German Arms to Gaza

Margin of Maneuver in the Middle East

2009/01/12

GAZA/BERLIN (Own report) - The news agency Reuters reported that a German shipping company is involved in arms deliveries for the war on Gaza. According to the report, a German ship took on an exceptionally voluminous cargo of US American combat material destined for the Israeli port Ashdod. A second delivery is currently being prepared. Because of its obvious connection to the war on Gaza, British military experts have characterized the shipments as "irregular." German participation draws attention to Berlin's arms exports to the Middle East, with which Germany has over the past few years been arming both Israel and several of the Arab states. German weapons have been helping to fuel the tensions that, from the outset, have been inflaming the region. On the other hand, as announced by Foreign Minister Steinmeier over the weekend, Berlin wants to help prevent the influx of foreign weapons that exceed Western control. This is referring to the suspected influx of Iranian weapons into the Gaza Strip.

Very Large

In December, a German shipping company received a contract to deliver a shipload of combat material to Israel. As reported by the Reuters news agency, the cargo comprised altogether 989 standard 20 ft. containers that were to be transported from Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point (North Carolina, USA) to the Israeli port of Ashdod. December 15 is given as the date of shipment, with charter duration of 42 days. In the contract, according to Reuters, mention is made of 5,8 million pounds (2.6 million kg) of net explosive weight, which in professional circles is judged to be a "very large quantity".[1] The German shipping company has, in the meantime, confirmed receipt of the contract, but did not give details.

Irregular

Reuters reports that the next US arms delivery to Israel is currently being prepared. It will be comprised of 325 standard 20 ft. containers that will be shipped to Ashdod during the month of January from the Greek port Astakos in two shipments. The contents of the cargo are classified as munitions (explosives and detonators).[2] The contractor is the US Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC), which autonomously delivers weapons, but depending on the circumstances, sometimes falls back on private shipping companies, as in the current case. Since this shipment is in connection with the war on Gaza, British military experts have classified it as "irregular".

Both Sides

The legwork being carried out by a German shipping company for the war on Gaza, brings to mind the voluminous arms exports to the Middle East from the Federal Republic of Germany. Both the Arab as well as the Israeli sides were being supplied. The German government's Arms Export Reports denote that over the past few years, Israel has received exports valued at 15 - 20 million Euros - mainly anti-naval and anti-aircraft equipment as well as spare parts for tanks and armored vehicles. The Arms Export Report for 2007, published in Berlin just before Christmas vacation, denotes the export licenses for more than 28 million Euros in equipment: all-terrain vehicles, spare parts for tanks, ABC protective equipment, as well as communications and navigational hardware. The Israeli Dolphin class submarines are also of German production.

Alibi

Egypt, a traditional recipient of German weapons is being supplied a similar amount of war material. The focus is on trucks and spare parts for armored vehicles, communications equipment and munitions. One analysis explains that "German scientists and technicians have taken an active part in building up the Egyptian arms industry."[3] During the 1950s former Nazi arms experts were working on site in Egypt, developing missiles, among other things. Among the experts, who were participating, with the knowledge and in part with the financial backing of the West German government, were a former director of the "Reichswerke Hermann Göring" and a specialist of the Nazi missile research facility in Großendorf.[4] The fact that Israel was among the possible primary targets of the missiles produced in Egypt, with the help of these German specialists, exposes the alibi character of the allegation that West Germany's Middle East policy, was primarily oriented toward the wellbeing of Israel, because of the Nazi crimes against humanity.

