The dream of freeing the Middle East, in its entirety, of all weapons of mass destruction should not lose its holistic character. Attempts or proposals forwarded by Western and regional powers -- or regional parties on behalf of international players -- to divide the issue up into separate parts are certain to harm the collective interest of the region in attaining comprehensive security and stability. During the past few years, Israel has insisted that its nuclear capacity -- which remains subject to a policy of ambiguity, even before the world's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency -- should only be dealt with in context of a comprehensive settlement concerning its disputed occupation of Arab territories. Unfortunately, this disingenuous call has received significant international support, especially that Israel is not a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to which all other Middle Eastern states -- Iran included -- are party. Moreover, this stipulation was received with little Arab opposition -- with the exception of Arab states bordering Israel. Further dividing the collective security issue, Arab countries in North Africa and the Gulf have pursued separate security arrangements, with some involving heavy US participation in the Gulf. Thus, it was disturbing to hear official statements coming out of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit this week putting clear emphasis on the issue of Iran's nuclear energy aspirations and a less than plain emphasis on Israeli nuclear weapons. The angry reaction of the GCC leaders to a request forwarded by the Arab League secretary-general for the six GCC members to accord equal attention to Israel is difficult to appreciate, especially in view of the fact that there is ample evidence that Iran has no access to nuclear weapons -- even if it entertains the wish to -- and that Israel, according to common Western estimates, has around 200 nuclear warheads with a range that could reach Gulf countries and not only Egypt, as some GCC officials tried to indicate. The language ultimately adopted in the final communiqué of the GCC summit on the need to free the entire Middle East is the right line to pursue, but must be pursued comprehensively. It is close to 15 years since the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 687 ordered the dismantling of Iraq's programme of weapons of mass destruction as a first step towards freeing the entire region of these lethal arms. It would be wrong to forget the spirit of this resolution, just as it is wrong for member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to worry more about the so-far peaceful nuclear energy programme of a fellow OIC member than about the advanced military nuclear programme of Israel.
