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UK airport may be handling more US weapons flights to Israel despite Bush "apology"
Two more American flights carrying "hazardous cargoes" bound for Israel are to refuel at Prestwick Airport this weekend, it has emerged.
It is unclear exactly what will be on board the planes.
However, campaigners fear they will be carrying more high-tech bombs to be used in the conflict in Lebanon.
US President George Bush has apologised to Tony Blair over the previous use of Prestwick Airport to refuel planes carrying bombs to Israel.
The prime minister's spokesman said Mr Bush gave a "one-line" apology for the fact proper procedures had not been followed.
Some air traffic controllers at Prestwick, near Glasgow, have raised concerns about handling flights carrying bombs.
Raised concerns
Residents and politicians in Ayrshire have also voiced anger at the airport's use as a stopover for the planes.
The Civil Aviation Authority has been conducting an inquiry into suggestions that previous landings may have broken the rules over notification of the cargo.
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett raised concerns with the US Government over the issue last week.
Her intervention came after newspaper reports that two chartered cargo planes filled with laser-guided bombs landed at Prestwick en-route to Israel from the US.
The Civil Aviation Authority said one flight carrying a "hazardous cargo" was due to land at the Scottish airport on Saturday, with the other touching down on Sunday.
The planes were travelling from San Antonio in Texas to Tel Aviv.
A CAA spokesman said: "They are hazardous material flights - the items that they are carrying are understood to be of a dangerous nature.
"They are landing at Prestwick for refuelling, and needed an exemption to be able to land in the UK. This was granted last week.
"Our concern in any of these cases is that the proper procedures have been carried out. We are purely looking at it from a safety point of view, and we are satisfied that our requirements have been met."
The Scottish National Party's deputy Westminster leader, Angus Robertson, said there was an issue of principle at stake.
"President Bush's supposed one-line apology for breaching procedures at Prestwick is not good enough," he said.
"Scotland should have no part in conflict escalation while hundreds of children are dying in Lebanon and across the Middle East."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/5226910.stm
However, campaigners fear they will be carrying more high-tech bombs to be used in the conflict in Lebanon.
US President George Bush has apologised to Tony Blair over the previous use of Prestwick Airport to refuel planes carrying bombs to Israel.
The prime minister's spokesman said Mr Bush gave a "one-line" apology for the fact proper procedures had not been followed.
Some air traffic controllers at Prestwick, near Glasgow, have raised concerns about handling flights carrying bombs.
Raised concerns
Residents and politicians in Ayrshire have also voiced anger at the airport's use as a stopover for the planes.
The Civil Aviation Authority has been conducting an inquiry into suggestions that previous landings may have broken the rules over notification of the cargo.
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett raised concerns with the US Government over the issue last week.
Her intervention came after newspaper reports that two chartered cargo planes filled with laser-guided bombs landed at Prestwick en-route to Israel from the US.
The Civil Aviation Authority said one flight carrying a "hazardous cargo" was due to land at the Scottish airport on Saturday, with the other touching down on Sunday.
The planes were travelling from San Antonio in Texas to Tel Aviv.
A CAA spokesman said: "They are hazardous material flights - the items that they are carrying are understood to be of a dangerous nature.
"They are landing at Prestwick for refuelling, and needed an exemption to be able to land in the UK. This was granted last week.
"Our concern in any of these cases is that the proper procedures have been carried out. We are purely looking at it from a safety point of view, and we are satisfied that our requirements have been met."
The Scottish National Party's deputy Westminster leader, Angus Robertson, said there was an issue of principle at stake.
"President Bush's supposed one-line apology for breaching procedures at Prestwick is not good enough," he said.
"Scotland should have no part in conflict escalation while hundreds of children are dying in Lebanon and across the Middle East."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/5226910.stm
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Scotland on Sunday can reveal that after the conflict in Lebanon began three weeks ago, Ireland turned down a United States request for planes carrying 600lb so-called bunker busters to refuel at Shannon airport in Co Clare.
As a result, cargo planes carrying the bombs, which the Israeli army is using in its offensive against the Hezbollah, are being flown via Prestwick airport in Ayrshire.
The use of Prestwick triggered a furious diplomatic row last week after it emerged that the US had broken aviation rules by failing to notify Britain about the flights.
That row is intensifying this weekend as two further American planes carrying 'hazardous' material to Tel Aviv land at the airport.
In another controversial development, Scotland on Sunday has learned that Prestwick is negotiating to allow planeloads of US military personnel on their way to Iraq to stop there.
A well-placed source close to the negotiations said it was bidding to take flights away from Shannon, which is currently used as a stopover for the bulk of the 900 American soldiers who travel from the US to the Middle East every day.
The American airlines which transport the troops through Shannon are understood to be reviewing their use of the airport, following protests in Ireland which have resulted in some of the planes being vandalised. The source said: "It could soon be the case that the Irish will say that they don't want these flights and, as a consequence, then we will look to get them."
The latest revelations are set to crush hopes among British diplomats that the row over Prestwick would die down following President George Bush's apology to Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday.
One Irish official said that the bombs would never have been allowed on Irish soil.
The source said: "There is absolutely no way that we would allow munitions or weapons to be shipped through Shannon to a location where there is an actual war going on. We would not allow it. It is correct that we allow the US to transport troops to Shannon, but sending bombs to Israel is another matter and completely out of the question for us."
Opposition critics last night seized on the situation. Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond said: "It is highly significant that Shannon put its foot down and drew back from allowing the transport of bunker busters, which could become the tinder to escalate dramatically the Middle East conflict."
He added: "It is absolutely appalling that we should allow Prestwick to become a stopover to death and destruction."
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said the fact that more flights were now landing in Scotland was "adding insult to injury".
He said: "What price the president's apology now?
The British government should be pursuing an active policy of denying weapons of any kind to anyone in the Middle East who may be assisting the conflict in any way."
More
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1104532006
Another plane suspected of carrying hi-tech bombs for use in the conflict in Lebanon is due to touch down at the Ayrshire airport on Sunday.
It is the second of two "hazardous material" flights due to pass through Prestwick this weekend.
However, there has been no official confirmation of what is on board.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the planes were travelling from San Antonio in Texas to Tel Aviv.
Terminal building
The first of the flights, carrying items of a "dangerous nature", was believed to have refuelled at Prestwick on Saturday, but there has been no official confirmation.
The CAA said that the exemptions allowing the flights to land at the airport were granted last week.
It said the flights, operated by Atlas Air, would land well away from the terminal building and other aircraft.
More
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/5227582.stm