Condemn the Murderous Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza City

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Condemn the Murderous Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza City
Arms Sales to Israel

Swansea Rally against War

Straw's Peace Mission to India Included Fighter Deal on the Side!
Jack Straw Criticised over Arms Sales to India and Pakistan
Britain Doubles Arms Sales to Both Israel and Pakistan

Having been further given the green light by George W Bush, Ariel Sharon launched another assassination airstrike, killing innocent women and children. Eight children were reported killed.

The Israeli government, although perfectly aware they were striking a block of flats, expressed regret for the loss of life. But this only adds an insult to the criminal acts, because Israel clearly has had no regard for Palestinian lives. This is a fascist logic, that a people must be punished, and is at one with the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive strikes, even if there is no "absolute proof" about "terrorists".

The issue is not, as Jack Straw said, that the attacks were "counterproductive" and "disproportionate and excessive". They were criminal and fascist. The implication of Straw's statement is that he would support "productive" as well as "proportionate and sufficient" attacks by Israel against Palestine and Palestinians. This is done in the name of opposing the "terrorists attacks". And the imperialists have tried to manoeuvre Yasser Arafat into an untenable position and then allow Sharon to say, he should go, he should have arrested the Hamas leaders.

There is a political solution, but the political solution involves unconditional recognition of Palestinian statehood, the end of Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, and the exercise of the right of return of refugees. The "political solution" the British government has in mind is that of a "balance", a variation of "peace for land", without acknowledgement of what is just, that is, the Palestinian cause.

Far from "recognising and understanding" Israel's "need" and "entitlement" to "take action", those crimes against humanity must be condemned. What must also be condemned is the backing given to these crimes by US imperialism and the British government, given under whatever pretext, "hard-line" or "humanitarian".

From CAAT Online, website of Campaign Against Arms Trade

Monday 8th July 2002 was a significant date in the UK's arms export history. It was the day the Labour government confirmed there was no such thing as a UK national arms industry and abdicated to overseas governments, usually that of the United States, decisions on the end-use of UK-provided components. It also, to the outrage of many including a good number of its own backbenchers as well as the "Daily Mirror", allowed the export of components for F-16 fighters being made by the US company Lockheed Martin and sold to Israel. F-16s have been used against Palestinian civilians.

The new "factors"

Making the announcement, by means of a Commons written answer, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw MP set out new "factors" to be considered when assessing export licence applications. In a nutshell, where components are to be exported the UK government will look at the UK's military industrial relationship with the country where the equipment will be finally assembled.

In a briefing to Labour MPs, Jack Straw justified the changes by saying: "The Government has judged that the UK's security and defence relationship with the US is fundamental to the UK's national security ... Defence collaboration with the US is also key to maintaining a strong defence industrial capacity."

No consultation

The Labour government has consulted widely on arms export issues. Submissions for interested parties have been invited regarding the export controls (twice), export credits, defence diversification (twice) and mercenaries (or private military companies as they are now known).

The introduction of the new "factors", which is arguably more important, came out of the blue. So, in 2000, did the Six-Nation Framework Agreement on restructuring of European military industry. There is, it seems, no prior discussion when this might upset the arms companies and, particularly, BAE Systems. In the case of the Head Up Display units bound for Israel, Jack Straw said: "Any interruption to the supply of these components would have serious implications for the UK's defence relations with the United States." In other words, it would jeopardise the interests of manufacturer BAE Systems and its need to remain part of the Lockheed Martin team building the Joint Strike Fighter.

Case-by-case

The Government will consider component applications on a case-by-case basis, but if it licences equipment that will almost certainly be used against civilians it is difficult to think what would be stopped.

Jack Straw says:
- The government has condemned the disproportionate use of force, including F-16s, against civilian Palestinian targets.
- These exports have been licensed to the US. The US government maintains a strong and effective licensing system. They monitor and can follow up on unacceptable us of equipment they supply.
- While we do all we can to ease tensions in the region, it is for the US to follow up on sales of F-16s.

