Opening of N-market for Israel, India proposed

WASHINGTON, Sept 30: Israel is quietly lobbying to allow international transfer of nuclear technology to the countries that are regarded as nuclear weapon states but have not yet signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

Currently, three countries — India, Pakistan and Israel — fall in this category but the Israeli proposal will only benefit India and Israel while Pakistan is left out of this plan because of its alleged proliferation records.

The 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group does not allow trade with countries that have not signed the NPT. Thus countries such as India, Israel and Pakistan are prohibited from participating in international nuclear trade, including buying reactors, uranium fuel or yellowcake.

But the United States, which has signed an agreement for sharing nuclear technology with India, is lobbying the NSG to exempt New Delhi from its restrictions. The Post, however, noted that the Israeli move may complicate the Bush administration’s efforts to win an exemption for India to engage in such trade. The administration still faces a strong opposition from the anti-nuclear lobbies as it pushes to clear the final hurdles blocking the groundbreaking agreement with India.

Using the Israeli proposal as an example, the opponents of the Indo-US nuclear deal can argue that any exception to the NPT restriction may open the gate to proliferation as other non-recognised nuclear states may also demand acceptance. Documents outlining Israel’s proposal were distributed among the NSG members in March and have circulated on Capitol Hill in Washington in recent days.

The Israeli plan offers 12 criteria for allowing nuclear trade with non-treaty states, including one that hints at Israel’s status as an undeclared nuclear weapons state: A state should be allowed to engage in nuclear trade if it applies “stringent physical protection, control and accountancy measures to all nuclear weapons, nuclear facilities, source material and special nuclear material in its territory.”

Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association in Washington, said the Israeli document could affect the debate over India. “The dynamics at the NSG are that no country wants to stand in the way of the largest country, India, and the most powerful country, the US,” he said.