All assert that they have no aggressive intentions all fear that they will themselves be the victims of aggression. How does one get from here to there? In a general way the answer is obvious: the fears of the various parties must be understood and dealt with. The problem is how to create the conditions in which a zone becomes a realistic development. There is broad agreement that an effective zone would be a great improvement over the present situation. Tensions and fears are also evident in a number of other places in the Middle East, thus making the need to keep the area free of nuclear weapons very much in the interest, of regional and global peace.ġ10. A "breakout" from the NPT and safeguards régime thus unavoidably becomes more imaginable and the potential value of a nuclear-weapon-free zone, with strong political support from other States in the region rather than just the major Powers, is correspondingly enhanced. But suspicions are hard to eliminate totally, and even with full and effective safeguards, a steadily increasing number of scientists and technicians are growing familiar with nuclear physics, chemistry and engineering, and the handling of nuclear materials. A third-party observer may be relatively confident that these safeguards are effective, in view of the early stage at which safeguards were applied. Under the circumstances, it could be expected that each of them would be concerned as to the possible development of a nuclear- weapon capability by the other despite the IAEA safeguards. ![]() Two important States, each with peaceful nuclear installations and considerable missile capabilities, they were engaged in an extremely bitter and prolonged war in the 1980s, producing far more casualties than all the Arab-Israeli wars together. As illustration one need only cite the Iran-Iraq relationship. This discussion of the official positions and the realities that lie behind them has proceeded as if the problem had only two sides: Arab and Israeli. Third, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should be invited to prepare a study and submit specific recommendations related to the necessary verification and inspection measures that would be implemented in conjunction with the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East. Second, the Secretary-General should be authorized to appoint a personal representative, or a group of experts, to contact the States of the region with a view to formulating a model draft treaty and to evolve specific practical measures capable of creating the necessary conditions to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East. The three-pronged proposal called, first, for all States of the region, as well as nuclear-weapon States beyond the region, to declare that they would not introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East. Egypt introduced a new proposal regarding the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East. In 1988, at the fifteenth special session of the General Assembly, the third special session devoted to disarmament. That should come eventually as a result of building sufficient confidence amongst the principal actors in the region at which point formal undertakings to that effect could be initiated.ġ0. This fact is fully recognized in the wording of the General Assembly resolution requesting preparation of the present study, which focuses on effective and verifiable measures which would facilitate the establishment of such a zone in the Middle East rather than on its actual creation. ![]() These elements make any effort to establish such a zone extremely difficult, but at the same time and for the same reasons, also an urgent and most desirable objective. ![]() More recently, events in an area of the Persian Gulf, although distinct from the long-standing security concerns of the Arab-Israeli question, have nevertheless sharpened the need for greater security reassurance in the Middle East as a whole. ![]() The most obvious of them is that the Middle East is politically still unsettled and militarily volatile. Steps by outside Powers to encourage a zoneĬonfidence-building in other military fieldsĪ nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East most certainly deserves such a qualification for more than one reason. MEASURES FACILITATING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A ZONE Relationship between the nuclear factor and other Special provisions for denuclearized sea areas
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