VIENNA: Israel and its Arab neighbors sat in the same room on Monday for rare discussions on banning nuclear weapons in the Middle East, although the meeting was marred by the absence of boycotting Iran.

Arab states, including Syria and Lebanon, took aim at Israel over the atomic arsenal it is widely believed to possess but has never officially confirmed.

But despite the expected Arab criticism of the Jewish state, participants described the opening of the two-day closed-door meeting as less confrontational than the heated rhetoric that usually marks public discussions about the sensitive issue.

"The atmosphere is fine," said an Arab diplomat. "It seemed constructive," one Western envoy said about the first session.

The Nov. 21-22 forum - hosted by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - has been billed as a symbolically significant bid to bring regional foes together at the same venue, although no concrete outcome is expected.

"That both Israel and the Arab states summoned the political will to attend the IAEA session, and thus to allow it finally to take place, was a positive development," said proliferation expert Mark Fitzpatrick, a director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank.

If conducted smoothly with relatively toned-down rhetoric on all sides, it could send a positive signal ahead of a planned international conference next year to discuss establishing a zone free of nuclear arms in the Middle East.

Israel, presumed to be the region's only nuclear power and its only country not to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), has said it would sign the 1970 pact and renounce nuclear weapons only as part of a broader Middle East peace deal with Arab states and Iran that guaranteed its security.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog suspects Iran may be seeking to develop nuclear weapons, and Western countries fear an arms race in the region.

Iran said it would not take part in the discussions after the IAEA's 35-nation governing board passed a resolution on Friday rebuking it for its atomic activities.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano, opening Monday's meeting, urged Middle East countries to engage in "fresh thinking" and said he hoped the event "will help to promote dialogue on a nuclear weapon-free zone" in the region.

Iran, which denies there is a military purpose to its nuclear work, has accused Amano of pro-Western bias and of failing to address Israel's presumed atomic arsenal.

"In refusing to attend, Iran has dealt yet another blow to the vision of a nuclear-weapon free zone, which will require concerted political will by all regional players," Fitzpatrick said.

ARABS CRITICISE ISRAEL

Syria, Lebanon and other Arab countries which spoke in the morning session attacked Israel, either directly or indirectly and called on it to join a global anti-nuclear arms pact, one official who followed the talks said.

Syrian Ambassador Bassam Al-Sabbagh told the meeting that Israel's nuclear capabilities pose a "grave and continuous threat", the official said, adding that other Arab envoys were milder in their statements. Israel had yet to speak.

The talks focused on the experiences of regions which have set up Nuclear Weapon-Free Zones (NWFZ), including Africa and Latin America, and how the Middle East can learn from them. Representatives of those zones addressed the meeting.

IAEA member states decided in 2000 to hold the forum but it has taken this long for the parties involved to agree on the agenda and other issues. All agency members were invited.

Finland has agreed to host a 2012 conference to discuss formally banning nuclear weapons in the Middle East.

The idea for the meeting came from Egypt, which pushed for talks among all states in the region on a nuclear arms-free zone, still seen by many experts as a distant prospect.