UN proposes multinational probe into activists’ deaths
Ban has suggested establishing a panel that would be headed by former New Zealand prime minister Geoffrey Palmer and include representatives from Turkey – under whose flag the ship sailed – Israel and the United States, said the official from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
The Israeli leader discussed the proposal with Ban on Saturday and convened senior cabinet ministers to decide whether Israel would take part yesterday but deferred further consideration. “We must cautiously weigh the manner in which such an investigation will be conducted to protect the interests of Israel,” Netanyahu said.
Israeli political sources, speaking before the ministerial meeting but after Netanyahu briefed cabinet members from his Likud party, said Israel was exploring other options for an inquiry into last Monday’s operation. Israeli leaders have spoken publicly about setting up an internal Israeli investigation with foreign observers into the interception of the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, part of a six-ship convoy that challenged the Israeli-led blockade of the Gaza Strip, an enclave run by Hamas Islamists.
Ban also discussed with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erodogan “options for moving forward with the investigation called for by the Security Council,” the UN said on its website, referring to the council’s call for an impartial inquiry.
Turkey’s relations with Israel, once a close ally, have soured badly since the deadly raid. The Israeli official said there was hope that ties could be mended if Israel and Turkey cooperated in a committee investigating the incident. Netanyahu said at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting that a smaller group of “violent extremists” had boarded the ship separately with the intention of clashing with troops.
“According to information we now have, this group boarded separately, from a different city, organised separately, was equipped separately... and without passing the same inspection as the others,” he said.
Together with Egypt, Israel tightened its blockade on the Gaza Strip after Hamas Islamists took over the coastal territory in 2007 in fighting with forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
World pressure has mounted on Israel to lift the blockade which the UN said has caused a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and hampers efforts to rebuild homes and infrastructure destroyed in a 2009 war.
Israel says its frequent transfer of basic goods to the territory has staved off any such crisis.
