20100922
africanews

VIENNA (Reuters) - Egypt hit out at Israel on Wednesday for questioning its commitment to regional nuclear non-proliferation, underlining tension between the Jewish state and Arab countries at a meeting of the U.N. atomic watchdog.

In an unusually blunt statement at the International Atomic Energy Agency, an Egyptian delegate told the IAEA's annual 151-nation assembly gathering that Israel's representative had demonstrated "the full meaning of the word chutzpah."

The Yiddish word, also used in the English language, means "gall" or "nerve".

"Unlike Israel, which is widely known to pay no more than lip-service to the objective of a nuclear weapon-free Middle East, Egypt's consistent efforts ... are extensively and well documented," Aly Omar Sirry said in English.

Arab countries have put forward a resolution at the IAEA calling on Israel, the only country in the Middle East outside the pact, to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and put all its atomic facilities under the agency's oversight.

The United States says the Arab-led push could derail an Egyptian-proposed conference in 2012 towards establishing a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction, suggesting Israel is unlikely to attend if the resolution is approved.

Washington also warns it would send a "negative" signal to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Israel, widely believed to have the region's only nuclear arsenal, says it will not consider joining the NPT until there is comprehensive Middle East peace. If it signed the pact, it would have to forswear nuclear weaponry.