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Israel, IAEA spar over Syria nuclear dossier
[Iran Press TV Latest] Israeli envoy has sparred with head of UN nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, over what Tel Aviv calls 'bias' over a probe into Syria's atomic program. Israeli ambassador Israel Michaeli on Thursday made his accusation against ElBaradei at a meeting of the IAEA's 35-member board. Michaeli called on ElBaradei to stay away from political bias in dealing with Syria's nuclear dossier. "Israel has responded timely and in good faith to the question addressed to it regarding the possible origin of the uranium particles, traced in the site of the nuclear reactor in Dair Alzour," Michaeli said. "Therefore the repeated calls by the director general on Israel to cooperate with this investigation are redundant." The head of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), for his part, described the Israeli envoy's statement as "totally distorted." "We work here in an organization that is an organization of international law. We apply international law, not selectively, but across the board," ElBaradei said. "When Israel took it upon itself to destroy a facility, what was claimed to be a nuclear facility, without giving the agency the opportunity to verify that ... this was not only making it almost impossible for us to establish the facts, but it was a clear violation of international law," he stressed. ElBaradei also referred to Tel Aviv's refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and said, "Israel is not even a member of the regime to tell us what tools are available to us. We would appreciate it if you could stop preaching to us how we can do our jobs." "You cannot sit on the fence, making use of the system, without being accountable," he added. ElBaradei also snubbed the accusation of bias. "To say that I am biased, I will not dignify that with a response. I will leave it to the board, who can decide whether we are doing our work with the required impartiality and professionalism," the head of UN nuclear watchdog said. The IAEA has announced in the past that satellite pictures taken before the Israeli bombardment of the site of the nuclear reactor in Dair Alzour showed premises similar to that of a reactor. This is while Damascus declines to elaborate on the satellite pictures. The UN nuclear watchdog has long been investigating US intelligence reports suggesting that Damascus had nearly constructed a nuclear reactor through cooperation between Syrian and North Korean nuclear scientists. Syria says its atomic procurement efforts are of civilian nature and related to water purification, the steel industry and shielding material for radiation therapy centers. Posted by: Fred 2009-06-19 |
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