24/01/2011 Turkish Prime Minister dismissed the report of Turkel Committee inquiry into the events of the May 31 Israeli raid on flotilla heading to break the blockade of the besieged Gaza.
Erdogan told reporters in Ankara Sunday that the probe “had no value or credibility”, adding that he was "appalled and dismayed" at its results.
The report said Israeli occupation soldiers were “attacked by activists” upon landing on the 600-passenger Mavi Marmara and used “lethal force because their lives were in danger”.
MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) was also critical of the committee, saying its members had refrained from summoning her to testify purposefully.
"The committee did not summon the only witness who saw what happened on board for fear that the harmony of the report would be damaged," Zoabi said Sunday.
MK Zoabi accused the Turkel committee of trying to whitewash the martyrdom of the nine Turkish activists who were killed during the raid, and said the committee had been used as "an open stage for propaganda" as it allowed military and state officials to speak uninterrupted and without objection.
For his part, Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum called the committee's conclusions "a desperate attempt at justifying the occupation and improving Israel's image by hiding crimes".
"Steps must be taken in order to try the accomplices of this crime in international court," he added.
On the other hand, Israeli Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his content with the results, alleging that the occupation soldiers were “defending” themselves.
However, a Jewish agency report said that the raid unleashed a surge of anti-Semitism throughout the world.
[ 23/01/2011 - 07:28 PM ]
DAMASCUS, (PIC)-- The Islamic resistance movement Hamas strongly denounced the results of the Turkel probe into the lethal attack by Israeli troops on the Freedom Flotilla during an attempt to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
The board released a report Sunday concluding that the attack did not contravene with international laws.
Hamas said the report reveals the panel's political role in legitimizing Israeli aggression and that facts were distorted.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum confirmed his party's rejection of the board, saying it is not plausible that the offender is the judge at the same time.
"It is an attempt to display [Israel's] image as civilized and democratic and save the occupation government from its predicament stemming from its involvement in terrorist acts," he said.
The investigation concluded Israel's siege on Gaza and attack on the Freedom Flotilla were done in accordance with and did not constitute any violation of international law
According to Yakoub Turkel, chairing the probe, Israel has fulfilled the obligation of supplying the strip's medical needs throughout the siege and did not deliberately starve the population there.
Turkel claimed clear evidence implies the naval convoy was trying to break the Gaza siege and extremist Islamic elements were among the Turkish activists on board and directly took part in "hostile acts".
Israeli media outlets earlier expressed belief that the internationally questionable probe would exonerate Israel of any suspicions around the attack against the fleet's Mavi Marmara that left nine dead.
By Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News
After Israel released a report absolving its forces from wrongdoing in an attack on a humanitarian aid flotilla last year that left nine aid workers dead, survivors of the attack roundly criticized the report Sunday, calling it a “whitewash” and a “farce”.
Viva Palestina's Kevin Ovenden, who was on board the Mavi Marmara when it was attacked by Israeli forces in May last year, said, "The claim by Israel's Turkel Commission that Israeli forces acted legally when they killed nine people aboard the Mavi Marmara, and left another brain dead, will be laughed out of court by all but the Israeli government and its most fanatical supporters.
Ovenden continued, "This whitewash commission was set up by the Netanyahu government, the same people who commissioned the assault on the aid ship. It is simply unfeasible to claim that, for example, the two men shot immediately to the left and right of me, were gunned down in some act of self-defence. They were shot from above. No Israeli commando was in sight of us when the bullets rang out.”
He added, "Israel has refused an independent international inquiry and instead was brazen enough to establish this farce. No Turkish official, lawyer or representative was allowed to take part...Rather than entertaining this charade from Tel Aviv, the British government should demand that Israel and those responsible for the atrocity of Bloody Monday on the Mediterranean on 31 May last year are held to account and to the same universal standards of justice that are required of other states.”
Other members of the aid flotilla who survived the May 2010 attack were equally harsh in their criticism of the Israeli report. Sarah Colbourne, Director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and who was also onboard the Marvi Marmara when the Israeli Defence Force attacked the boat said:
“However hard the Israeli Government attempts to rewrite history, they can’t rewrite the truth. The facts are simple, the Marvi Marmara was carrying essential humanitarian aid like baby milk to the besieged people of Gaza. There were no guns or weapons on board the boat, we were in international waters, when over 300 bullets – or one for every two people on board - rained down on us, killing 9 people and injuring over 50.
She added, “The actions of the Israeli Defence Force and the Israeli Government where by all international standards of law illegal as is their continued occupation of Gaza and the oppression of the Palestinian people.”
The Turkel Commission was created by Israel to conduct an investigation of the attack by Israeli commandoes on the Gaza aid flotilla last year that left nine people dead. The report it released on Saturday found no wrongdoing by Israeli forces during the attack. None of the Gaza flotilla aid workers who survived the attack were interviewed by the commission, which based its findings solely on the testimonies of Israeli officials and soldiers.
Posted by Jnoubiyeh at 12:01 PM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz
Labels: Besieged Gaza Strip, Crimes of Zionism, Freedom Flotilla, Israel's criminal blockade, Israeli crimes against activists, Mavi Marmara
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
No comments:
Post a Comment