Israel not to ratify chemical arms treaty before Arab neighbors

Israel will not ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention as long as its Arab neighbors hold chemical weapons, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman told Xinhua on Thursday. As Russia and the United States push forward a diplomatic move to disarm Syria of its chemical weapon, Israel is aware of the possibility that international organizations would turn a similar request to it, too. Israel has signed the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1993 but not ratified it. The Foreign Ministry says recently that Israel would not bring the treaty for a final vote in the Knesset ( parliament), a necessary procedure for its ratification. "Unfortunately, other countries in the Middle East have failed to follow suit and have indicated that their position would remain unchanged even if Israel ratifies the Convention," Yigal Palmor, a spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry told Xinhua. Syria is thought to hold one of the most advanced chemical arsenals in the Middle East, and Egypt used chemical weapons against Yemen in 1960's. Both Syria and Egypt have not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention. Egypt has linked its refusal to sign the convention with Israel's refusal to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. "The whole point of signing the treaty is that if it is done on a multi-lateral basis... Since these conditions are not met, we are reconsidering our intent to ratify the convention," Palmor said. "The chemical weapons threat against Israel and its civilian population is neither theoretical nor distant," said Palmor. " These threats cannot be ignored by Israel, in the assessment of possible ratification of the Convention," he added.