Cablegate: Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (Npt): Non-Paper

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TO RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 7993
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV PRIORITY 5757
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RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 3246
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA PRIORITY 3881

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 STATE 103725

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
UNVIE FOR IAEA
GENEVA FOR CD DELEGATION

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EG ENRG IS KNNP MNUC PARM PREL NPT IAEA
SUBJECT: NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION TREATY (NPT): NON-PAPER
ON TECHNICAL WORKSHOP FOR EGYPT AND ISRAEL

REF: A. STATE 101698 B. STATE 103443

1. (U) This is an action request. See paragraph 3.

2. (SBU) Background: ISN Deputy Assistant Secretary Mary
Alice Hayward held meetings on NPT issues in Cairo (September
8; ref A) and Jerusalem (September 11; ref B). The meetings
included discussion of the 1995 NPT Resolution on the Middle
East, which calls for a weapons-of-mass-destruction-free zone
in the region. During those meetings, she presented a
concept for a Middle East technical workshop involving
scientists from Egypt, Israel, the United States, and
possibly other Arab states for the purpose of discussing
technical cooperation relevant to building confidence on
regional security. DAS Hayward indicated that the United
States would provide host governments with a non-paper
providing further information on this proposal.

3. (SBU) Action Request: Embassies are requested to provide
non-paper in paragraph 4 to appropriate host government
officials. Embassies should indicate that DAS Hayward is
meeting with the Egyptian and Israeli delegations in Vienna
during the IAEA General Conference and will provide her
interlocutors there with the non-paper as well. Please ask
host governments for a reply by October 17 and report any
reaction. If host government officials ask why we request a
reply by this date, please indicate that we hope to have the
workshop this calendar year and need time to organize it.

4. (SBU) Begin Non-Paper
Proposed Middle East Technical Workshop

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 62/18, adopted by
consensus on December 5, 2007, "notes the importance of the
ongoing Middle East peace negotiations ... in promoting
mutual confidence and security in the Middle East...." The
Resolution also "invites all parties to consider the
appropriate means that may contribute towards ... the
establishment of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction
in the region of the Middle East."

As part of its strong support for Middle East peace
negotiations and nonproliferation in the region, the United
States would like to propose a confidence-building measure
that could lead to further progress on regional security and
nonproliferation. The establishment of a
weapons-of-mass-destruction-free zone (WMDFZ) in the Middle
East is a long-term proposition. An arms limitation
agreement of this sort is likely to require technical
arrangements, some of which can be researched and developed
prior to the political acceptance of the agreement. These
circumstances afford time to engage in technical cooperation
that can help build confidence among regional parties and
perhaps jointly develop technical arrangements relevant to a
WMDFZ.

This concept leads us to propose a workshop for the exchange
of ideas on the technical aspects of confidence-building
measures for the Middle East, including those relevant to a
WMDFZ. The workshop itself would be a confidence-building
measure, but we believe that such technical exchanges can
also, by considering technical means to address common
security problems and building relationships among
counterparts in the individual states, produce meaningful
results.

Participants would include scientists and other technical
experts from - at a minimum - Egypt, Israel, and the United
States. Participants from other Arab states could also be
invited. Policy officials would also attend, but the
discussion would focus on the technical aspects of the
issues. The United States would be pleased to host such an
event, which would probably last two days at one of our
National Laboratories as early as October 2008.
Alternatively, the workshop could be held at a mutually
agreeable location in the Middle East region.

Following is a list of possible technical areas for

STATE 00103725 002 OF 002

discussion at the workshop. These are only examples, and the
list could be modified in a variety of ways, depending on the
preferences of the participating states.

- Past experience with cooperative use of technology to
address common security problems

- Security of civil nuclear/radioactive material

- Border security measures related to:

-- Detection of nuclear/radioactive material at borders

-- Detection of chemical/biological material at borders

-- Other border security measures

- Disease monitoring (e.g., for biological weapons use)

- Consequence management (e.g., to address use of WMD)

- Environmental/water issues

- Follow up to ideas developed at the workshop.

Possible follow-up activities could include demonstrations of
technical measures and arrangements for Israeli, Egyptian,
and possibly other Arab scientists to work together in one or
more of these areas for an extended period (e.g., months) at
one of the U.S. laboratories.

End Non-Paper
RICE

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