Israel violates law on U.S. weapons in Mideast
Thalif Deen
UNITED STATES: Israel is in violation of U.S. arms control laws for
deploying U.S.-made fighter planes, combat helicopters and missiles to
kill civilians and destroy Lebanon's infrastructure in the ongoing
six-day devastation of that militarily-weak country.
The death toll, according to published reports, is over 200 people -
mostly civilians - while the economic losses have been estimated at
about 100 million dollars per day.
"Section 4 of the (U.S.) Arms Export Control Act requires that
military items transferred to foreign governments by the United States
be used solely for internal security and legitimate self-defence," says
Stephen Zunes, professor of politics at the University of San Francisco.
"Since Israeli attacks against Lebanon's civilian infrastructure and
population centres clearly go beyond legitimate self-defence, the United
States is legally obliged to suspend arms transfers to Israel," Zunes
told IPS.
Frida Berrigan, a senior research associate with the Arms Trade
Resource Centre at the World Policy Institute in New York, is equally
outraged at the misuse by Israel of U.S.-supplied weapons.
"As Israel jets bombard locations in Gaza, Haifa and Beirut, killing
civilians (including as many as seven Canadians vacationing in Aitaroun),
it is worth remembering that U.S. law is clear about how U.S.-origin
weapons and military systems ought to be used," Berrigan told IPS.
She pointed out that the U.S. Arms Export Control Act clear states
that U.S. origin weapons should not be used for "non-defensive
purposes." "In light of this clear statement, the United States has an
opportunity to stave off further bloodshed and suffering by demanding
that its weaponry and military aid not be used in attacks against
Lebanon and elsewhere, and challenging Israeli assertions that it is
using military force defensively," she added.
That would demonstrate the kind of "utmost restraint" that world
leaders called for at the G8 Summit of the world's most industrialised
nations, which just ended in St.Petersburg, Russia.
The 25-member European Union has said that Israel's military
retaliation against Lebanon is "grossly disproportionate" to the
kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers last week by the Islamic militant
group Hezbollah, which is a coalition partner of the U.S.-supported
government in Beirut.
Israel has accused both Syria and Iran of providing rockets and
missiles to Hezbollah, which has used these weapons to hit mostly
civilian targets inside Israel.
Israel's prodigious military power - currently unleashed on a
virtually defenceless Lebanon - is sourced primarily to the United
States.
Armed mostly with state-of-the-art U.S.-supplied fighter planes and
combat helicopters, the Israeli military is capable of matching a
combination of all or most of the armies in most Middle Eastern
countries, including Iran, Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
The Air Force has continued to devastate Beirut and its suburbs with
no resistance in the skies during six days of incessant bombings,
causing civilian deaths and infrastructure destruction.
"The Israeli Air Force now flies only U.S.-origin fighters, a mix of
F-15s and F-16s, and the rest of the service's fleet is almost
completely of U.S. origin," says Tom Baranauskas, a senior Middle East
analyst at Forecast International, a leading provider of defence market
intelligence services in the United States.
While in earlier years Israel bought from a variety of arms
suppliers, with the French in particular being strong sellers to Israel
of such items as Mirage fighters, over the past couple of decades the
United States has developed into Israel's preponderant arms supplier, he
added.
"The U.S. domination as Israel's arms supplier can be seen in the
Congressional Research Service's (CRS) annual study of arms sales,"
Baranauskas told IPS.
He said the latest CRS survey shows a total of 8.4 billion dollars of
arms deliveries to Israel in the 1997-2004 period, with fully 7.1
billion dollars or 84.5 percent coming from a single source: the United
States.
A major factor in this trend was the rise in U.S. Foreign Military
Financing (FMF) - outright U.S. grants to Israel - which now totals
about 2.3 billion dollars a year paid for by U.S. taxpayers.
By U.S. law, Baranauskas said, 74 percent of FMF assistance to Israel
must be spent on U.S. military products. This U.S. assistance has now
become the main source of financing for Israel's major arms
procurements, especially its fighter planes.
From a historical perspective, he said, U.S. assistance to Israel
during 1950-2005 has been staggeringly high: Foreign Military Financing
(FMF) amounting to 59.5 billion dollars; 27 billion dollars in Foreign
Military Sales (FMS) mostly government-to-government arms transactions;
and eight billion dollars in commercial arms sales by the private
sector.
Berrigan of the Arms Trade Resource Centre said the United States is
undoubtedly the primary supplier of Israeli firepower.
In the interest of strengthening Israel's security and maintaining
the country's "qualitative military edge" over neighbouring militaries,
the U.S. Congress provides Israel with annual FMF grants that represent
about 23 percent of its overall defence budget. Israel's 2006 military
budget is estimated at 7.4 billion dollars.
According to the Congressional Research Service, FMF levels are
expected to increase incrementally by 60 million dollars a year to a
level of 2.4 billion dollars by 2008 compared with 2.2 billion dollars
in 2005.
"Israel has been the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid every year
since 1976," Berrigan said.
Additionally, the United States provides Israel with billions of
dollars worth of weaponry.
She pointed out that recent military sales to Israel include
propulsion systems for fast patrol boats worth more than 15 million
dollars from MTU Detroit Diesel; an eight-million-dollar contract to
Lockheed Martin for high-tech infrared "navigation and targeting"
capabilities for Israeli jets; and a 145-million-dollar deal with
Oshkosh Truck Corp to build more than 900 armour kits for Israeli Medium
Tactical Vehicles. In December of last year, Lockheed Martin was awarded
a 29.8-million-dollar contract to provide spare parts for Israel's F-16
fighter planes.
Berrigan also said that Israel has one of the world's largest fleets
of F-16 fighter planes, made in Fort Worth, Texas and also in Israel by
Lockheed Martin Corporation.
Israel has a total of over 378 F-16s, considered one of the world's
most advanced fighter planes - besides 117 F-15s, 94 Skyhawks, 110
Phantoms - all supplied by the United States.
UNITED NATIONS (IPS)
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