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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu takes a question during a press conference in Jerusalem this week.Menahem Kahana/AFP / Getty Images

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has cancelled his plans to attend the nuclear security summit meeting in Washington next week and will send a minister in his place, Israeli and American government officials said Thursday.

The official declined to explain the last-minute cancellation. But Israeli news media reported Friday that the Prime Minister fears that Muslim states are planning on using the occasion to raise the question of Israel's nuclear arsenal. Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed power in the Middle East, but it refuses to discuss the issue and has declined to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The official said that Dan Meridor, the minister for intelligence affairs, would attend the meeting, which starts on Monday.

Leaders of nearly four dozen countries are scheduled to attend the meeting, where U.S. President Barack Obama is hoping to reach an agreement on securing vulnerable nuclear stockpiles in an attempt to keep them safe from terrorists.

But that issue could be further complicated if attending leaders insist on broadening the conversation to include Israel's reported arsenal. Many Muslim countries, while acknowledging their concern over Iran's nuclear program, have insisted that the entire region must be made nuclear free - clearly including Israel in the equation. The latest effort came at an Arab League meeting in Libya in late March.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Friday quoted a senior Israeli official as saying, "In the last few days, we have received reports about the intention of several participant states to depart from the issue of fighting terrorism and instead misuse the event to goad Israel" over the nonproliferation treaty.

The summit meeting is not supposed to focus on individual nations, but the weapons of North Korea and the nuclear program of Iran, as well as possible sanctions against Iran, are expected to be discussed. Meanwhile, work on possible wording for new sanctions resolutions began at the United Nations on Thursday, where the five permanent members of the Security Council, along with Germany, met to begin discussions.

The Israeli Prime Minister's cancellation also comes against the background of recent tensions between the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government over the terms for restarting peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The United States has asked Israel to take certain steps, and Mr. Netanyahu has yet to respond. The main disagreement is over Israel's building in contested East Jerusalem.

The Israeli leader's decision came as the United States and Russia opened what they called a new era in their tumultuous relationship on Thursday as they signed an arms control treaty and presented a largely united front against Iran's nuclear program, marking a sharp change since they broke over the Georgia war two years ago.

In a ceremony in Prague, Mr. Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev put aside the tensions of recent years to seal the New START pact paring back their nuclear arsenals.

New York Times News Service

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