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The world's first laser-guided bomb (unrelated)
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| By Israel Insider staff August 14, 2007 |
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UK arms sales to Israel have plummeted by 75 percent since 2005, in what the British say is an attempt to prevent human rights violations and maintain regional stability.
"We further recommend that the government explain how it assesses whether there is a clear risk that a proposed export to Israel might be used for internal repression," the Quadripartite Committee report said, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The Committee, which consists of representatives from four ministries, issued the Parliament's new 2007 Strategic Export Controls report.
According to the report, the British government's policies on arms sales to Israel were "unclear."
The panel claimed that while the "case-by-case" approach allows the government "flexibility" and "latitude to adjust policy without the need for public explanation." Its arms sales policies towards Israel were "neither transparent nor accountable."
The UK committee's claims that Israeli arms are used for "internal repression" come at a time of uncertain Anglo-Israeli relations and talk of anti-Israel biases becoming more prominent in Prime Minister Gordon Brown's administration.
The courts are also being used to apply pressure on the government to end arms sales to Israel.
Public Interest Lawyers, in cooperation with the Palestinian rights group, al-Haq, filed suit last November against the British government on behalf of Saleh Hasan of Bethlehem. Hasan alleged that the sale of military goods to Israel contributed to his "oppression" as a Palestinian by Israel and violated British export regulations.
According to the report, the government's change in arms sales policy towards Israel reflects a unification of government attitudes with its own official guidelines.
While Brown has expressed public support for Israel and has promoted several pro-Israel MPs to cabinet positions, he has also appointed a leading critic of US and Israeli policy, former UN deputy secretary-general Mark Malloch Brown, to a key Foreign Office post.
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