CAAT believes this is simply disingenuous as it is quite apparent that the US government gives virtually unquestioning support to the Israeli government and military despite their brutal record.

A rally took place in Swansea on Saturday to protest against the looming war of aggression against Iraq. It took place in Castle Square beginning at 2pm.

Plaid Cymru's European Leader, Jill Evans MEP, who is also the Party of Wales' International Affairs Spokesperson, addressed the rally. She said: "We oppose military action by the USA and Britain against Iraq as it would have no legal or moral justification, and would intensify international tension and conflict. It would also inevitably lead to the death of many more innocent people. Tony Blair must understand that there is enormous opposition to an attack on Iraq with cross-party support for Plaid Cymru's view that the United Nations alone should decide on the course of action to be taken."

Plaid Cymru is calling for the lifting of the economic sanctions, which have caused so much misery and suffering for the Iraqi people.

Jill Evans, who is chair of CND Cymru and represents the whole of Wales in the European Parliament, added: "There must be consistency in the international response to breaches of UN Resolutions. Iraq for example is being treated very differently from Israel."

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, on his third visit to India this year amid tensions on the sub-continent, was expected to finally clinch a 15-year-old proposal worth up to £2 billion to sell India a fleet of Hawk trainer jets. Jack Straw, after landing in New Delhi late on July 18 for his two-day visit, emphasised at a press conference on Friday that "security concerns" alone did not define Anglo-Indian relations and that there was history, people, culture and trade to consider as well.

But he was cryptic about what passed between him and India's new foreign minister, Yashwant Sinha, and other leaders.

Earlier, he met Brajesh Mishra, regarded as India's most powerful bureaucrat, but exactly what transpired was not made known. The Foreign Secretary later immersed himself in business engagements including one organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), the country's leading business chamber.

At the CII, Straw announced that he was delighted by "India and the United Kingdom working more closely on science and technology issues". This signified a closer relation between the two countries in high technology areas since embargoes after India first tested a nuclear device in 1973. It reflects the pursuance of success by Britain in the global market at all costs, particularly in the field of military technology, as well as the new realities in an era where the bi-polar division of the world has been absent for a decade or more.

The two countries have committed some £3 million to foster new joint-research links over the next three years in "blue skies" research in natural science, mathematics and engineering. This was as part of the "New Delhi Declaration" signed by the two countries in January during the visit by Tony Blair. But the arms deal, under which India is to buy 66 Hawk trainer jets manufactured by British Aerospace (BAE), had been bedevilled, among other things, by sanctions imposed by the US after India carried through another round of nuclear tests in May 1998.

However, the sanctions on military supplies to India – and Pakistan which also carried out nuclear tests in May 1998 – were lifted when Washington needed strategic support form the South Asian countries in its "war against terror" in Afghanistan.

India's military establishment has been wary of buying British equipment like the Hawk, which sources critical components from US manufacturers.

British Sea King anti-submarine helicopters operated by the Indian Navy had to be grounded because US supplies were held back. Moreover, this happened at a critical time, when India had deployed half its warships close to the Pakistani coastline during the now de-escalating stand-off between the South Asian neighbours.

Indian defence officials considered it significant that Jack Straw's latest visit was preceded by the sudden clearance for US-made spares for the Indian Navy's Sea Kings, which were built by the Westland company, which is British.

During his last visit to India in May at the height of the tensions between Indian and Pakistan, the Foreign Secretary made it clear that there was no move to stop the sale of the Hawks to India, signifying British eagerness to conclude the deal.

He also pledged steady supplies of spares for other British-built assets operated by the Indian armed forces, including Sea King helicopters, Jaguar deep penetration strike aircraft (which India manufactures under licence) and Sea Harrier jump-jets operated from aircraft carriers.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw during that visit declared openly that "the United Kingdom stands four square behind India in its fight against terrorism". In this, he went so far as to say that the UN Security Council's definition of terrorism covered "cross-border terrorism and the branding of terrorists as freedom fighters". This indicated that Britain was no longer prepared to accept that the struggle of the Kashmiri forces for independence was anything other than "terrorism" in this definition.

