15/06/2010 After rejecting all calls for an international investigation Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet approved Monday the committee elected to investigate the deadly Israeli navy raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
Yet, the Israeli leadership is convinced that the Freedom flotilla massacre has isolated the Zionist state internationally; however the political level remains in defiance and denial.
On May 31, Israeli navy commandos launched a deadly raid against the Gaza-bound Freedom flotilla and killed nine Turkish activists in international waters.
The International community said an international probe into the event was necessary. Israel, backed by the US and Canada, formed its own investigation committee thus rising the eyebrows of the world for Israel’s persistence in disdaining and defying the international community.
The head of the opposition Kadima party, Tzipi Livni, has accused Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of running away from its responsibilities and said that a public relations campaign cannot replace an effective, yet absent diplomacy.
So far, the Israeli Knesset has turned down three motions of no-confidence for Netanyahu’s government.
Israel has already been blamed for the massacre last week and was showered with statements of condemnation from virtually every country in the world.
It was not, and will not be Israel’s last massacre, but with the Zionist state’s experience in handling the aftermaths of its massacres, it absorbed the global outrage and worked on minimizing the damage.
“Israel has never accepted forming an investigation panel of a political nature, but this time it found itself forced to do this especially after the international pressure on it increased and its criminal deeds were exposed to the world,” Majed Azzam, the head of the Middle East Center for Journalism and Media, told Al-Manar’s Website. Azzam pointed that Israel had been planning to form a panel comprising academics to look into the legality of taking the Turkish Marmara ship by lethal force in international waters. However, he added, the panel was formed on political and security bases. “It is seeking to minimize the direct damage.”
Apparently Israel has already determined the conclusion of its commission’s inquiry. Yedioth Aharonoth said that the commission “would question only members of the political echelon, and the IDF's position would be presented via the military inquest into the raid, which determined that Israel, for the most part, operated appropriately.” Minister Daniel Hershkowitz of Habayit Hayehudi said the Turkel committee had been given the power to provide the international community with a response to its claims, but "that which interests us needs to be investigated only in internal forums".
The Turkel committee, headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel, includes two Israeli members aside from the former judge: Amos Horev, who served as president of the Technion, and Shabtai Rosen, a professor of international law.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu’s government was awaiting a "green light" from the United States and other sources on a separate proposal for how to investigate the incident. A senior government source noted that the type of panel and its mandate should be acceptable to Washington otherwise it will not enjoy the backing of the Obama administration.
“This time Washington found itself forced to find a compromise because it appeared embarrassed vis-a-vis the international community. The US go ahead to form the Israeli panel came within the framework of dampening the damage that has come upon Israel,” Azzam explained. As for Canada which also backed Israel’s own investigation panel, Azzam said that “one of the international monitors is a Canadian and Canada enjoys good relations with Israel and the Israel lobby.”
“Israel needs to prove to the international community that it is backed by the leading countries of the world because this time, it is facing a tough foe, Turkey, which will not retreat its three demands: apology, compensation, and international investigation panel.
Israel will not stop at this point. It will also go after Moscow and the EU’s support to contain Turkey,” the head of the Middle East Center for Journalism and Media said.
Israel is worried about the ‘irreparable’ deterioration of its ties with Turkey, because the Zionist state will lose some security and strategic benefits. Yedioth Aharonoth has quoted Israeli security officials as expressing deep concern about Turkey closing an Israeli intelligence station involved in operating against Iran which would cause Tel Aviv to lose its ‘nose and ears’ in Iran’s backyard.
“Turkey does not seem to be willing to retreat and it has denounced the Israeli panel as illegal. Israeli-Turkish ties are irreparable but not likely to be cut.”
Turkey has labeled the Israeli probe panel as ‘unqualified to run an impartial investigation” into the deadly Freedom flotilla attack in international waters and demanded an independent panel instead under the supervision of the United Nations.
Criticism of the Israeli inquiry has been growing as commentators are questioning the feasibility and partiality of an Israeli investigation into an Israeli crime in international waters.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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