ElBaradei asked Israel to give up its nuclear arsenal

VIENNA, April 29 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Secretary General Mohamed ElBaradei will visit Israel in July to promote a "nuclear weapon-free zone" in the Middle East, said an IAEA spokeswoman.

The UN chief nuclear inspector would be carrying out his mandate from the 137-member agency "to promote non-proliferation and a nuclear weapon-free zone in the Middle East," Melissa Fleming said.

The visit was confirmed by Gabriella Gafni, Israel's Ambassador to the Vienna-based nuclear watch-dog, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

He said the visit was scheduled for July but the agenda has not yet been set.

Last December, ElBaradei asked Israel to give up its secret arsenal of nuclear weapons so as to head off an arms race in the Middle East.

"My fear is that without such a dialogue, there will be continued incentive for the region's countries to develop weapons of mass destruction to match the Israeli arsenal," he had told the Israeli Haaretz daily.

Emerging from the fortified Shikma prison in southern Israel after serving 18 years in prison for blowing the whistle on Israel’s nuclear program, Mordechai Vanunu called Wednesday, April 21, for opening Israel’s Dimona nuclear plant for international inspection.

The one-time technician at the Dimona nuclear plant in southern Israel was jailed in 1986 after leaking details of the plant to a British newspaper.

Though being an IAEA member, Israel adamantly refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which the IAEA is mandated to enforce.

Arab countries, members of the IAEA, have repeatedly complained that Israel's nuclear weapons program is not being investigated, at a time when countries like Iran are under intense scrutiny from the U.N. agency.

At an IAEA conference in Vienna last September, Arab states tried but failed to get the U.N. watchdog to demand Israel submit to nuclear weapons proliferation safeguards.

But the international watchdog did pass a resolution calling for a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East, without specifically mentioning Israel.

While the U.S. is pressing Iran over its alleged nuclear arsenal, Israel's nuclear arsenal has grown from an estimated 13 nuclear bombs in 1967 to 400 nuclear and thermonuclear weapons, according to a report published by The Los Angles Times last October.

The CIA and the Pentagon said in one of their reports released last year that Israel now has between 200 and 400 enhanced radiation and hydrogen weapons, it added.

In early 1968, the CIA issued a report concluding that Israel had successfully started production of nuclear weapons. (Click here to read the history of Israel's nuclear arsenal.)

U.S. intelligence agencies routinely omit Israel from semiannual reports to Congress identifying countries developing weapons of mass destruction to protect the country from any economic or military sanctions.

The Washington Post also revealed last October that Israel has succeeded in modifying U.S.-made cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to be launched from submarines.