Israeli Minister of Defence Cancels Trip Due to Possible International Charges for Role in Attack on Freedom Flotilla: AIC
Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak canceled an official visit to Paris on Sunday (13 June), announcing he would stay in Israel while the government establishes an investigative committee to explore Israel’s deadly naval attack on the Freedom Flotilla.
The announcement comes after French activists who were aboard the Gaza bound aid convoy threatened to bring charges against Barak over the raid that killed nine. The suit would be filed under the principle of universal jurisdiction, a principle that allows the prosecution of suspected war criminals in countries that have no direct connection with the events, in France and in the International Criminal Court in The Hague, according to the Associated Press. Three members of French parliament have also joined the effort.
“We must stop this bloody Israeli escalation and the only way is international judiciary. We want to stop Israel through punishing its leaders who partook in the operation. We will mainly target the leaders who gave the orders and those who executed them,” said Lilian Jalok, who represents the French activists.
Barak was set to dedicate a new Israeli booth at the Eurosatory arms fair, which opens in Paris this week.
“We believe it is unacceptable and unjust that the French government hosts Ehud Barak honoring him with official ceremonies after he claimed responsibility for the attack on our flotilla and the bloodshed,” said Tomas Hud, one of the Freedom Flotilla activists.
A small French cinema chain also took action to protest the Freedom Flotilla attack. The Utopia art cinemas canceled screenings of the Israeli comedy “Five Hours from Paris” and replaced them with the documentary “Rachel,” about an American student crushed to death by a bulldozer in 2003 while protesting Israeli house demolitions in Gaza.
“It was a protest of our whole company,” Anne-Marie Faucon, the co-founder of Utopia, said in an interview. “We show many Israeli films, we organize a lot of debates on what happens in the world, but this time we reacted very strongly and in a very emotional way.”
“Rachel” is a documentary made by Simone Bitton, a Moroccan-born, French-Israeli director who emigrated to Israel with her family as a child, served in the Israeli army, became a pacifist and mostly lives in France, wrote the New York Times. Bitton is also the director of “Wall,” a 2004 documentary about the Israeli Separation Wall that is dividing Palestinian communities and carving up land.
After Israeli-Dutch director Ludi Boeken told the Utopia he planned to withdraw his film, “Saviors in the Night,” from the cinemas “in solidarity with the censored,” and Culture Minister of France, Frédéric Mitterrand, contacted Ms. Faucon voicing his “incomprehension” and “disapproval,” the cinemas relented.
It “was a symbolic and limited gesture” Ms. Faucon said, stating that Utopia had planned to eventually release the Israeli comedy. She called “Rachel” “a film that corresponds perfectly to this mission of participating in democratic debate.”
EDITOR: War Criminal Blair rises from his deep slumber
As a prize for his war crimes on behalf of the House of Bush II, Mr. Blair got this cushy job in Jerusalem, which also allowed him to collect $1million from Israel through the Tel Aviv University. He has spent the last few years in hibernation, seldom arising from his lair. He has managed to keep his silence through thick and thin, and now appears set to collect some coupons for the coming end of the blockade, when in reality he was one of the main supporters of the blockade. You can see what he said a week ago in the item below, speaking to the Jewish Chronicle.
Gaza blockade to be eased within days declares Tony Blair: The Independent
By Geoff Meade, Press Association
Monday, 14 June 2010
The world must give “hope, help and prospects” to the people of Gaza, Tony Blair insisted today.
Emerging from talks with EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, he repeated his belief that the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip will be eased within days.
The key, he said, was an agreement to change from a situation in which Israel operates a limited list of permitted goods allowed through border crossings into Gaza, to a prohibited list of goods – weapons and “combat material” – which are not.
“After my talks (with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), there is now in principle a commitment by Israel to move to such a list,” he said.
That would mean Israel maintaining the existing blockade to keep out arms while allowing in building materials and foodstuffs essential to normal daily life, Mr Blair said.
The change would simplify access for non-military goods, “rather than people struggling to get household items and foodstuffs in, rather than them having to fight over almost every bit of construction material”.
The former UK prime minister and current Middle East envoy added: “Most of all we must give the people of Gaza some hope, some help and some prospects.
“I believe and hope that we can reach a situation where we get a policy with regard to Gaza which is right regarding security, and regarding the people of Gaza and which gives the people of Gaza eventually the prospects of joining a two-state solution.”
Baroness Ashton, European High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said EU governments were ready to send monitors to help police border crossings as part of any Israeli decision to ease access.
She gave a cautious welcome to Israel’s decision to launch an inquiry into how nine people aboard a flotilla of humanitarian aid ships attempting to breach the blockade were killed by Israeli fire when troops halted the convoy.
