Around the World: Israel

Call to sign NPT rejected

An Israeli official yesterday criticized a US call to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as hard to understand, citing the pact's failure to prevent countries from obtaining atomic arms.

"It is therefore hard to understand why there should be such an insistence on a treaty that has proven its inefficiency," a senior official at the Israeli Foreign Ministry said, after US Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller urged Israel, India, Pakistan and the DPRK to join the treaty.