IAEA chief ElBaradei: Israel should promote nuke-free Mideast

[Classical_Liberal]

IAEA chief ElBaradei: Israel should promote nuke-free Mideast

By Reuters



MOSCOW - Israel should start talking seriously about ridding the Middle East of nuclear weapons, whether it admits to having them or not, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency said yesterday.



Speaking to reporters on a visit to Russia, Mohamed ElBaradei - director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - said this would be a main topic of his visit to Israel in early July.

"We need ... to rid the Middle East of all weapons of mass destruction," he said. "Israel agrees with that, but they say it has to be ... after peace agreements ... Maybe we need to start to have a parallel dialogue on security at the same time we're working on the peace process."

The Israeli Committee on Atomic Energy's stated in response that Israel would warmly welcome the IAEA chief during his visit......

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/444222.html