A spokesman for Baroness Ashton described the inquiry as “a constructive step” while Mr Blair said: “The issue of the inquiry continues to be an issue of strong political debate … it is a step forward.”
But some EU Governments, notably the Dutch and Swedes, want to see a full international investigation.
That view was included in a statement at the end of today’s talks in which EU foreign ministers expressed deep regret for the loss of life during “the Israeli military operation in international waters” and condemned the use of violence.
The statement declared that “an immediate, full and impartial inquiry into these events and the circumstances surrounding them is essential”.
It went on: “To command the confidence of the international community this should include credible international participation.”
The statement also called for “an immediate, sustained and unconditional opening of crossings for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and persons to and from Gaza including goods from the West Bank”.
It said the EU stood ready to contribute to the reconstruction of Gaza and its economic revival, adding: “To this end, full and regular access via land crossings, and possibly by sea, on the basis of a list of prohibited goods, should be the prime aim, while at the same time providing strict control over the destination of imported merchandise.”
Oxfam warned that the Gazan economy would continue to “unravel” unless the blockade was completely and immediately lifted.
Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International, said: “The blockade has unleashed a tragic chain reaction that has affected many of Gaza’s one and a half million residents. When a factory is forced to shut down because it can’t import or export, it doesn’t just affect the employees who lose their jobs – entire families relying on that salary also lose out, becoming dependent on humanitarian aid.”
He said that in recent months, Israel had allowed in an increasing number of food items, such as coriander, jam, biscuits and other sweets:
“While this is certainly welcomed, what Gaza needs most are jobs, raw materials for reconstruction and for industry, and the ability to export – not just short-term aid and consumer products like jam that, without a job, they can’t afford to buy.
“The civilian population has been kept just above the bar of a humanitarian crisis. It is trapped in a crisis of dignity that the international community must help resolve.”
Oxfam said Israel currently allows about 100 types of items into Gaza, compared with more than 4,000 before the blockade.
Meanwhile, a ban on political delegations entering Gaza angered Euro-MPs in Brussels today.
The Israeli embassy in Brussels has advised the European Parliament that Israel will no longer “facilitate the entry of political delegations to Gaza”.
The same ban applies to British MPs.
The Israeli letter to all MEPs said the accumulation of political visits “not only undermines Israel’s security but also undermines the efforts of the Palestinian Authority to lead the Palestinian people to peace”.
UK Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies, who has been to Gaza four times, said: “I’m not surprised that Israel wants to keep politicians away from Gaza: every time one visits they return horrified at the results of policies that leave more than a million people undergoing collective punishment.”
Mr Davies, a member of the European Parliament’s Palestine Delegation, urged the British Government to open direct talks with Hamas – described in the Israeli letter as a “brutal terrorist organisation which openly calls for Israel’s destruction and appears on the EU’s list of terrorist organisations”.
Mr Davies responded: “I don’t agree with the policies of Hamas but the organisation cannot be ignored. The new British Government should follow the recent lead of the Russian president and meet with their representatives face to face.
“You cannot make peace without talking to your enemies.”
Blair: Israel has right to check what goes to Gaza: Jewish Chronicle
June 9, 2010
Tony Blair said Israel has his full support
Tony Blair has said in an interview that Israel has the right to check supplies that are sent into Gaza.
Speaking on Israeli television, the former British prime minister and Middle East Quartet envoy said the Gaza blockade should be lifted but “when it comes to security, I am one hundred per cent on Israel’s side.”
Mr Blair added: “There’s no question that there are rockets fired from Gaza and that there are people in Gaza who want to kill innocent Israelis.
“Israel has the right to inspect what goes into Gaza.”
He also said that any probe into the clashes between pro-Palestinian activists and the Israel navy should be “full and impartial”.
Mr Blair reiterated concerns about Iran gaining nuclear weapons. “That is not something we should contemplate or allow,” he said.
Poland backs German request to extradite suspect in Dubai killing: Haartez
Poland to rule within month on extraditing alleged Mossad man suspected of obtaining forged passport for January assassination of Hamas leader.
Tags: Israel news Israel Mossad Dubai assassination
Polish prosecutors will ask a Warsaw court to heed Germany’s request to extradite an Israeli man wanted there in connection with the Dubai assassination of a top Hamas official, a prosecutor spokesman said Monday.
The spokesman said prosecutors were not taking politics into consideration, but were acting in accordance with procedures, according to the Polish Press Agency.
An Israeli citizen using the name Uri Brodksy was arrested in Poland over the weekend on suspicion of fraudulently obtaining a German passport believed to have been used by a member of the hit squad that killed Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel room in January.
