Clegg: Suspend arms to Israel
Wednesday, 7 January 2009 11:16 AM
By Laura Miller
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg today called on Gordon Brown to stop the flow of arms from Britain to Israel and criticised his lack of action over the crisis in Gaza.
Arms export approvals from Britain to Israel have risen from £6 million in 2007 to £20 million in the first three months of 2008 alone, Mr Clegg said.
He accused Gordon Brown of "sitting on his hands" while Gazans continued to suffer under Israeli bombardments.
The first leader of a major UK party to publicly censure the Israeli attack, Mr Clegg urged the PM to step beyond simply calling for a ceasefire and "unambiguously condemn" Israel's military assault on Hamas, which controls Gaza.
Mr Clegg's comments come after one of the bloodiest days of the conflict so far. At least 30 Palestinian civilians were killed yesterday when Israeli tanks fired on a UN controlled school sheltering people trying to escape the bombing.
The Lib Dem leader also condemned the international community's failure to denounce the Israeli offensive.
"We have an outgoing US president sanctioning Israel's military response and an aching silence from the president-elect," he said.
"We have a European Union encumbered by clumsy decision-making and confused messages. And at home we have a prime minister talking like an accountant about aid earmarked for Gaza without once saying anything meaningful about the conflict's origins."
He added: "Brown must... halt Britain's arms exports to Israel, and persuade our EU counterparts to do the same. I want an immediate suspension of all arms exports from the EU, but if that cannot be secured, Brown must act unilaterally."
International aid agency Oxfam today warned that tens of thousands of families under siege in Gaza are facing desperate conditions as mounting civilian casualties swamp a hospital system that is close to collapse.
It is calling for a binding UN security council resolution to demand an immediate halt to violence in Gaza and Israel by all parties and for all parties to commit to an immediate, comprehensive and permanent truce.
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