LONDON [MENL] -- Britain has increased the number of refusals for Israeli
arms requests.Officials said Israel has expanded its military ties with Britain over
the last year. They said this has resulted in a significant increase in
British arms sales to Israel in 2001."On the issue of arms sales to Israel, it is true that the number of
licences has increased, but so has the number of refusals," Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw said. "While, altogether, there were six refusals of
specific licences in 2000, there were 31 refusals of specific licences last
year."Straw did not elaborate. But industry sources said British refusals
included light weaponry, ammunition and non-lethal weapons.
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