A spokesman for the Polish court said earlier Monday that justices were to rule within a month whether to extradite the suspected Mossad agent in connection with the assassination.
Dubai has accused Israel of being behind the killing and provided the names of more than two dozen alleged members of a team it says tracked and killed the Palestinian, using fraudulent British, Irish, French, German and Australian passports.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied any role in the assassination, prompting international indignation.
“The man sought by Germany was detained a week ago. He will be held for up to 40 days and during this time the court will have to rule whether to extradite him,” said Wojciech Malek, a spokesman for the Warsaw district court.
A spokesman in the Polish foreign ministry said there had been no formal request from Israel that its citizen be allowed to return home.
A spokesman for the German justice ministry declined to comment on the case, but said EU rules mandated that extraditions take place within 40 days of an arrest.
Mabhouh, born in the Gaza Strip, had lived in Syria since 1989 and Israeli and Palestinian sources have said he played a key role in smuggling Iranian-funded arms to militants in Gaza.
Australia and Britain have both ordered the expulsion of some Israeli diplomats over the use of fake passports in the assassination.
Israeli Soldiers Shoot, Kill Palestinian in East Jerusalem Neighbourhood of Wadi al-Joz: AIC
Residents of Wadi al-Joz were still in shock Friday evening (11 June) after a Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers in the East Jerusalem neighborhood earlier that day.
“I was inside and then I heard live shooting. I went outside and I saw the people running. People were going in all different directions,” said Jamal, who lives just down the hill from where the shooting occurred.
According to Israeli authorities, a Palestinian man tried to run over two Israeli police officers (stationed at a flying checkpoint in the neighborhood) with his car Friday afternoon. When the man got out of the vehicle and fled on foot, he was shot and killed.
Al-Jazeera reported that Palestinian medical workers identified the man as 41-year-old Ziad al-Jolani.
Ahmed, a 29-year-old convenience store owner in Wadi al-Joz, was sitting in front of his store when the man allegedly tried to run over the Israeli officers. He said he thought something was wrong with the man’s car and that’s why he didn’t stop, because the street was extremely crowded after Friday afternoon prayer.
“I didn’t understand,” said Ahmed, adding that the car was going as fast as a person would if running, and was being shot at by six or seven Israeli soldiers.
He said that he had seen the man before and believed he lived in the nearby Shu’fat neighborhood of East Jerusalem.
“There is no need to kill him. He was only one man and they were more than 25 soldiers. It’s shocking,” Ahmed said.
Nawras, a 14-year-old Wadi al-Joz resident, said that he saw the car turn down the narrow street where his family’s home is located.
He said that the man got out of the car on his street, and was shot in the back by Israeli soldiers who were chasing him at the time.
“He fell down here,” said Nawras, pointing to a small spot of dried blood on the pavement.
Nawras said that he left his house’s stoop at the top of the street, where he had first noticed the car, to better see what was happening further down the road. He said he saw four Israeli soldiers circle the man, as he was lying face down on the ground. Then, Nawras said he saw one soldier shoot him three times in the head at very close range.
Subhi, a 32-year-old taxi driver, lives at the end of the street where the shooting happened. He was driving his car towards his home when he heard gunshots.
“I saw my small kids [in the street]. I left the car, with the engine switched on. I left the door open. So I took the kids and ran away to the house. The man which they killed, he was just two or three meters behind me. I can’t turn my face and see what’s happened. Because you know, bullets it’s not joking,” Subhi said.
He explained that his main concern at the time was making sure that his two children – aged four and five – were safe.
“I just was thinking about the kids. I’m not thinking about the car or anything. I saw my kids,” Subhi said.
He said that residents weren’t allowed out of their houses for at least 15 minutes after the shooting occurred. He said that about 20 soldiers and police officers were in the street at this time, and that they stayed on the scene for about an hour.
“They didn’t let the people take him or drive him to the hospital,” Subhi said.
He added that after he was finally able to leave his house, he and his neighbors found more than 20 bullet shells in the street.
“At the beginning I thought that they were rubber bullets, but it wasn’t. It was live bullets,” said Subhi, whose taxi was hit by at least two bullets.
By 6:30 p.m. Friday, the only remnants of the al-Johani’s car were one blown-out tire and shards of broken glass on the street. Residents had washed the road, but at least half-a-dozen patches of dried blood remained in various spots on the pavement.
Al-Jazeera reported that a young woman was serious injured and two other men were also wounded in the incident. It remains unclear whether al-Johani deliberately tried to harm the Israeli officers or if what happened was an accident.
Tensions were already high before the shooting, as Palestinian men under the age of 40 were barred from reaching the al-Aqsa Mosque for Friday prayer. Israeli soldiers and police officers were out in large numbers around the Old City and across occupied East Jerusalem for most of the day.
