Turkey holds up Israeli tourists amid tensions, Israel says

Sep 5, 2011, 9:39 GMT

Tel Aviv - Some 40 Israeli passengers were held up on arrival at Istanbul Airport for no apparent reason, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said, amid further tension in Israeli-Turkish relations.

Palmor said the Israelis, mostly businessmen, were not told why they were taken to a side room in the airport, where their passports were taken from them.

The passengers, who arrived on a Turkish Airlines flight, were allowed through and had their passports returned only after some 90 minutes, he said.

'This is unusual,' Palmor told the German Press Agency dpa. 'We don't know what is behind it and are trying to find out at this moment.'

Israel Radio reported that also on another flight from Istanbul to Tel Aviv, passengers were 'humiliated.'

The long-simmering crisis between Israel and Turkey flared up again late last week, sparked by the publication of a UN report on Israel's deadly takeover of a Turkish ship with pro-Palestinian activists headed to Gaza 15 months ago.

Israeli naval commandos shot dead eight Turkish nationals and an American of Turkish descent in the May 31, 2010 incident.

A group of stick- and knife-wielding passengers confronted the commandos as they descended onto the Mavi Marmara from helicopters, more than 70 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza.

The report by former prime minister of New Zealand Geoffrey Palmer reached conclusions which angered Ankara, which reiterated its insistence on an Israeli apology for the incident.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while expressing 'regret for the loss of life' that occurred during Israel's interception of the ship, refused Sunday to apologize.

Israel would not apologize for defending itself against violent activists and for preventing the smuggling of arms to Gaza militants, who had fired over 10,000 rockets and mortar shells from the strip over the past years, he told his cabinet.

The Palmer report backed Israel in some key points, although it criticized it on others.

It acknowledged Israel faced 'a real threat to its security from militant groups in Gaza' and called the Israeli naval blockade of the coastal enclave a 'legitimate security measure.'

It said the Israeli naval commandos 'faced significant, organized and violent resistance' from a group of passengers when they boarded the Mavi Marmara.

But, the report added, Israel used 'excessive and unreasonable force.' It also called the loss of life and injuries 'unacceptable.'

Amid a lack of apology, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced Friday that Ankara would downgrade its relations with Israel and suspend military cooperation between the two countries.

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