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MP rips German arms exports to Israel and S. Arabia

Berlin, Feb 24, IRNA

A senior legislator of The Left (Linke) party slammed the German government for its ongoing arms exports to Israel and Saudi Arabia, saying the weapon sales have led to the militarization of the Middle East region, press reports said Tuesday.

Wolfgang Gehrcke stressed although Berlin had repeatedly pledged to help create a demilitarized zone in the Mideast, it was continuing to send arms to the volatile region, including to countries like Israel and Saudi Arabia.

These kinds of vows by the government ring hollow as long as "Germany contributes to the miliatrization of the Mideast through its weapon exports," the radical leftist lawmker added.

While the German government bars arms deliveries to crisis regions, Berlin has become a major weapon supplier to the Middle East.

International human rights groups have repeatedly said German military equipment like armed personnel carriers, were being used by the Israeli military to suppress the Palestinian uprising.

Although there are no reliable figures on the financial volume of German arms sales to the illegitimate Jewish state, weapon exports to Israel reached reportedly around 900 million US dollars between 1998 and 2001.

As part of a recent billion-euro arms deal, Berlin sold two new German submarines to Israel which could be modified to carry nuclear warheads.


Original Article: http://www5.irna.ir/En/View/FullStory/?NewsId=369073&idLanguage=3