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| By Associated Press December 13, 2006 |
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The United States and the international community should impose sanctions on Israel for its nuclear program, the chief of the organization grouping Arab countries in the Persian Gulf told reporters Tuesday.
Abdul Rahman al-Attiyah, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, said in response to questions from reporters, "The United States should not apply double standards since it calls for sanctions on countries that have nuclear programs that we have not ruled out are framework of nuclear weapons."
Al-Attiyah made the comments in response to queries about remarks Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made Monday that seemed to be an admission of his country's nuclear capabilities.
Al-Attiyah's remarks, made along the sidelines of a meeting of GCC and NATO members, were the first high-level Arab reaction on the matter. Political heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia and the Arab League have not commented so far.
The U.S. should "seek the implementation of international resolutions, international laws and Chapter 7," Al-Attiyah added, referring to the section of the United Nation's charter which authorizes punishments ranging from breaking diplomatic ties and imposing economic sanctions to naval blockades and military actions.
He said Olmert's remarks "spelled destruction for the area and humanity."
Al-Attiyah, a Qatari diplomat, spoke to reporters along the sidelines of the one-day conference in Kuwait to enhance cooperation between the oil-rich Gulf states and NATO.
"I believe it is time now for the international community to see that peace and security are now threatened by this announcement," the diplomat said.
In an interview with a German television station broadcast Monday, Olmert appeared to list Israel among the world's nuclear powers, violating the country's long-standing policy of not officially acknowledging that it has atomic weapons.
The NATO meeting follows a summit by the GCC, which groups Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman, that ended Sunday.
Gulf countries have expressed safety concerns about Iran's nuclear program. They are also believed to fear that as host to U.S. military bases they would be on the front line of any Iranian reprisals if the U.S. attacked Iran over its nuclear program.
At the end of their gathering, Gulf leaders said they were considering a shared nuclear program for peaceful purposes.
Most other Arab countries have maintained a diplomatic silence over Iran's program, calling instead for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction -- a pointed reference to Israel's presumed nuclear weapons' capabilities.
The NATO secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, stressed in his keynote address to the conference Tuesday the importance of security cooperation between the Western 26-member organization and Gulf states because they face the same threats including terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
"Never has cooperation been more important than today," he told officials, diplomats and academics at the gathering. "In a world of globalized threats, we need a globalized responses."
Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have joined NATO's cooperation initiative with Middle Eastern nations, which was launched by the alliance's 2004 summit in Istanbul, Turkey.
Kuwait and NATO signed an agreement Tuesday to streamline the exchange of sensitive security information. |
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