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Components of F-16 planes will be sold to Israel
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LONDON,
July 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – In a move that is
causing a split within its cabinet, the U.K. is bypassing its own arms
embargo on Israel and is selling military arms via the United States,
reported a U.K. newspaper on Sunday, July 7.
The
Guardian added that the U.K. Foreign Office said that components for
F16 fighter planes will be allowed to leave the country despite being
destined for aircraft already sold to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon’s government.
The
paper said that this move, will most likely be viewed with dismay
among Arab states and anti-arms campaigners who say the arming of
Israel raises tension in the area.
According
to a senior U.K. government official quoted by the Guardian “there
was a clear understanding the fighter planes could be used for
aggressive acts against the Occupied Territories, in direct
contradiction to Tony Blair’s call for peace.”
Israel
regularly uses F-16s for assaults on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
They have been used in attacks on Rafah and the Palestinian security
compound in Nablus, killing civilians.
Government
sources admitted the issue was “delicate” and that rules on sales
to embargoed countries via third countries were vague, said the
Guardian.
“We
look at these things on a case-by-case basis,” said one senior
Downing Street official, the paper reported. “We have to make it
clear we will only sell to countries where there are effective
procedures for controlling which countries the equipment is sold on
to.”
According
to the Guardian, despite the fact that the Ministry of Defense has
been pushing for the Israel deal to go through, there has been
opposition from Patricia Hewitt, the Trade and Industry Secretary who
was worried about the negative message such a deal sends to Arab
supporters and the rest of the European Union.
However,
Hewitt will now back the deal as long as the rules on future contracts
to third countries are clear. Britain is to provide sophisticated
navigation and targeting equipment for the F-16s, which are being
built in America for Israel, the paper said.
The
Ministry of Defense admitted the contract was part of a wooing
exercise to get U.S. military business. Britain and the US are already
planning a £100 billion joint strike fighter project, reported the
Guardian.
On
March 9, the Iranian News Agency, IRNA, reported that the U.K. Foreign
Office Minister Baroness Amos admitted that it is impossible to verify
that the Israeli army is not using British military equipment against
the Palestinians in the occupied territories.
“Many
U.K. defense exports in recent years have been components or pieces of
technology embedded in other systems and they not very visible,”
Amos told members of the House of Lords.
She
was explaining why the British Embassy in Tel Aviv does not undertake
physical checks on the actual use of weapons, ammunition and military
equipment supplied by U.K. firms since the start of the Palestinian
intifada two years ago.
U.K.
Foreign Office Minister Ben Bradshaw revealed last December that the
criteria for supplying arms to Israel had been tightened, saying that
the surest way in “preventing U.K. defense exports being misused is
to refuse an export license.”
Britain
is reported to have sold over $ 17 million worth of military equipment
to Israel in the past year. Statistics also show that 86 licenses for
goods on the U.K.’s military list were approved in the first half of
2001, IRNA reported.
Last
May, U.K. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw demanded an explanation from
Israel about the use of British military equipment in Israeli tanks
and attack helicopters, the two main weapons used against Palestinians
in the Occupied Territories, the Guardian reported.
Evidence
that parts of the systems are made by British companies contradicts
Israeli assurances that British arms would not be used in the
territories, said the paper.
Israeli
Merkava tanks have been equipped with cooling systems made by the
Airtechnology Group, the Surrey-based company confirmed Wednesday, May
29. It said the equipment had not been supplied to Israel since 1996.
British
equipment, including missile trigger systems, are also used in
American Apache helicopters supplied to Israel, the paper added.
On
April 13, the U.K. had imposed a de facto arms embargo on Israel for
the first time in 20 years, the Guardian said, quoting official
sources.
The ban covers military equipment that could be used in Israel’s
continuing operation in the Palestinian territories, the Guardian
reported.
The
sources insist Britain has not imposed a formal or complete ban and
government officials are not willing to say which sales have been
blocked, the paper added.
The
Guardian said their sources confirmed that equipment that would have
been cleared before Israel's offensive against the Palestinians is now
being blocked.
A
government official, according to the paper, pointed to British
guidelines that arms exports would be blocked if they were for
“internal repression” or affected “adversely regional stability
in any significant way.”
Although
Britain is not a major contributor to Israel’s armed forces, the
government last year approved 12.5 million pounds (20 million euros,
18 million dollars) of military exports to Israel, the Guardian said.
It
added that the U.K.’s refusals to approve arms exports are more
significant politically and diplomatically than militarily.
