JERUSALEM, July 8: Israel held fast to its policy of ambiguity about whether it has nuclear weapons and its refusal to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei concluded a visit on Thursday.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief ElBaradei had come to Israel on Tuesday urging the Jewish state to "clarify" whether it has nuclear weapons and to join the non-proliferation regime which his agency is mandated to verify.

But speaking after ElBaradei met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a senior Israeli nuclear official said there would be no change in the government's longstanding "strategic ambiguity" policy.

"For now, we see no reason, justification or requirement to change it," the official with Israel's Atomic Energy Commission told reporters, referring to the policy of neither confirming nor denying Israel's nuclear weapons capability.

Most foreign experts believe Israel possesses a nuclear arsenal of up to 200 warheads. Mr ElBaradei was also campaigning to get Israel to sign on to his plan to make the Middle East a nuclear weapons-free zone.

Mr ElBaradei said Sharon had "affirmed to me that Israel's policy continues to be that, in the context of peace in the Middle East, Israel would be looking favourably to the establishment of such a zone.

"This is not a new policy, but affirming that policy at the level of the prime minister, I find that to be a quite welcome development and a positive development," he said.

But Sharon did not set a time-frame for Israel to back off on its refusal to discuss such security issues. The UN nuclear chief said "a dialogue on security issues could be envisaged as part of the roadmap which has, as phase two, a discussion of arms control issues in an arms control subcommittee to be established under the roadmap."

He said this was "a good vision ... and I hope we can continue to work to transfer this vision into concrete steps." The so-called roadmap for peace between Israel andPalestinians is a blueprint that was drafted last year by the United States, European Union, the United Nations and Russia.

It calls for an end to the violence and the creation of a Palestinian state living alongside a secure Israel by 2005 but has made next to no progress to date. "Israel has its own threat perception which it believes is unique," as the country believes "it is the only state (in the region) that faces an existential threat", IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky told reporters.

The Israeli official said that while there had been positive signs in parts of the region, following Libya's renunciation of weapons of mass destruction, the regime in Tehran "is going in the opposite direction and shaking lose" of commitments it had given to both the IAEA and the European Union. -AFP

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