According to Wadi al-Joz residents, at least seven flying checkpoints had been set up between the East Jerusalem neighborhood and the al-Aqsa mosque on Friday.
*All Wadi al-Joz residents interviewed by the AIC for this story spoke on condition that their last names not be used.
ICRC says Israel’s Gaza blockade breaks law: Haaretz
Monday, 14 June 2010
BBC News, Geneva
The ICRC paints a bleak picture of conditions in Gaza
Israel’s blockade of Gaza is a clear violation of international humanitarian law, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said.
In a statement, the ICRC describes the situation in Gaza as dire, saying the only sustainable solution is a lifting of the blockade.
It says Israel is punishing the whole civilian population of Gaza.
It also urges Hamas movement to allow ICRC delegates to visit a detained Israel soldier Gilad Shalit.
Key message
The ICRC, a traditionally neutral organisation, paints a bleak picture of conditions in Gaza: hospitals short of equipment, power cuts lasting hours each day, drinking water unfit for consumption.
“The whole of Gaza’s civilian population is being punished for acts for which they bear no responsibility. The closure therefore constitutes a collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law,” the agency said in the statement.
And the ICRC blames differences between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority for some of Gaza’s shortages.
But the key message from the body which rarely publicly criticises governments is that Israel’s blockade of Gaza must be lifted.
That message is yet another indication of growing international concern over conditions in Gaza – just last week US President Barack Obama called the situation there unsustainable.
Israel Backs Panel to Examine Raid: NYTimes
JERUSALEM — In an effort to dampen international criticism and stave off calls for an international inquiry, Israel’s cabinet on Monday unanimously approved a government-appointed commission with foreign participation to investigate the circumstances surrounding its deadly commando raid on a flotilla bound for Gaza in late May.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move to set up an inquiry would demonstrate clearly “to the entire world that the state of Israel acts according to law, transparently and with full responsibility,” according to remarks posted on his Web site.
On Sunday, the secretary general of the Arab League toured Gaza for the first time since the Islamist group Hamas took control of the Palestinian territory, underlining an urge for more Arab involvement in the issues raised by the raid on the flotilla, which was trying to breach Israel’s naval blockade.
Amr Moussa, the highest-ranking Arab diplomat to visit in the past three years, entered Gaza from Egypt through the newly opened border terminal at Rafah, and immediately called for the blockade of Gaza to be lifted.
Speaking in Belgium, the former British prime minister and Middle East envoy Tony Blair expressed optimism that Israel would soon take steps to ease its blockade to allow more goods into Gaza.
“I hope very much in the next days we will get the in-principle commitment that we require, but then also steps beginning to be taken,” Mr. Blair said as the left a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
The change under discussion would allow goods to enter Gaza unless they were specifically banned. At present only authorized categories of products are allowed in. Last week the Israeli government widened the list of items allowed to include jam, preserves, juice and other supplies.
Israel’s inquiry into the flotilla raid, to be called the Independent Public Commission, will be led by a retired Israeli Supreme Court justice, Jacob Turkel. It will include two Israeli experts in international law and two foreign observers — Lord David Trimble, a Nobel Peace laureate from Ireland, and Brig. Gen. Ken Watkin, former judge advocate general of the Canadian Forces — whose inclusion is intended to add credibility to the inquiry and to secure foreign support for it. In Washington, the White House press secretary issued a statement hailing the Israeli announcement as an “important step forward.” The statement added that “the structure and terms of reference of Israel’s proposed independent public commission can meet the standard of a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation,” as sought by the United Nations Security Council.
“But,” the White House cautioned, “we will not prejudge the process or its outcome and will await the conduct and findings of the investigation before drawing further conclusions.”
The commission will examine the legality of Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza and whether the raid on the flotilla conformed with the rules of international law. It will also examine the actions taken by the organizers of the flotilla and its participants, as well as their identities, the Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement.
Israeli commandos intercepted the six-boat flotilla in international waters, leading to a violent clash on a large Turkish boat, the Mavi Marmara, that left nine activists dead. The episode stirred international outrage and severely damaged Israel’s relations with Turkey, a once-close Muslim ally.
Mr. Netanyahu said last week that Israel’s inquiry “must also include answers to certain questions that many in the international community would rather ignore.”
He said those include: “Who is behind the radical group on the deck of the ship? Who funded its members? How did axes, clubs, knives and other types of blunt weapons find their way on to the ship?”
Critics in Israel questioned the powers of any panel less than a full state commission of inquiry. In an editorial published on Sunday, the liberal newspaper Haaretz said the government’s efforts at investigating itself looked increasingly like a “farce.”
