Arab nations slam Israel for having nukes

U.N. rights chief urges Israel to have mercy on Gaza

Arab nations have condemned Israel for having nuclear weapons, on Friday the final day of a general conference of the U.N. watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency.Omani ambassador Salim Mohammed al-Riyami presented the agenda item "Israeli nuclear capabilities and threat" saying there was concern over the "failure of the universality" of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) since Israel refuses to sign it.Israel neither confirms nor denies it has nuclear weapons, although it is believed to have some 200 atom bombs.

"Israel still benefits from total freedom to develop its nuclear capacities," Riyami told the 144 member states of the IAEA, which uses safeguard agreements to monitor compliance with the NPT.Riyami had said in a document submitted along with the agenda item: "The policies of successive Israeli government have obstructed the peace process in the Middle East and all initiatives to free the region . . . of weapons of mass destruction, and in particular of nuclear weapons, have failed.

"The IAEA was also set to debate a resolution on safeguards, with Arab nations pushing for changes in the text to target Israel for having nuclear weapons.At the conference which began Monday Arab states on Thursday pushed through a resolution clearly aimed at Israel, calling for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons.The general conference approves broad policy lines for the IAEA.But the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors, which meets separately from the general conference, makes decisions for the agency on how policy is implemented

Meanwhile the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour urged Israel to exercise restraint in its dealings with the Hamas-led Gaza Strip. In a statement voicing concern at Israel's decision on Wednesday to declare Gaza an "enemy entity", Arbour said reducing fuel and power to the coastal territory would place an "unbearable burden" on its 1.5 million people.

Arbour reminded Israel of its obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law not to use disproportionate means or resort to collective punishment. Arbour condemned the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel by Palestinian militants in Gaza and said that Gaza had already paid a "heavy price" from daily violence, isolation and deprivation. After three months of nearly complete closure, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is "critical", Angelo Gnaedinger, director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said on Friday on return from Gaza. The agricultural sector is particularly affected,

as most produce is grown for export, while most industrial and other businesses have had to close down, the ICRC said in a statement. The operation of Gaza's water and sewage facilities has been impaired by military incursions, import restrictions, extensive damage to Gaza power station and interruptions to fuel supplies, the Swiss-based aid agency said. An ICRC assessment of nine hospitals in the Gaza Strip found that the hospital infrastructure is deteriorating rapidly, it said.

"Many facilities, diagnostic machines and other equipment are either out of order or in bad condition,

as it is no longer possible to maintain them properly," the ICRC said. The transfer of Gaza patients allowed to go into Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank for medical treatment had slowed to a "trickle", compared with the previous daily rate of 30 to 40 since the Hamas takeover in June, according to the ICRC