Arab group stresses the need for Israel to join into the NPT

The Arab group in the United Nations emphasized the need for Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Egypt's ambassador to the UN, Mu'taz Ahmadain Khalil, emphasized on behalf of the group at the UN general discussion of the first UN Committee concerned with issues of (nuclear) disarmament and any threats to international peace and he stressed the need to subject all nuclear facilities in the Middle East to the International Atomic Energy Agency (the IAEA)'s comprehensive guarantees' system and realization of the universality of the NPT , and he also stressed the need for Israel to join the NPT treaty in the capacity of a non-nuclear state. The Arab group stressed the need to subject all Israeli nuclear facilities to the IAEA comprehensive guarantees' system in order to ensure peace and security in the region and to stimulate socio-economic growth of Middle Eastern countries and to prevent an arms race which hampers development projects and which foils the efforts of building mutual trust. He urged the international community to support efforts aimed to ensure the success of the upcoming conference and to guarantee a nuclear-free Middle East devoid of all weapons of mass destructions (WMDs). He also stressed the importance of participation of all Middle East countries in the conference in Finland in order to decide on follow-up procedures for implementation of a nuclear-free Middle East which should be devoid of all sorts of WMDs.