Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire
Promoting human rights from Salisbury UK
July 2024
It seems remarkable that after eight months, the peace vigil in Salisbury market place is still going strong. Another perspective is why should it be necessary but with little sign of an end to the destruction there is a strong desire for it to continue. About 30 attended on Saturday 29th June and we are pleased to attach a short YouTube video produced by Peter Gloyn.
days
hours minutes seconds
until
Vigil
June 2024
Group members attended the Vigil in Salisbury Market Place yesterday and the numbers were back up to well over 30 who came. There were new faces as well as the stalwarts. It’s six months since we have been going to these and the violence in Gaza and the West Bank shows no sign of abating. Peace talks don’t look as though they are going anywhere. The US and President Biden are looking increasingly powerless as time goes by.
June 2024
The conflict in Gaza continues and 36,700 Palestinians have died and well over 80,000 have been injured many seriously. In the last four months alone, 12,300 children have been killed. The death toll inflicted on Gaza is out of all proportion to the atrocity committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has found that there is a plausible case for Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide. The response by the deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell is to say that ‘the ICJ does not have jurisdiction [over Israel]’ (source, Government briefing, ‘UK Arms Exports to Israel,’ May 2024). Lord Cameron, the foreign secretary, is quoted as saying that Israel ‘is committed to complying with International Humanitarian Law’ and hence did not recommend that licences be suspended. Today, 12 June 2024, the UN has issued two reports accusing both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity including the use of torture.
Meanwhile, over 100 licences for arms have been issued to Israel since October 7, 2023. Quite what is licensed is difficult to discern. Eight are ‘open’ licences and the statistics do not give the value of the exports. In 2022, the value of arms exports to Israel amounted to £42m. The UK is not a major supplier and the US sends around ten times as much including fighters and artillery.
The ICJ action raises serious questions for the government which may well be different after July 4th. Essentially, governments continuing to arm Israel risk being complicit in genocide which is a specific crime under the convention.
Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and a Palestinian human rights organisation al-Haq, have joined a legal action by Global Legal Action Network for a judicial review. The position of the Labour Party (who may be in government soon) is unclear but the party has had a difficult relationship with Israel and has had to weather many accusations of antisemitism which it is keen to dispel.
There are signs of movement and in March, over 100 MPs and a number of Peers signed an open letter to the government calling for and end of arm sales to Israel. Lord Cameron has been critical of them commenting on the blocking of aid and turning away entire lorries on spurious grounds such as shipments containing ‘dual use’ items (medical scissors).
The question is largely a moral one. Should we continue to supply arms to a state which is causing such damage, bombing entire blocks of apartments, almost destroyed all hospitals and killed so many men, women and children? By not allowing journalists entry, objective assessments of Israeli claims of targeting Hamas fighters is hard to verify and we simply have to rely on IDF statements.
However, the conflict shows no signs of coming to a satisfactory conclusion. A hard-line Israeli government – which has become even more so after the recent resignation of Benny Grantz – is determined to see the complete extinction of Hamas, an objective almost impossible to achieve. The violence in Gaza will be breeding the next generation Hamas fighters. Violence on the West Bank has grown markedly worse. A two-state solution looks impossible to achieve. The continued supply of weapons principally by the US but also by the UK, is simple adding fuel to the fire. More important perhaps than the actual supply of military materiel, is the implicit support that the the licences give to the Israeli government, a government which is disinclined to end the violence.
Sources: CAAT, Guardian, Amnesty,
May 2024
The conflict continues although it has largely dropped down the running order in recent weeks. The war in Gaza is causing great fury on US university campuses with close to riotous events taking place. It does not seem either productive or appropriate to perpetuate the violent behaviour in Gaza on the streets of American universities.
We attach a short video film of the last Salisbury vigil – the 21st – in which just over 30 took part, expertly put together by Peter Gloyns. The focus is on ending the violence and features images of weapons used by the Israelis which they purchase from western – mainly US but also UK companies – which cause so much damage in the territory.
