CAIRO Ñ The Arab League plans to form a committee of experts to
monitor Israel's nuclear activities.
Arab League officials said the panel would be part of the Arab Atomic
Energy Agency and monitor Israel's nuclear facilities. They said the stress
would be on the nuclear reactor at Dimona, which is not under the inspection
of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Arab Atomic Energy Agency chief Mahmoud Nasser Eddin said the proposed
committee would monitor air and water samples along Israel's borders with
Arab states. Nasser Eddin said the panel would aim to quickly detect any
nuclear leakage from Israel.
Egypt has taken the lead for intensified international efforts to
monitor the Dimona plant. Egyptian officials have asserted that radiation
levels along the Israeli-Egyptian border have been higher than normal.
Israel has denied this.
Last month, the Arab League held a series of meetings to discuss
Israel's
nuclear activities. The panel that convened in Cairo included Arab military
delegates.
Nasser Edin also met Arab League secretary-general Amr Mussa to discuss
the activities of the new panel. The two men were said to have
agreed that Israel should be pressured to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty.