Report exonerates Israel over Gaza flotilla assault (2nd Roundup)

Jan 23, 2011, 19:24 GMT

Jerusalem - An Israeli probe all but completely exonerated Israel's navy of any wrongdoing when it intercepted a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last spring and killed nine pro-Palestinian civilian Turkish activists.

Reading out his findings eight months after the deadly assault that had sparked worldwide condemnation, retired Israeli supreme court judge Jacob Turkel said the commandos acted in self-defence.

Those conclusions were dismissed out of hand by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

'To my judgment there is no value, no credibility to this report' he said.

'This report was prepared under direct orders. How can there by any value or credibility to such a report which the country itself created within its own borders?'

The clash caused Israeli-Turkish relations to reach a new nadir.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the 300-plus page report, saying 'our soldiers acted to protect themselves and to protect their country.'

Turkel's report said that while the majority of the 600 passengers on board the Turkish Mavi Marmara were peace activists, the commandos were taken by surprise by a group of some 40 members of hardline Islamist and anti-Israeli organizations, including the Turkish IHH, who resisted the interception.

Their resistance, planned and coordinated in advance, was 'extremely violent,' ruled the public commission of inquiry.

The panel was appointed by Netanyahu following massive international criticism two weeks after the Israel navy overpowered the flotilla in international waters off the coast of Gaza on May 31.

Turkel said the group of some 40 activists used iron rods, chairs and other objects to attack each soldier as soon they repelled onto the deck from a helicopter.

Three soldiers were overpowered and 'abducted' to a lower deck, their weapons and equipment taken from them. One soldier was shot in the stomach with a 9-millimetre calibre bullet. Another was stabbed. Some 200 knives were found on board and on the passengers, he said.

The commandos 'had a fraction of a second to make the difficult decision to use force' and made it under conditions of 'uncertainty,' and 'surprise' while being outnumbered by the activists, Turkel said.

Under international law, Israel had the right to stop a vessel even in international waters, as soon as it declared its intention to breach the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza, he declared.

The commission also rejected charges that Israel's blockade amounted to 'collective punishment' of Gaza's civilian population.

The panel said it heard some 26 public testimonies and another 11 behind closed doors - mostly by Israeli soldiers and decision-makers because flotilla participants declined to appear before the commission via video conferencing or in a neutral location.

It also viewed video footage, shot by activists on board the Mavi Marmara and from security cameras.

The two foreign observers on the panel - Northern Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lord David Trimble and Canadian former judge advocate general Kenneth W. Watkin - said in a letter endorsing the report that 'we have no doubt the commission is independent.'

Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak, reacting to the report, called the flotilla 'a provocation', and said the conclusions 'proved that Israel was a law-abiding country that could inspect itself and which respects the norms and rules of the international system.'

However, an Israeli Arab member of the Knesset, Hanin Zuabi - who was on board the Mavi Marmara - condemned the report as merely 'the Israeli official version of events.'

Turkel said that of the eight Turks, four belonged to the IHH, and four others to Turkish Islamist movements. A ninth victim, a young Turkish American, did not appear to belong to any group.

The retired Israeli judge, citing remarks by relatives, claimed that four of the dead had expressed the wish to die as 'martyrs' for the Palestinian cause prior to their journey.

The activists have accused the Israelis of indiscriminately opening fire with no justified reason during the take-over. Israel said the soldiers used live ammunition because they felt their lives were in danger and they were being 'lynched.'

A United Nations Human Rights Council fact-finding mission ruled in September that Israel used 'totally unnecessary violence' and an 'unacceptable level of brutality' during its interception of the Gaza-bound flotilla.

Israel has refused to cooperate with that mission, as it accuses the council of being biased against it.

Ankara has demanded an apology and compensation for the victims by Israel, which has refused any acceptance of blame, with its outspoken and controversial foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, calling the demand a 'chutzpa' (audacity).

Ties have recovered somewhat after Turkey sent two planes to help fight Israel's worst-ever forest fire late last year.

One member of the eight-men panel, Shabtai Rosenne, a renowned Israeli jurist, died in September at the age of 92.

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