Since then both the US and Britain have been putting pressure on General Musharraf while concluding deals with India, a country which has traditionally sourced its defence requirements from Russia and the Soviet Union. These deals were for a variety of hardware including ground sensors to detect movement along the Line of Control (LoC) that runs through divided Kashmir.

According to the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, the price of one Hawk trainer, in reality a fighter-bomber, is equivalent to the amount needed to provide 1.5 million people with potable water for life. This is a goal that India has yet to achieve for the majority of its one billion people, activists say.

The Hawk's customers have included the Suharto dictatorship in Indonesia, and it saw action during operations to suppress the East Timorese independence movement. Most recently, the Kingdom of Bahrain has announced that it intends to procure Hawk trainer aircraft.

In India, the Hawk appears to have beaten several competitors, including the Russian MIG-AT, in spite of a design that dates back to the 1970s. If the deal goes through, India may have given an extended life to an item already scheduled to go out of production. In anticipation, BAE has unilaterally raised the price of the Hawk by about twelve and a half million pounds sterling per aircraft.

MPs criticised Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in a report published on July 19 for failing to block arms sales to India and Pakistan during the stand-off over Kashmir.

A joint report by four House of Commons committees – foreign affairs, defence, trade and industry and international development, said that the Foreign Secretary had failed to apply government guidelines banning weapons exports where there was a risk they could be used for external aggression.

The joint report said that the committees were surprised that Jack Straw did not personally examine export licence applications to the region during the period of heightened tension between the two countries in May and June.

In a letter to the committee, the Foreign Secretary said that 148 licences had been issued to India during the period and another 18 to Pakistan, but that he had not personally been involved.

The MPs said that the stand-off over Kashmir should have triggered criterion four of the government’s guidelines which forbids arms exports where there is a clear risk that they could be used "aggressively against another country".

Britain's arms sales to Pakistan more than doubled last year from £6 million to £14 million while sales to India, valued at £62.5 million, were similar to the previous year.

The details have emerged a day after the joint report by four Commons select committees attacked the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw for the sale of weapons to India and Pakistan during their tense stand-off.

This year the government has approved licences covering the export of a large range of weapons to India and Pakistan, including bombs, torpedoes, rockets, missiles, howitzers and components for military aircraft, according to parliamentary answers given to MPs.

According to the annual Foreign Office Report, the government also approved the sale of more than 6,000 assault rifles to Nepal.

The report also notes that the government approved a sharp increase in arms sales to Israel last year, despite its military activities in the occupied territories.

Exports cleared for Israel almost doubled, from £12.5 million to £22.5 million: components for combat aircraft, helicopters and bombs, components for anti-tank missiles and military aircraft engines, and large calibre ammunition. However, the figures show that a number of export licences to Israel were also either blocked or revoked.

Sales approved for Turkey rose from £34 million to £179 million, to Saudi Arabia from £13 million to more than £20.5 million, and to Indonesia from £2 million to £15.5 million.

Some 88 Challenger 1 battle tanks were delivered last year to Jordan, a country in the front line in any ground invasion of Iraq by US and British forces. In addition, the government approved pounds £55.5 million worth of arms exports to Jordan, compared with pounds £12 million the previous year.

The figures also show that large numbers of weapons were sold to Hong Kong and the Bahamas, suspected of diverting arms to other destinations. Items cleared for the Channel Islands included parts for combat helicopters, armoured fighting vehicles, and submachine guns; the report does not say where they would end up.

Sale of anti-riot shields to El Salvador and body armour to Guatemala also appeared to conflict with the government's guidelines, which state that sales would not be approved if there was a "clear risk" they might be used for internal repression.