Rivals

For years, Saudi Arabia, one of the Middle East Nations, has been among the most important recipients outside NATO of German armaments deliveries. The Arms Export Reports note that over the past four years German exports reached between 30 (in 2005) and 59 (2004) million Euros, mainly spare parts for planes, naval equipment, communication instruments and small arms. With its arms exports to Saudi Arabia, Germany is not merely arming an Arab country, but above all, one of Iran's rivals for the predominating influence in the Persian Gulf. Think tanks in Berlin are proposing an even more intensive cooperation with Riyad. For example the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) writes: "if Germany wants to expand its margin of maneuver in the Middle East, the strengthening of cooperation with Saudi Arabia seems imperative."[5]

Controls

But, on the other hand, the German government seeks to prevent the arms exports of reprehensible countries. As the German foreign minister announced on the weekend, Berlin will participate in preventing the delivery of Iranian weapons into the Gaza Strip. In a few days, a German group of experts is due to fly to Egypt for this purpose. "Many of those I have spoken to in the Middle East" said Steinmeier on Saturday, "told me that Iran threatens to become the big winner of the Gaza Conflict."[6] German help in the fortification of the Lebanese borders [7] was not least of all to thwart the influx of weapons to the Hisbollah from Teheran. Following the same pattern, the Gaza Strip is now to be cut off from an influx of undesired Iranian weapons. The West reserves for itself the control over the arms buildup of the competing Middle East states.

[1], [2] U.S. seeks ship to move arms to Israel; Reuters 09.01.2009
[3] Länderportrait Ägypten; Bonn International Center for Conversion, Januar 2007
[4] see also Ankerland
[5] Saudi-Arabien als Partner deutscher Nahostpolitik; SWP-Studie 2008/S 35, Dezember 2008 [6] Steinmeier warnt vor Krisengewinner Iran; Focus Online 10.01.2009
[7] see also Zur Zusammenarbeit bringen and Independent Presence

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A Balance of Weaknesses (Germany and the war in Gaza)

A Balance of Weaknesses
2009/01/07

GAZA/BERLIN (Own report) - Berlin's foreign policy politicians do not rule out a German military mission to the Gaza Strip. The Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee of the German Parliament (Bundestag) demands that under certain circumstances, Germany should furnish soldiers to a multi-national Gaza Force. The demand for German military presence in the immediate vicinity of Israel has been raised in Berlin already in 2002 and is being systematically pursued ever since, particularly via the German naval mission off the Lebanese coast. An eventual Gaza intervention would not only serve to prevent further combat, but, as in the Lebanon mission, also reinforce the friendly forces - on both sides. With this in mind, Berlin and the EU have been active for years in the Palestinian Autonomous Territories and have influential structures at their disposal also in Israel. In the meantime, the German government is seeking to benefit from the conflict, through allegedly non-partisan "mediators". Turkey and Arab allies are being used as proxies. Since the founding of the state of Israel, the establishment of a military balance of forces has been sought between the parties to the conflict, permitting Western industrial nations to play one off against the other.

The Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee of the German Bundestag, Ruprecht Polenz (CDU), is contemplating a Bundeswehr deployment in the Gaza Strip. This corresponds to a suggestion made by Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, who would like to establish a "monitoring system" in the war zone, for the verification of a cease-fire and the prohibition of "arms smuggling", meaning the disruption of the logistical routes, making Israel's hermetic sealing of the Palestinian territory even more impermeable. Tel Aviv will not allow the residents of Gaza independent supply routes neither by land, sea nor from the air. The Israeli prime minister had already spoken of the "monitoring system" to the German chancellor and the US president, both having agreed that sovereign rights of the Palestinians be monopolized by Israel and its allies. If Germany is asked to participate in a multilateral deployment like the Unifil mission in Lebanon, then Germany should take part." This is how Polenz circumscribes the planned violation of Palestinian (factually nonexistent) sovereignty.[1] Foreign policy experts of the SPD are also not excluding the sending of German forces to the Gaza Strip.[2]

Trashing History

The German government had expressed its intention of establishing a military presence in Israel's immediate vicinity as far back as 2002. Back then, the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, (SPD) declared, under approbation from almost all of the parliamentary parties, that he "in principle, would and could not exclude" an intervention of the Bundeswehr in the Middle East.[3] Just shortly before the Chancellor's statement, a strategy paper had been introduced at a Bertelsmann Foundation blue-ribbon conference. The paper proposed sending an EU military mission - a so-called peace keeping mission - to the Middle East.[4] Volker Perthes, at the time the Middle East expert in and the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin, explained in the summer of 2002 that there was "much approbation from the Palestinian side as well as - astonishingly - from Israelis" for an intervention of German soldiers. Perthes is today the SWP director.[5] Voices of caution were in the minority. "It should be clear to anyone who is sensitive at all" that it is impossible for Germany to send soldiers to the Israeli borders, said Wolfgang Benz, director of the Center for Anti-Semitism Studies in Berlin, detecting a "trashing of history" in the government's Middle East plans.[6]