“The truth that Netanyahu wishes to bring out involves the identity of the flotilla’s organizers, its sources of funding and the knives and rods that were brought aboard,” the paper wrote. “He does not intend to probe the decision-making process that preceded the takeover of the ship and the shortcomings that were uncovered.”
International calls for a change in policy toward Gaza have grown since the raid on the Turkish boat. In Gaza on Sunday, Mr. Moussa said, “The siege must be broken,” referring to the embargo imposed by Israel, with Egypt’s help.
Israel began to restrict the entry of goods into Gaza in 2006, after Hamas won Palestinian elections and then captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid. The sanctions tightened after Hamas took full control of the territory in June 2007.
Israel argues that the blockade is necessary to prevent Hamas from smuggling in weapons or materials needed to make them, and to weaken Hamas control. But there is a growing consensus abroad that the blockade has taken a toll mainly on civilians.
Most Arab states hold Hamas at arm’s length, and Mr. Moussa was careful not to leave an impression that his visit was intended to give Arab legitimacy to Hamas. He met the leader of the Hamas government in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, at Mr. Haniya’s house rather than his office.
Mr. Moussa urged the Palestinians to end their internal division, calling on Hamas to respond to Egypt’s efforts to broker a reconciliation with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, of the rival Fatah party, whose authority is now limited to the West Bank.
But many Palestinians said that if Mr. Moussa was serious about the need for a lifting of the blockade and for reconciliation, he should have gone there earlier. A political scientist at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, Ibrahim Abrash, said Mr. Moussa’s visit “will not leave an effective mark.”
The Arab League “has not crystallized an Arab vision for lifting the closure,” Mr. Abrash said.
The international outcry over the flotilla raid has forced Israel to reconsider its Gaza policy, although Israeli officials insist that it had already been under review for several months.
Red Cross Condemns Blockade
GENEVA (Reuters) — The International Committee of the Red Cross said Monday that Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip violated the Geneva Conventions and called for lifting it.
Israel is entitled to impose restrictions on military material for security reasons, but the scope of the closing is disproportionate, covering items of basic necessity, the Red Cross said.
Israel sets up inquiry into deadly Gaza flotilla raid: BBC
Monday, 14 June 2010
Israel has set up an internal inquiry into its deadly raid last month on a convoy of Gaza-bound aid ships.
Israel earlier rejected a UN proposal for an international probe, but has now agreed to include two foreign observers in its own inquiry.
Nine Turkish activists were killed when Israeli commandos stormed the ships in international waters on 31 May.
Meanwhile, Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair says he hopes Israel will allow more humanitarian items into Gaza.
Washington welcomed the announcement of the inquiry, describing it as “an important step forward”.
ISRAEL’S FLOTILLA INQUIRY
Three-man panel
Headed by ex-Supreme Court judge Yaakov Tirkel
Other members: Amos Horev, a retired military officer; and Shabbtai Rosen, a professor of international law
Two foreign observers: David Trimble and Ken Watkin
Will consider how nine Turkish activists died after their ship was boarded by Israeli commandos
Will also adjudge whether Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza is allowed under international law
But Turkey’s foreign minister said Ankara had “no trust at all” that Israel would conduct an impartial investigation.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Blair said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed in principle to move from a list of items that are currently permitted into Gaza into a list of prohibited goods – and that was a “significant change”.
Mr Blair added that the Israeli government would consider the plan in the coming days.
He was speaking before briefing European Union foreign ministers at talks on the Gaza blockade in Brussels.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said Israel’s blockade of Gaza is a clear violation of international humanitarian law.
In a statement, the ICRC described the situation in Gaza as dire, saying the only sustainable solution was a lifting of the blockade.
‘Transparent investigation’
Last month’s clashes came after six ships carrying campaigners and 10,000 tonnes of aid sailed from Cyprus in an attempt to break Israel’s three-year blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
ANALYSIS
Continue reading the main story
Paul Wood,
BBC News, Jerusalem
An experienced politician like Benjamin Netanyahu knows that getting the outcome you want from a public inquiry is all about the right terms of reference and who you appoint to sit on the inquiry.
So, the commissions’ remit does not include looking at the process of government decision making which led to Israeli commando raid. It will instead focus on questions of international law.
And the two foreign observers who have been appointed are seen as friends of Israel.
Turkey – and others critical of Israel – want a fully independent UN commission of inquiry. This demand has now been deflected with the appointment of credible (but not unfriendly) international figures as non-voting observers.
Whatever happens in the commission of inquiry, Israel is under immense pressure – from allies as well as enemies – to lift the Gaza blockade.
Israel says its troops acted in self-defence when activists attacked commandos trying to board the main vessel in the flotilla. The campaigners say the soldiers opened fire without any provocation.
