Mar 12, 2009, 16:40 GMT
Geneva - The establishment of a nuclear weapon-free zone in the Middle East would require peace between the region's nations and had to be reached on the basis of free consent, Israel said Thursday.
While the Jewish State supported the idea of a non-conventional weapons-free region 'eventually', Israel would have to be part of the process and have its right to exist recognized.
'We would need peace, reconciliation and the recognition of every state's right to live in peace,' Meir Itzchaki, the Israeli representative to the Conference on Disarmament, told Deutsche Press- Agentur dpa.
He had earlier addressed the conference at the United Nations and said that ongoing threats against his country, and the fact that states were actively engaged in proliferation and support of terrorism, did not allow for the establishment at this time of a nuclear weapons-free zone.
Itzchaki said Israel supported a multilateral regional forum for discussing nuclear topics.
Israel did not sign onto the non-proliferation treaty and reportedly has nuclear weapons, though it officially does not confirm or deny their existence.
Some other nations speaking at the conference Thursday supported a nuclear weapons-free Middle East, including Turkey, China, Egypt and Algeria who said that tying the establishment of such a zone to the peace process would undermine the non-proliferation system.
Your Talkback on this Story