Precedence

As a matter of fact, since 2002 Germany has significantly extended its presence in the Middle East. Germany is militarily participating in the UN's UNIFIL Mission in Lebanon and is using this participation to arm and train the Lebanese Army. Under the direction and with the equipment of the German Navy, the Federal Police and the German customs service, Lebanon has been fortifying its terrestrial borders, also to reduce Syria's influence and thereby strengthen the Western positions in that country.[7] With German participation, the EU is running a training program for police officers in the Palestinian Autonomous Territories (EUPOL COPPS). They are also furnishing equipment.[8] On the Rafah border crossing, as well, Berlin and Brussels had stationed police officers (EUBAM Rafah), but this measure has been suspended.[9] Last year the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) declared that the mission in Lebanon could "serve as a precedence for similar maritime missions in similar regional scenarios,"[10] giving the example, "the coast of the Gaza Strip."

Condition

A Bundeswehr mission in the Gaza Strip, which would significantly upgrade German military presence at Israeli borders, seems now to be coming within reach. Yesterday, Jan. 6, the German chancellor endorsed, for the first time, "international support" in interrupting supply routes to the war zone,[11] thereby sustaining the German government's previous Middle East policy: supporting the acquiescent forces, such as the Palestinian Fatah, while offensively combating the recalcitrant organizations, such as the Palestinian Hamas or the Lebanese Hisbollah. Over the past few years, German politicians have, on various occasions, called for taking a directly opposite course to that of the USA and Israel and negotiate with Hamas,[12] to no avail. By adhering to the Western alliance strategy, the German government is fulfilling the prerequisites for German soldiers' intervention in the Middle East.

No Interest

Because of its partisanship, Berlin is denied the role of "mediator" between the parties in conflict in the Middle East, a role Berlin cherishes for enhancing its position. This is why Berlin has recently sought to bring Turkey and Egypt into focus as "mediators," to exercise influence through them. "It is true that Turkey's, Saudi Arabia's and Egypt's regional conflict agendas over the past few years have more often been much more pragmatic than those of certain Western participants," writes the SWP director. The three states named would also, if necessary, negotiate with Hamas, if this should be needed for reaching a cease fire. But above all, "these structurally conservative powers would have no interest in a revolutionization of Middle Eastern relations," - the biggest fear of the Western business and military alliance, that, for decades, has been promoting a military balance of forces between Israel and its Arab neighbors, conducive to maintaining a weak adversary, permitting the exploitation of the region's natural resources.[13]

[1] Hamas droht Israelis mit Anschlägen in aller Welt; Der Tagesspiegel 06.01.2009
[2] "Wenn es dem Frieden dient"; Der Tagesspiegel 06.01.2009
[3] see also Kanzler erwägt Bundeswehreinsatz im Nahen Osten
[4] see also Deutsche Außenpolitik entwirft Strategie für europäischen "Friedenseinsatz" in Israel
[5] see also "Sympathie" für deutsche Soldaten in Israel
[6] see also Kanzler erwägt Bundeswehreinsatz im Nahen Osten
[7] see also Zur Zusammenarbeit bringen and Independent Presence
[8], [9], [10] see also Independent Presence
[11] Bundeskanzlerin Merkel zutiefst besorgt wegen der Lage in Gaza. Telefonate mit Erdogan und Bush; Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung 06.01.2009
[12] see also Die Stunde der Europäer
[13] Volker Perthes: Der Weg führt über Jerusalem; Süddeutsche Zeitung 02.01.2008