The proposal for an Israeli inquiry into the Gaza convoy raid was approved by the country’s cabinet on Monday.
“The government decision will make it clear to the world that Israel is acting legally, responsibly, and with complete transparency,” Mr Netanyahu told the cabinet, according to Haaretz newspaper.
The three-man panel will be led by former Israeli Supreme Court judge Yaakov Tirkel. The other members are Amos Horev, a retired major-general in the Israeli military and a former president of the Israel Institute of Technology, and Shabtai Rosen, a professor of international law.
But the premise of the inquiry was quickly criticised by Turkey.
“We have no trust at all that Israel, a country that has carried out such an attack on a civilian convoy in international waters, will conduct an impartial investigation,” said Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
“To have a defendant acting simultaneously as both prosecutor and judge is not compatible with any principle of law.”
The AFP news agency also reported Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as saying that the terms of the inquiry would not comply with demands made by the UN Security Council.
The whole of Gaza’s civilian population is being punished for acts for which they bear no responsibility
The two foreign experts – former Northern Ireland first minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner David Trimble and retired Canadian military prosecutor Ken Watkin – will take part in the hearings and subsequent discussions, but they will not vote on the conclusions of the inquiry.
Lord Trimble, the former Ulster Unionist leader, won the Nobel prize for his role in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which brought an end to the worst of the political violence in Northern Ireland. Since stepping aside from politics there, he has travelled to the Middle East to speak about conflict resolution.
ISRAELI CHAIR OF GAZA FLOTILLA ATTACK INVESTIGATION DOESN’T BELIEVE IT SHOULD EXIST: rsilverstein
June 14th, 2010
Supreme Court justice Yaakov Tirkel to chair Gaza panel, whose premises he disputes (Haaretz)
This is getting damned strange. The Obama administration and Israel have been haggling for a week over the nature and composition of the supposedly independent commission which will investigate the Gaza flotilla disaster. We hear that the U.S. demanded that someone of judicial “stature” like a Supreme Court justice be appointed as chair. Bibi finally acquiesced and appointed Justice Yaakov Tirkel. But there’s one problem. The incoming panel chair doesn’t seem to believe in the panel. Here is how Haaretz characterized the judge’s remarks in a searing editorial attacking the commission:
Netanyahu’s panel will have no powers, not even those of a government probe, and its proposed chairman does not believe in such a panel. In an interview to Army Radio, Tirkel said there is no choice but to establish a state committee of inquiry. He opposed bringing in foreign observers and made clear that he is not a devotee of drawing conclusions about individuals and dismissing those responsible for failures. When a Haaretz reporter confronted Tirkel about these remarks, the former justice evaded the question saying, “I don’t remember what I said.“
One of the two international “observers” David Trimble, is a co-founder of the newly launched Israel advocacy group, Friends of Israel, joining John Bolton, Dore Gold, and Spain’s former right-wing prime minister, Jose Aznar. At its founding, the group released this statement:
This initiative “is promoted by people who are not Jewish and whose motivations are based on the deep conviction that Israel is part of the Western world. In fact, today Israel is a fundamental actor for the future of the West. Although the peace process is important, the members of Friends of Israel Initiative are more concerned about the onslaught of radical Islamism as well as the specter of a nuclear Iran since these are threats affecting not only Israel, but the entire world.
…The sponsors of this Initiative believe there is no West without Israel.”
Ironically, Friends of Israel announced its inauguration the day after the Mavi Marmara massacre. Can anyone possibly believe that David Trimble is a disinterested party capable of sitting in judgment (even as an observer) of the IDF’s behavior in this matter?
Also joining the Israeli investigative panel will be an IDF major general. Does anyone detect a slight conflict of interest here? How can a senior officer of the IDF sit in judgment of the IDF in what is supposed to be an “independent” panel?
Haaretz’ editorial also called the flotilla investigative body a “farce:”
The government’s efforts to avoid a thorough and credible investigation of the flotilla affair seem more and more like a farce. The conclusions of an ostensible probe are intended to justify retroactively the decision to blockade Gaza, to forcibly stop the Turkish aid flotilla in international waters and to use deadly force on the deck of the Mavi Marmara.
To make the costume seem credible, the Prime Minister’s Bureau asked a retired Supreme Court justice, Yaakov Tirkel, to chair the committee. Alongside him will sit foreign observers in order to legitimize the conclusions in international public opinion.
…As far as Netanyahu is concerned, it will be enough for television channels to broadcast footage of dark-suited jurists, and politicians addressing them, to present the semblance of an “examination.”