As we write, President Netanyahu has said they are planning on a military attack on Rafah, currently packed with people who have fled other parts of Gaza because of the bombing. The current death toll stands at 34,000.
April 2024
“Amnesty is an indecent, morally bankrupt sham that has nothing of value to contribute”. These are just two comments in a Times column under the ‘Thunderer’ heading in its edition of April 11th. After first saying that the organisation was once a remarkable one which campaigned on behalf of prisoners of conscience, today it has become “just another partisan NGO, with all the dreary hard-left obsessions – including the customary fixation on Israel”. There then follows a damning description of current prisoners of conscience saying that far from being law abiding citizens and writers, they were in fact dreadful terrorists who committed fearful crimes against Israeli men.
This site has referred, in several posts, to the system of Apartheid being operated in Israel against Palestinians. Many of the processes used in South Africa against the Blacks are present in the country and severely limit the movement and livelihoods of non Jewish citizens. Three detailed reports have been published: Human Rights Watch, Amnesty and B’Tselem an Israel based human rights organisation. The HRW report has received a detailed rebuttal essentially denying that Apartheid exists in any form.
The invasion of Gaza following the horrific attack by Hamas on 7 October has seen around 33,000 Palestinians killed, many of whom were women and children with thousands more buried in demolished buildings. The sympathy for Israel after the Hamas attack, has begun to dissipate following the actions of the IDF. As famine begins to set in, the blocking of aid trucks by one means or another has attracted criticism from international friends of Israel. The killing of 7 aid workers recently drew widespread criticism and renewed attention to how IDF were conducting the war in the territory.
It is not true to say that Amnesty is ‘fixated’ on Israel. It has campaigns on a wide range of issues around the world. It has argued that the root causes of the conflict in Israel and Gaza need to be addressed and has called on all parties to adhere to International Humanitarian law. Israel is by far the most sophisticated country in the area with massive resources courtesy of the USA, a powerful military and is a sophisticated society.
Stephen Pollard’s Times’ article verges on being a diatribe. It is of a piece with normal Israeli practice to demonise critics as being anti-Israel. While Israel continues its Apartheid actions in the West Bank, there is unlikely to be a satisfactory long-term peaceful solution. Using ‘dumb’ bombs to destroy entire blocks because there is (it is believed) a Hamas operative within it is not consistent with International law. Writing tirades against those who draw attention to Israeli failings are unlikely to succeed either. It is in contrast to a rather prescient article of his in the New Statesman six years ago in which he notes that the violent putting down of protests will lose the country empathy.
March 2024
The fifteenth vigil was held on Saturday 16th March, this time on the Library steps as it was inclement. The vigil is supported by Salisbury Concern for Israel Palestine (SCIP), CND and the Salisbury Amnesty group. It is in aid of securing peace in that region. Just over 40 attended the event which lasted half an hour. There will be another next Saturday, 23rd March starting at 5:15.
31,000 have now died in Gaza the majority of whom are women and children. Many more are yet to be discovered in the extensive rubble.
There is faint optimism with talks taking place at present and it is reported that Hamas has moderated its demands.
Picture: Salisbury Amnesty
February 2024
A YouTube video composite of the twelve vigils so far held has been made and can be accessed here. We are grateful to Peter Gloyns for this.
A vigil is held every Saturday in the market square in Salisbury which receives a continuing high level of support. The twelfth one was held on 24th February, starting at 5:45 pm and lasting half an hour. Just over 50 attended. The aim is to promote the cause of peace in Gaza and Israel generally. Violence continues in Gaza and there is an expectation that the death toll will reach 30,000 this week. Thousands more have been wounded. Many of the dead are women and children.
There is talk of negotiations leading to a ceasefire but whether this is so is questioned: Hamas representatives say not, Israel negotiators say maybe. Let us hope there is success.
The scale of destruction is Gaza is immense and will take colossal sums of money to put right.
The Vigils will continue through March and all are welcome.
The Salisbury group was established 50 years ago this year
February 2024
UPDATE: 22 February 2024. UK government may suspend arms licenses to Israel if it goes ahead with the attack on Rafah.
