Arab states should pursue nuclear development

Rather than the Arab states being afraid of the Iranian development, they should welcome such development, and see it as a door for cooperation on nuclear issue for them as well. Why the Arab states have not developed advanced nuclear technology can be regarded as example of poor policy decisions. The Arab position has been to focus on disarming Israel from nuclear weapons it is supposed to have, and have locked themselves into a position of where they think that they make a stronger case against Israel, if they do not pursue nuclear development themselves. This, I believe, is a misguided policy imagining that Israel would hand its nuclear weapons and put its nuclear facilities under international institutions. So why are the Arab states leadership wasting time on this issue, when it is a fruitless proposition?

..There is an impression in the West that the Arab states are full of oil, and people there are dripping in petro-dollars. The reality is that most of the Arab population has a very low standard of living. Nuclear development will enrich these countries’ technological development and industry, and the cost of gasoline in some Arab states, I believe is higher than that in the USA and Europe and Japan. So the Arab states are and will be in as much need to nuclear energy to fuel their economic development as any of the western nation who are full of nuclear energy reactor.

Arabic News