The Obama administration, ever willing to throw out a lifeline to Israel’s right-wing government, welcomed the fraudulent panel:
…The White House press secretary issued a statement hailing the Israeli announcement as an “important step forward.” The statement added that “the structure and terms of reference of Israel’s proposed independent public commission can meet the standard of a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation,” as sought by the United Nations Security Council.
“But,” the White House cautioned, “we will not prejudge the process or its outcome and will await the conduct and findings of the investigation before drawing further conclusions.”
He better give himself that “out,” as this panel will satisfy no one but the B-boys, Bibi and (possibly) Barack.
German Jews ‘indundated’ with requests to join new Gaza aid flotilla: Haaretz
Jewish Voices for a Just Peace seeks second vessel, as dozens more activists ask to take part in aid mission.
An association of German Jews planning to send a boat with humanitarian aid to break the Gaza blockade is searching for a second vessel, given the high number of requests to travel with the group.
The group, Jewish Voices for a Just Peace, had originally planned to send one small vessel from an unnamed Mediterranean port in mid- July, with the intention of getting aid past the Israeli-imposed blockade of Gaza.
However, spokeswoman Edith Lutz told dpa that “our preparations have been held back somewhat because we have been inundated with requests to travel.”
Lutz said that the first vessel, which could hold up to 14 passengers, was now full and that a further 40 German Jews were seeking to travel aboard a second vessel.
White House backs Israeli internal inquiry into Gaza flotilla deaths: The Guardian
• Trimble to be among two foreign observers on inquiry panel
• Spain, France, Italy and UK lead EU pressure for blockade end
Israel last night flouted pressure for an independent international inquiry into the lethal assault two weeks ago on a flotilla of ships attempting to break the blockade on Gaza, announcing an internal investigation with two foreign observers.
The White House gave its approval for the Israeli formula, which will be confirmed by the Israeli cabinet today.
The inquiry into the raid, in which nine Turkish activists aboard the Mavi Marmara were killed, will be headed by a former Israeli supreme court judge, Yaakov Tirkel. The foreign observers are the former Northern Ireland first minister David Trimble and a Canadian judge, Ken Watkin. They will have no voting rights.
The inquiry falls short of a UN proposal for an international investigation, but was agreed after consultation with the US. The White House said last night that the Israeli inquiry meets the standard of “prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation”.
Since the flotilla assault, world attention has shifted to Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Pressure to ease it will intensify today when EU foreign ministers are expected to adopt a robust position. Spain, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, will press for a vigorous approach, with support from France, Italy and the UK. The Spanish prime minister, José Luis Zapatero, called at the weekend for a strong joint EU position on the siege.
Zapatero said his foreign minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, would argue at the meeting that the EU should stand up for the end of the blockade on Gaza and extend all its political and diplomatic capacity to reach that goal.
The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, told his cabinet colleagues yesterday that discussions about Israel’s policy towards Gaza, which have included three meetings with the Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair in the past eight days, were continuing. Blair, who will brief today’s EU meeting, is pressing for Israel to substitute the current allowed list of items permitted to enter Gaza – all items not on the list are forbidden – for a limited list of prohibited items, with everything else permitted. The result would be greater transparency and accountability.
Netanyahu told the cabinet: “The principle guiding our policy is clear: to prevent war material from entering Gaza and to allow the entry of humanitarian aid and non-contraband goods.” Despite the pressure to relax the siege, Israel is reluctant to make a dramatic move which would allow Hamas to claim a victory.
Aid agencies and the UN are also concerned that Israel will restrict any relaxation to essential humanitarian supplies which, although needed, will not help Gaza s legitimate economy to recover and regain its authority over the black market economy, which is based on goods smuggled in via tunnels from Egypt.
Phil Bloomer, Oxfam’s policy director, said: [Gaza’s] conventional economy is in tatters. Without a full lifting of the blockade it will continue on a downward spiral.”
Israel’s defence minister, Ehud Barak, yesterday called off a trip to a Paris arms show, amid reports that pro-Palestinian groups in France would seek his arrest over the flotilla deaths.
Amr Moussa, the secretary general of the Arab League, arrived in Gaza yesterday in the most high-profile visit by an Arab official since Hamas took control of the territory in June 2007, after winning elections six months earlier.
He was expected to meet the Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, to discuss the prospects of reconciliation between Fatah, which dominates the West Bank and is the party of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas.
Moussa told a press conference in Rafah: “The Palestinians deserve that the world, and not just the Arab world, stand by them in the face of the siege and in the face of what is happening in the occupied territories and Jerusalem.”
Israel blasts Castro for calling swastika ‘new Israeli banner’: Haaretz
Castro’s remarks were issued by Cuba’s diplomatic mission in Geneva amid debate in a UN Human Rights Council debate.