We have mentioned the arms trade on many occasions before believing that the UK’s continued role in supplying weapons to a wide range of regimes with little concern for the consequences is shameful and immoral. As a key member of the UN, to be one of the world’s biggest seller of arms is not something to be proud of. Weapons kill, and are used to oppress minorities or to exert power over them. The biggest sufferers – as we are seeing in Gaza right now – are usually women and children.
Gaza
The lead article in the Campaign Against the Arms Trade newsletter (No 268, Spring 2024) is the situation in Gaza where an estimated 29,000 have now died at the time of writing. Israel has damaged or destroyed some 70% of Gaza’s residential buildings and has ‘systematically’ degraded healthcare facilities and food production systems. Around 85% of the population has been displaced. Meanwhile they say “senior Israeli politicians and military figures have openly talked of expelling the population of Gaza to Egypt, and have used blatantly genocidal language”. (p3)
The US is the major suppliers of weapons to Israel and the UK is a minor supplier by comparison although we do manufacture 15% of F-35 aircraft used by the Israelis.
Weapons
The UK government wants to champion arms companies it reports as “positive ambassadors for the UK, in the face of investment threats“. The focus was announced by Grant Shapps MP as part of a strategy to increase arms exports. They also appear to be encouraging Saudi Arabia to join a defence partnership to build the next generation of fighter jets. The record of Saudi in terms of human rights hardly needs rehearsing with executions, repression, use of torture and the outcry following the murder of Khashoggi. Japan, another possible partner, is said to be opposed to this. It seems the commercial priorities are supreme over any considerations of human rights. (p5)
Annual Report
CAAT has published its second annual report for 2022. It shows a big surge in export orders to £8.5bn. It shows that the single largest customer is Qatar which has a particularly poor human rights record. The report discusses some of the key countries of concern to whom we sell weapons and these include, UAE, Turkey, Saudi and Israel. The report is hard to summarise and does need to be read to gain an understanding of how the trade works and the UK’s role in it.
Telford Arms Fair
This fair used to be in Malvern and campaigners have tried to get it stopped now that it has moved to Telford. The fair is called the Specialist Defence and Security Convention UK. The title gives the impression of a benign intent with the words ‘security’ and ‘defence’. However, the weapons on display and the countries who purchase them are often used to maintain colonial power or to oppress in some way. They also kill. It has to be questioned whether such an exhibition is appropriate for the UK to be promoting and playing such an active part in. (p12). An article in the Shropshire Star newspaper had the following quote “Residents, faith groups, veterans, trade unions, environmental and peace organisations made very clear the arms fair is no more welcome in Telford than in Malvern, and we’ll be continuing to engage with the council and the Telford International Centre to ensure we don’t see a weapons fair here again.” There does not appear to be any policy statement on the details available about any moral or human rights stance by themselves or the exhibitors.
Saudi and MBS
The red carpet was almost certainly to be rolled out for Mohammed bin Salman’s planned visit to the UK. At his last visit he had lunch with the Queen and dinner with Prince William and Kate Middleton. The main purpose of course was the sale of weapons and in particular, Typhoon aircraft. A deal was in place CAAT reports but the murder of Khashoggi, CAAT’s own legal case and the war in Yemen delayed signing.
A number of human rights organisations were planning an appropriate welcome and included Amnesty, Reprieve, CAAT, and a Saudi human rights organisation Alqst. A problem for the UK is that the Eurofighter is a joint programme and some of the partners – Italy, Germany and Spain – need to approve any exports. Germany opposed the deal especially after the Khashoggi murder. There has been a lot of lobbying and the German position may have softened. It is possible the visit will happen therefore.
The overall picture is that the UK sees the sale of weapons to be a key enterprise and Grant Shapps’ statement about arms companies being ‘ambassadors’ sums up the position nicely. It would be hard to argue that the government has any kind of ethical position. Countries with atrocious human rights are courted for sales often using members of the Royal Family as ‘ambassadors’ as well.
