NPT, Iran is suspected to be pursuing its nuclear development activities for military purposes, while remaining a member of the NPT. Thus, the future of the Middle East may very well determine the fate of the NPT regime.

Mohamed Shaker, former Egyptian ambassador to the United Kingdom, is scheduled to attend the review conference this year as a member of the Egyptian Council of Foreign Affairs, a private think tank. Mr. Shaker is an expert in the field of nuclear issues and served as chair of the review conference held in 1985. Mr. Shaker hopes that this year's conference will reaffirm the past resolution of making the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction.

This would mean that Israel renounces its nuclear arms and becomes a signatory of the NPT, and Iran abandons all ambition to develop nuclear weapons and remains in compliance with NPT rules.

The failure of the previous review conference in 2005, which was unable to adopt a final document, is blamed mainly on the stance taken by the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush. The United States was not only reluctant to take steps toward nuclear disarmament, it also insisted on restrictions involving the peaceful use of nuclear energy, which Iran asserted was its right under the NPT. Meanwhile, Egypt pressed the gathering to take up the issue of Israel's nuclear possession as part of the conference agenda. Ultimately, these hard-line positions blocked a final agreement from being reached.

However, when U.S. President Barack Obama took office last year, he clearly stated his aim of pursuing "a world without nuclear weapons." The nuclear superpower is thus shifting its stance. In addition, Mr. Obama visited Egypt in June 2009 and gave an address at Cairo University. As the president did not visit Israel, Egypt's neighbor, some sensed a delicate change in U.S. policy involving the Middle East, since the United States had always been staunchly on the side of Israel.

The Egyptian government is expected take matters of the Middle East head-on at this review conference by pursuing such measures as urging the review conference to hold an international conference to discuss the denuclearization of the Middle East.

Mostafa Elwi Saif, a Shoura Council member and a professor of political science at Cairo University, proposes steps to resolve the situation. Mr. Saif argues, "The conference must review the 'double standards' of the NPT, which divides nations into nuclear weapon states and non-nuclear weapon states." By "review," he contends that all nuclear weapon states and non-signatory states of the NPT should undergo strict inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as other nations do.

Meanwhile, Shlomo Aronson, a professor of political science at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, maintains that "Iran is indeed the troubled child of the Middle East." Along with this accusation, though, Mr. Aronson maintains the hope that "If the international community can resolve the issue of Iran, Israel would give up its nuclear weapons."

Israel is expected to participate in the review conference this year, among the signatory nations, as an observer. The fateful conference may soon decide whether the Middle East can move away from being a region burdened by nuclear weapons.

(Originally published on May 2, 2010)