2003 NPT PrepCom reaffirms the importance of the 1995 Resolution on the Middle East

The Chairman’s factual summary included a call on all states in the Middle East to accede to the NPT and place their nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards. States parties took note of the initiative by the US, UN, EU and Russia to promote a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which could be an important step in the direction of the establishment of a ME WMDFZ. In response to the reference to the initiative, Egypt stated that “the importance of a nuclear weapon free zone and a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East should not be underestimated or tied to specific kinds of regional or political developments.” Syria also objected to the initiative saying that “fulfilment of the NPT must not be conditional on anything else.”