No human rights policy
It is also interesting to note that there does not seem to be anywhere on the Ministry of Defence’s website, any reference at all to human rights concerns. The nearest policy statement appears to be the following:
‘We will engage proactively and persistently around the globe, working with our allies, to support our foreign policy goals, promote our interests and keep our competitors at bay, including in the grey zone.
‘Defence will contribute to our prosperity through creating a secure environment for business, supporting British business and jobs, and through supporting technology innovation in the economy more widely, investing in Research and Development (R&D) and new technologies to counter the threat‘.
The UK’s prosperity seems to be the one and only concern. An ethical foreign policy seems a very long time ago.
Sources: CAAT news, Shropshire Star, The Times, MoD
The Salisbury group was established 50 years ago this year
February 2024
Forty and sometimes over 50, have attended half hour vigils in the Market Square in Salisbury to draw attention to the terrible events going on in Gaza. Reports of over 27,000 dead, many of whom are children with thousands more injured, some seriously, represent a terrible indictment of the state of international politics today. Just over half the buildings in the strip are demolished or severely damaged as a result of the bombing. Attempts at peacekeeping and an end to the violence have so far come to naught.
Members of Salisbury Concern for Israel Palestine, CND and the Amnesty group attend with others.
Nine vigils have now taken place and although attendance varies it seldom dips below 40. They begin at 17:15 for 30 minutes every Saturday in February (at least).
Pictures: Salisbury Amnesty
November 2023
When we see the latest conflict on our screens, we almost do not notice the weaponry being used to cause the death and destruction. Ukraine has for the moment been displaced by the problems in Palestine and Gaza and the advance of the IDF into that territory. Yemen has taken a back seat in recent months and it is true there is currently a truce in place. A key supplier of arms is the UK and the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) newsletter, Autumn 2023, sets out some of the data and statistics concerning our role in these conflicts. We highlight two current issues.
In the case of Saudi Arabia, we are a major supplier of weaponry and BAE has 6,300 employees based there. Saudi bombing of civilian targets has caused untold misery among the population of the poorest country in the world. The Saudi prince, Mohammed bin Salman is due to come to the UK to meet the Prime Minister which has caused the relationship between ourselves and the kingdom to be put under the spotlight and has caused outrage among a number of campaigning groups. The UK claims it puts human rights at the centre of its discussions but there is no evidence of this.
Another conflict is in Gaza following the horrific attack on Israeli settlements on 7 October 2023. The UK has ‘consistently sold arms to Israel’ CAAT reports despite the illegal and growing number of settlements on the West Bank. Between 2018 and 2022, we exported £146m in arms via Single Issue Export Licences. However, they report there are a large number of Open General Export Licences which include components for the F35 stealth combat aircraft. This would imply a value of $72m in 2022. As the conflict has progressed and the misery inflicted on the people of Gaza increases, the morality of our continued sale of arms to Israel is called into question.
When we see these conflicts unfold around the world, we should always be aware that, as one of the world’s largest exporters of military equipment, a proportion of the weapons being used were provided by the UK. As bad as that is, it could be mitigated a little if the UK exerted tight control over the issue of licences and how, and upon whom, the weapons are used. Do not forget that it is always women and children who suffer the most in these conflicts not just from immediate injuries from shells or shrapnel, but long term trauma from having witnessed scenes we would not wish on anyone. Modern weapons are capable of considerable destruction that will take many years to rectify when the conflict is over. The evidence seems to be that the desire by our government for exports and the need to create employment, trumps considerations of humanity or human rights.
CAAT has been campaigning against the Defence and Security Equipment International arms fair which takes place each year at the Excel Centre. It is supported by the government with several ministers speaking and civil servants on hand to meet and greet. “Put simply” CAAT comments “DSEI is where war begins”. The countries attending include a roll call of oppressive regimes keen to secure the latest technology. Our support for this fair and the help offered to arms companies to secure deals with oppressive regimes, means we are complicit in the denial of rights and the continuation of conflicts around the world.
Source: CAAT News, Issue 267 Autumn 2023
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 