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Politics : The Donkey's Inn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (3286)	3/13/2002 1:51:29 AM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 15516

Modified British tanks are used in raids Anger as Israel violates arms promise Richard Norton-Taylor and Michael White Wednesday March 13, 2002 The Guardian Ministers are demanding an explanation from Israel about its use of British military equipment in actions against Palestinians in the occupied territories. The move comes after Ben Bradshaw, the junior Foreign Office minister, disclosed that the Israeli armed forces had modified British Centurion tanks, exported between 1958 and 1970, into armoured personnel carriers. He told the Labour MP George Galloway that this contradicted a written assurance from the Israeli government on November 29 2000 that "no UK-originated equipment nor any UK-originated systems/ sub systems/components are used as part of the defence force's activities in the [occupied] territories". Mr Bradshaw said: "New information has come to light that UK-supplied equipment licensed for export under a previous administration and a different export control regime is being used by the Israelis in the occupied territories". But he added that there was no evidence that any other British military equipment sold to Israel had been used against civilians. The Guardian understands that Britain's defence attache in Israel recognised that armoured personnel carriers he saw recently had been adapted from Centurion tanks. However, Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, yesterday rejected Labour demands for an arms embargo on Israel. He said it would be unlikely to produce the desired results. Saferworld, an independent thinktank, said the evidence of Israeli misuse of UK equipment highlighted the need for Britain to establish a comprehensive system for monitoring the use of arms exports. The export control bill currently in the Lords does not include such a system. "This case shows again that simply relying on assurances from overseas governments that they are using British arms exports responsibly is not enough", its director, Paul Eavis, said. "It is vital to amend the export control bill and put such a system in place." Government figures reveal that it approved more than £12m worth of military equipment for export to Israel in 2000, including demolition charges, general purpose machine guns, rifles, small arms ammunition, com ponents for small calibre artillery ammunition, and components for air-to-surface missiles, armoured fighting vehicles, armoured personnel carriers, combat aircraft, combat helicopters and tanks. According to government guidelines, arms exports will be refused "if there is a clear risk that the intended recipient would use the proposed export aggressively against another country, or to assert by force a territorial claim". Martin Hogbin, national coordinator of the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, said yesterday that the admission demonstrated the need for more stringent arms export controls and an immediate embargo on arms sales to all areas of conflict. In the Commons, Mr Straw condemned Israel's efforts to "inflict maximum pain" on Palestinian civilians and urged both sides to return to the negotiating table. During emotional exchanges, he said: "The terror felt in Israel is palpable because of the escalating use of suicide bombers. "I ask the house to understand and appreciate what it would have been like in this country had the terror from the IRA ... been the terror of suicide bombs," he said. Deploring "this hellish confrontation", the Labour MP Gerald Kaufman, an outspoken critic of the Sharon government, said four times as many Israelis and Palestinians had been killed in the past year than were killed in the year before Mr Sharon came to power. But his plea for EU sanctions on both sides was rejected. guardian.co.uk