Arab Bloc Throws Hitch Into Nuclear Pact : Diplomacy: Plan to pass Non-Proliferation Treaty hits new snag over criticism of Israel’s stance. Approval is still expected.

A carefully balanced plan to assure an overwhelming vote for permanent renewal of the treaty banning the spread of nuclear weapons hit a snag Wednesday when a united Arab bloc demanded new criticism of Israel for refusing to sign the pact.

Diplomats predicted the obstacle will be removed in time for representatives of most of the 178 nations that have signed the 25-year-old Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to agree today to make it permanent, giving the Clinton Administration a victory on one of its top foreign policy objectives.

Even Egyptian representative Nabil Araby, who organized the Arab protest, conceded that the treaty will be renewed despite the new controversy. “A majority exists” to renew the accord, Araby said. “This is a fact of life. We will have to recognize it.”

The U.S.-backed resolution extending the treaty indefinitely and without conditions has 107 co-sponsors, well in excess of the 90 votes required to renew the pact.

Nevertheless, the last-minute measure, supported by every Arab country represented at the conference--including Iraq and Kuwait, which joined in a common position for the first time since the Persian Gulf War--is acutely embarrassing to the United States.

That’s because it spotlights Israel’s unregulated nuclear program, which is widely believed to have produced a substantial nuclear arsenal.

Although the Administration says all nations should eventually adhere to the treaty, it endorses Israel’s policy of refusing to renounce nuclear weapons until it signs a peace treaty with every Middle East country, including implacable foes such as Iraq and Iran.

In another last-minute hitch, North Korea said it will refuse to participate in the final vote, registering its objections to the treaty’s impact on its clandestine nuclear program. North Korea earlier threatened to withdraw from the treaty, a step that would have touched off a confrontation with the United States and its allies.

The Pyongyang regime backed away from the threat after reaching agreement with Washington on a plan to freeze its weapons program in exchange for two modern nuclear power reactors that would generate far more electricity than its existing reactors but would not permit diversion of bomb-grade plutonium.

Although North Korea will continue to be bound by the treaty, despite its refusal to participate in the vote, the action could signal a new attempt to withdraw from the treaty, a cumbersome procedure that takes a year to complete.

The treaty, which took effect in 1970, permits the five nations that then acknowledged having nuclear arsenals--the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China--to keep them. But it bans all other nations from trying to acquire atomic weapons. The nuclear powers also agreed to make a “good faith” effort to negotiate nuclear disarmament.

In sometimes-heated debate during the renewal conference, many non-nuclear states demanded that the nuclear powers do more to get rid of their arms. As a compromise, the powers accepted the goal of total elimination of atomic arms but did not set a target date. They also agreed to negotiate a ban on nuclear tests by the end of next year.

Those provisions were included in a six-page package of non-binding resolutions intended to “strengthen” the treaty without making any changes in the pact itself.

The Arab criticism of Israel was offered as an amendment to that package.