US Suspends Munitions Delivery to Israel
http://www.truthout.org/011609B
The Pentagon has suspended the delivery of a shipload of munitions to
Israel after international concern that it could be used by Israeli
forces in Gaza.
The German-owned cargo vessel, Wehr Elbe, under charter by the US
Military Sea-lift Command, is currently in Greek waters with its
transponder tracking turned off to prevent its location being
identified.
Amnesty International has written to the foreign secretary, David
Miliband, asking him to make "urgent approaches to the US, German and
Greek governments to prevent this, or any pending or future shipments
of weaponry until it can be verified that they will not be
transferred
to the Israeli Defence Forces or other parties to the conflict in
Gaza.
"We urge you to ensure that no EU member state will allow their
ports or other facilities to be used to transit these or any other
weapons to any of the parties to this conflict."
The Wehr Elbe, owned by the Hamburg company Oskar Wehr, arrived
outside the Greek port of Astakos on 1 January, where it was due to
transfer its 1,000 containers to another vessel for delivery to
Ashdod
in Israel.
But after a two week stand-off, amid local protests in Greece, it
moved out into the Mediterranean two days ago and disappeared off
tracking websites.
Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said that
the contract for the munitions had been arranged last summer and
approved in October. He said the munitions were due to be delivered
to
a US pre-positioning depot in Israel for US forces. But he added: "If
the government of Israel requests munitions they can do so direct to
the US government under the Foreign Military Sales programme."
He said the ship's journey had been delayed due to "safety
concerns" about unloading the cargo at Ashdod and that other
arrangements were being made by the Military Sealift Command's
European office in Naples.
The letter to Miliband, from Amnesty's director, Kate Allen,
calls
"for a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, Hamas and Palestinian
armed groups until effective mechanisms are in place to ensure that
weapons and munitions and other military equipment will not be used
to
commit serious violations of international humanitarian law".
Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa programme director,
Malcolm
Smart, said: "The last thing that is needed now is more weapons and
munitions in the region, which is awash with arms that are being used
in a manner which contravenes international law and is having a
devastating effect on the civilian population in Gaza."
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