by Xinhua writer Liu Gang

    VIENNA, Sept. 22, (Xinhua) -- The recently concluded 53rd General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a resolution that urged Israel to join the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and to put its entire nuclear program under IAEA inspection.

    One senior official of the IAEA, who declined to be named, told Xinhua on Tuesday that it was the first time in nearly 20 years that the IAEA passed a resolution directly addressing Israel's nuclear program.

    The non-binding resolution was passed by a 49-45 margin with 16abstentions. It will lead people to pay more attention to the Israeli nuclear issue, on which views have long been divided in the international community.

    Israel not only has conventional military superiority in the Middle East, but is widely suspected to possess nuclear weapons, including land, air and sea three-dimensional nuclear strike capability.

    Israeli government neither confirms nor denies its military nuclear capacity as a matter of policy.

    The Jewish state is also the only country in the region that is not a signatory to the NPT and therefore accepts only limited IAEA inspection.

    Since 1991, there has been annual IAEA conferences attempting to address Israel's nuclear issue. However, until Sept.18, the West had lobbied successfully against a vote, and no resolution had been passed in the previous conferences.

    At this year's IAEA general conference, countries that voted for the resolution included Arab countries, which have been wary of the Israel's nuclear program, developing countries, as well as permanent U.N. Security Council members such as Russia.

    All of this indicates that, in addition to Arab countries, an increasing number of countries worldwide have become concerned over the possible threat of Israel's nuclear program.

    On the question of whether there should be a resolution on the Israeli nuclear issue, some Western countries once again put forward the motion of "no-action."

    If the majority of member states support the motion, relevant resolutions would not be submitted to the general conference to be voted.

    But the motion lost by an eight-vote margin.

    Western states nipped a resolution concerning Israel's nuclear issue by using the strategy of first voting on the "no-action" motion in several past IAEA general conferences.

    Despite concerns of Arab countries on Israel's nuclear capabilities, the United States and its allies have insisted that Iran is the biggest threat of nuclear proliferation in the region and put constant pressure on it.

    After the official resolution was passed, Iran's Ambassador AliAsghar Soltanieh said the vote was "a triumph, a glorious moment" which "made us see the hope that the West would adjust their policies."

    Israel's delegate David Danieli said his country would not cooperate with this resolution.

    "This resolution will only aggravate the political conflict and division in the Middle East region", he said.

    Western countries, including the United States and the European Union, also opposed the resolution, arguing that after Thursday's resolution calling for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction was adopted, there was no need for a separate one on Israel.

    They also said it was unfair and counterproductive to isolate one member state.

    "Such an approach is highly politicized and does not truly address the complexities at play regarding crucial nuclear-related issues in the Middle East," chief U.S. delegate Glyn Davies said.