POLAND: CONCERNED ABOUT MIDDLE EAST AND IAEA

C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 000897 SIPDIS FOR ISN/RA E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/28/2019 TAGS: AORC PREL PARM KNNP IAEA EG IS SUBJECT: POLAND: CONCERNED ABOUT MIDDLE EAST AND IAEA REF: STATE 85128 Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR DAN SAINZ FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D ) ¶1. (C) Szymon Bochenski of the Polish MFA's Security Department told us on August 25 that Poland shares U.S. concerns that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference (GC) is becoming mired in an overly politicized Arab-Israeli debate on the Middle East issue which is distracting participants from core technical work. Bochenski added that singling out Israel while ignoring other regional nonproliferation concerns is out of the question. He said the EU will discuss the proposal during the week of August 31, but at first glance the U.S. proposal to put forward a single resolution on the Middle East could return the GC to consensus on the issue. However, Bochenski emphasized the importance of winning Israeli and Egyptian support for such a resolution. ¶2. (C) Bochenski told us that he met the previous day with Israeli diplomats who asked for Polish support. The diplomats indicated that Israel is reaching out to Egypt in an effort to reach an understanding before the General Conference. ASHE