Huge increase in UK arms sales to Israel
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, April 6, IRNA
UK-Arms-Israel
The value of British arms sales to the Zionist regime almost doubled last year, reaching the highest amount since 1999, according to official figures.
The rise corresponded to other increases in arms export licences granted for countries which the British government accuses of human rights abuses.
According to the Guardian newspaper, licences for London's arms sales to Tel Aviv last year, which jumped to nearly pnd 25 million (USD 42m), included armored vehicles and missile components.
The sales are the highest since Foreign Secretary Jack Straw started to seek assurances from Israel that the exports were not being used against Palestinians after it was discovered UK military equipment were being deployed in the occupied territories.
The concern led to the British government being eventually forced to tighten controls on arms exports to Tel Aviv in 2002 after it found that assurances had been breached.
The Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT), which compiled quarterly figures released by the Foreign Office, said that Britain last year licensed military equipment sales to 14 of the 17 countries involved in major armed conflicts.
The lobby group also found that Britain also approved licensed weapons equipment exports to 10 countries in the bottom third of the UN human development index.
The British government insists that its official criteria include not approving arms sales to countries where it may be used for external aggression or internal repression.
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