Israel rejects UN calls for a nuclear-free Middle East

The final document from the just-completed month-long UN review conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) called for a 2012 conference of all Middle Eastern states to move forward on a 1995 proposal for a nuclear-free Mideast.

The document also calls on Israel to sign the treaty and place "all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards."

Israel has never signed the NPT, which requires members to open nuclear facilities to inspection and to disarm.

And on Saturday Tel Aviv declared that it would not take part in the 2012 conference.

The Netanyahu administration blasted the conference's document as "deeply flawed and hypocritical," charging that it "ignores the realities of the Middle East and the real threats facing the region and the entire world.

In a statement, the Israeli government charged that "the real problem with Weapons Of Mass Destruction in the Middle East does not relate to Israel but to those countries that have signed the NPT and brazenly violated it - Iraq under Saddam, Libya, Syria and Iran."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he intends to discuss the resolution with President Barack Obama when the two meet in Washington on Tuesday.

The Arab proposal for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction was first endorsed at a 1995 non-proliferation conference but never acted on.