Palestinian representatives have condemned the continued armament supplies to Israel by the US and European nations as a direct assault to fairness within the Middle East region. This declaration was made during a gathering to commemorate the decade-long existence of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), the first global agreement legally enforcing regulations on conventional armament exchange and embraced by 155 nations ten years ago at the UN General Assembly.
During a tri-day state party conference of the Treaty held in Geneva, Palestine urged all ATT member nations to halt their Israel-bound weapon consignments, arguing that this is within their capacity and can help ameliorate the gruelling unlawful occupation. Riham Barghouthi, who belongs to the permanent observer mission of Palestine state at the UN office in Geneva, accentuated their responsibility in siding with the victims and explicitly signalling their intolerance to force being used for domination and annihilation.
Barghouthi also expressed her shock at the reports of the US intending to send an additional $20 billion worth of arms to Israel, which if true, is quite alarming. The fact that the US, being a party to the ATT, accounts for 42 per cent of the worldwide armament trade is also of concern, as shown by the data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Germany, which hitherto had been identified as the second-largest weapon supplier to Israel, has witnessed two judicial cases questioning its role this year. Just recently, in June, a complaint was dismissed by the Berlin administrative court alleging Germany’s ATT violation due to its weapon exports to Israel. The court, in its ruling, cited data which demonstrated that German armament exports to Israel had effectively halted.
As per the information from the initial five months of this year, the German government granted Israel weapon export licenses worth slightly above €10 million. Noteworthy is that a trivial sum of around €32,449 from the total sum was assigned for weapons while the remaining was dedicated to military equipment like helmets and protective vests. Coming to the final month for which data is available, May, the overall valuation of export licenses came to €187.
In April, Nicaragua presented its case to The Hague’s International Court of Justice, asserting Germany’s involvement in alleged war crimes by Israel due to its arms exports totalling €326.5 million in the past year. Despite this assertion, Nicaragua’s plea for a universal ban on Germany’s arms exports to Israel was declined by the court because the exports had essentially stopped.
At a conference in Geneva, the International Committee of the Red Cross noted that the Arms Trade Treaty, if implemented faithfully, could prevent severe breaches of international humanitarian and human rights law. ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric implored attendees to honestly assess how the transfer of arms and lack of action intensifies suffering.
Amnesty International, prior to the conference in Geneva, accused the signatories of brazenly disregarding the ATT’s principles and intentions.