Environment ministers from Arab nations called in Cairo Wednesday for the closure of Israel's nuclear reactor at Dimona, charging it posed an environmental threat.
The ministers considered it dangerous because it was built from "outdated technology" and functioned "outside of international inspection," Yussef Abu Safiya, the Palestinian minister for environment, told reporters.
The ministers were debating a request made by the Palestinian delegation here.
The nuclear reactor in the Negev desert town of Dimona is capable of producing the plutonium needed for atomic bombs and foreign experts suspect up to 200 nuclear warheads are stored at the plant.
But Israel, which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has never admitted having a nuclear arsenal nor opened the Dimona plant to international inspectors.
The environment ministers meanwhile accused Israel of abusing the region's water supplies.
They discussed the "theft of water (from the Palestinian territories), poisoning well water, and the seepage of used water from Jewish settlements into Palestinian farmland," Abu Safiya said – CAIRO (AFP)
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