VZCZCXRO3902
PP RUEHAP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHFL RUEHGI RUEHGR RUEHKN RUEHKR RUEHKUK
RUEHMA RUEHMJ RUEHMR RUEHMRE RUEHPA RUEHPB RUEHROV
DE RUEHC #3725/01 2731337
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291334Z SEP 08
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 7993
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV PRIORITY 5757
INFO ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
NPT COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 4036
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