The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved an Arab-backed resolution on Tuesday calling on Israel to renounce possession of nuclear weapons and put its nuclear facilities under international oversight.

The resolution, adopted in a 161-5 vote, noted that Israel is the only Middle Eastern country that is not a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. It called on Israel to "accede to that treaty without further delay, not to develop, produce test or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons, to renounce possession of nuclear weapons" and put its nuclear facilities under the safeguard of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency.

The United States and Canada were among four countries that joined Israel in opposing the measure, while 18 countries abstained.

Israel is widely considered to possess nuclear arms but declines to confirm it.

The resolution, introduced by Egypt, echoed a similar Arab-backed effort that failed to gain approval in September at the Vienna-based IAEA. At the time, Israel criticized Arab countries for undermining dialogue by repeatedly singling out the Jewish state in international arenas. Israel's UN Mission did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday.

The UN resolution, titled "The risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East", pushed for the establishment of a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East and lamented that US-backed efforts to convene talks were abandoned in 2012.

Israel has long argued that a full Palestinian-Israeli peace plan must precede any creation of a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction. The country also argues that Iran's alleged work on nuclear arms is the real regional threat. Iran denies pursuing such weapons.

The General Assembly's resolutions are not legally binding but carry moral weight because it is the only body where all 193 UN member states are represented.

US representative Robert Wood, in voting against the resolution at the committee-level last month, said the measure "fails to meet the fundamental tests of fairness and balance".

"It confines itself to expressions of concern about the activities of a single country."

Wood said the US will continue pushing a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, but he warned that such resolutions only undermine prospects for progress.

Teheran seeks post

Iran is seeking a senior post on a UN committee that decides accreditation of nongovernmental organizations, a move that Israel on Tuesday compared to letting the late US gangster Al Capone run the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Iran was elected to the 19-member committee in April for a four-year term from 2015, while the US and Israel are also committee members.

In a letter obtained by Reuters, Iran presented its candidacy for vice-chair of the committee, which will begin meeting in late January.

AP - Reuters

(China Daily 12/04/2014 page11)