Occupied Territories: Use of UK-supplied Equipment by Israel (Hansard, 4 March 2003)

§ Baroness Amos

In the written reply of my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary to Menzies Campbell on 15 April 2002, (Official Report, column 723W), he informed Parliament that we had questions about other possible breaches of the Israeli assurances about the use of UK-supplied equipment in the Occupied Territories exported under previous administrations. The Government have looked into the issue further and I am now able to inform Parliament of the outcome of our inquiries.

The only equipment that has been identified as being used by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in the Occupied Territories, and that can justifiably be regarded as constituting a breach of the assurances, is a combination of Puma and Nachpadon armoured personnel carriers (APCs). These are derivative APCs on a Centurion chassis, and which therefore have a significant and recognisable UK content. Parliament was informed of this in the reply of my honourable friend Mr Bradshaw to a Parliamentary Question from Mr Galloway on 11 March 2002.

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In our view, the Israeli assurances did not cover equipment of components exported by the UK to a third country, which components were then incorporated in that country into products for onward export. The announcement of my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary of 8 July 2002 set out how the Government will approach licence applications for goods where it is understood that the goods are to be incorporated into products for onward export.

We intend to inform the Israelis of the results of our inquiries. We shall re-emphasise our current concerns about exporting arms to Israel that might be used against Palestinian targets, and that our policy on assessing Israeli export applications has not changed; we shall continue to assess export licence applications for the proposed export of controlled goods to Israel on a case-by-case basis against the consolidated EU and national arms export licensing criteria.

Our staff will continue to monitor the deployment and the use of equipment by the IDF in the Occupied Territories during their regular tours of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem; and will report to me any sightings of British-supplied equipment.