Israel and Syria each announced plans today to develop nuclear power to meet the energy needs of the volatile Middle East, during a conference hosted by France to promote reactors.
Israel said it was ready to build a joint nuclear plant with its Arab neighbours but Jordan flatly rejected the proposal, saying it was premature to discuss such cooperation without first settling the Palestinian conflict.
"Nuclear energy can be an area of regional cooperation with the objective of promoting peace," Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau told the Paris conference.
Syria, which has been investigated by the UN nuclear watchdog over its alleged attempt to build a secret nuclear reactor, also said it would like to develop atomic energy.
Damascus needs "to consider alternative sources of energy, including nuclear energy," Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told the gathering of 65 countries and organisations.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy opened the conference on Monday with a call for countries to adopt nuclear power to produce electricity, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ease pressure on energy prices.
Israel has already chosen a site for the nuclear reactor -- its first to be put to civilian energy use -- in the northern part of the Negev desert, said Israeli minister Landau.
Israel has two nuclear reactors, one near the southeast city of Dimona that is widely believed to be used to produce atomic weapons, and a second research reactor at Nahal Soreq near Tel Aviv.
The Jewish state is widely reported to have nuclear weapons but refuses to confirm or deny this, pursuing a policy of "nuclear ambiguity."
Israeli officials have said the new plant would be a joint project between Israel and Jordan -- one of only two Arab countries to have signed a peace deal with Israel -- and that France would supervise and provide technology.
"Naturally any nuclear power plant to be built in Israel will be subject to all the international safeguards," said Landau.
Jordan has announced plans to build its own nuclear plant and on Tuesday made clear it was not interested in cooperation with Israel.
"We had nothing to do with this proposal, and it's premature to talk about any Jordanian-Israeli nuclear cooperation before finding a solution to the Palestinian issue," the head of Jordan's Atomic Energy Commission, Khaled Tukan, said in Amman.
Syria's bid to join the nuclear club will cause more international concern, given the regime's close ties with Iran and the still unanswered questions over an earlier alleged attempt to build a reactor in secret.
The International Atomic Energy Agency complained last year that Damascus had refused to cooperate with its investigation of a remote desert site called Dair Alzour, which was bombed by Israel in September 2007.
France is now spearheading moves to bring Syria out of diplomatic isolation and persuade it to distance itself from Tehran's Islamic regime, which western powers believe is trying to develop and build a nuclear weapon.
The Israeli government has also repeatedly accused Iran of plotting to become a "nuclear superpower" with covert activities in atomic energy, a claim Tehran has rejected.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Egypt decided in 2007 to relaunch its nuclear energy programme developed with Soviet assistance in the 1960s and began carrying out studies on building its first nuclear power station.
It has one research reactor at Inshas northeast of Cairo.
France has offered to help countries in north Africa and in the Gulf develop civilian nuclear technology, but suffered a setback last year when the United Arab Emirates chose a South Korean consortium to build four new reactors.