Israel denounced comments on Monday by former Cuban president Fidel Castro, who compared the Israeli treatment of Palestinians to the Nazi extermination of Jews, an example of heated rhetoric at a United Nations body’s debate.
Castro’s remarks were issued by Cuba’s diplomatic mission in Geneva amid debate in the 47-nation United Nations Human Rights Council on Israeli action in the Palestinian territories.
“The hatred felt by the state of Israel against the Palestinians is such that they would not hesitate to send the one and a half million men, women and children of that country to the crematoria where millions of Jews of all ages were exterminated by the Nazis,” the ex-Cuban leader said.
“It would seem that the Fuehrer’s [Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s] swastika is today Israel’s banner,” the 83-year-old Castro declared in the latest of a series of articles dubbed
“reflections” in the communist-ruled island’s media.
His remarks were not cited in the Council itself, but diplomats said Cuba had sent the comment to other foreign missions in Geneva as well as to journalists.
“With these outrageous comments, Fidel Castro shames his old-time companions and the ideals he always pretended to serve. Che Guevara must be spinning in his grave,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said in Jerusalem.
Israel has long lamented its treatment by the Human Rights Council, which it believes is biased against it. Cuba is a member of the council’s bloc of developing countries, which shields its members and friends outside the body like Iran and Sri Lanka from criticism, but regularly condemns Israel.
Fidel Castro stepped down in 2008, following a long illness after nearly 50 years as his country’s number one leader and handed over power to his younger brother Raul, now 79. Since then his “reflections” have kept him in the public spotlight.
On June 2 the Geneva-based Council condemned as outrageous Israel’s interception of a ship flotilla taking aid to blockaded Gaza and the death of nine activists on board one vessel, voting to set up an independent fact-finding mission into the affair.
Israel has set up its own probe with foreign experts and rejected a separate U.N. investigation.
Sail participants to sue Barak in France: YNet
French activists who took part in Gaza flotilla plan to file legal claim with local court, ICC against Israeli defense minister over deadly Navy raid. State official tells Ynet visit to Paris won’t be canceled, but security measures around Barak to be tightened during trip
Published: 06.11.10
French activists who took part in the Gaza-bound flotilla were expected to declare Friday that they would be filing a legal claim against Defense Minister Ehud Barak with the courts in France and with the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Barak is expected to leave for France on Sunday on a two-day official visit, during which he will inaugurate the Israeli stand at a military exhibition and meet with the French foreign and defense ministers.
The plaintiffs said they were being helped by three French parliament members.
State officials clarified that Barak would not cancel his plans and that the Foreign Ministry’s legal department, together with additional elements in the justice system, were working to provide legal protection should the French activists file the lawsuit.
The Gaza flotilla events have joined a series of other incidents which led to a wave of legal claims filed by pro-Palestinian elements in Europe against senior Israeli public figures and defense officials, including Operation Cast Lead and the assassination of senior Hamas member Salah Shehade.
The flotilla activists plan to officially declare the legal move in a press conference scheduled to be held at the National Assembly in Paris. The three parliament members who joined the initiative are expected to deliver speeches and file the lawsuit with the Marseilles court.
The state officials noted that although there were no plans to call off the visit, they were not worried that Barak would be arrested but were preparing to tighten the security measures around him for fear that he would be greeted with anti-Israel protests and riots.
The organizations behind the initiative are the International Civil Campaign for the Protection of the Palestinian People (CCIPPP) and the Committee for Charity and Support for the Palestinians (CBSP).
Their members explained that they decided to sue Barak because “he is the official responsible for the attack on the flotilla.”
The defense minister’s media advisor, Barak Seri, told Ynet he would not be comment on the matter.
EDITOR: Thank you, Obama, for defending the guilty!
Obama thinks Israelshould be the one to inquire into its own crimes. Ah, yes – Pigs will fly, definitely!
U.S.: Israel capable of conducting impartial Gaza flotilla probe: Haaretz
State Department declares U.S. ‘stands by’ Israeli decision; UN keeps proposal for international probe ‘on table’.
The United States declared Monday that it stood by Israel’s decision to conduct an internal probe moderated by international observers of its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla.
|We believe that Israel certainly, as a government, has the institutions and certainly the capability to conduct a credible, impartial and transparent investigation,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said, hours after Israel introduced the members of a panel created to probe the Israel Navy raid which killed nine people on May 31.
“I think this is an important step forward in what is called for in the UN. Security Council presidential statement,” Crowley added, referring to the international body’s call for a transparent, impartial, credible investigation. “That said, we’re not going to prejudge the process or the outcome.”
Regarding Turkey’s insistence that an Israeli probe was an insufficient method of dealing with the incident, Crowley said that Turkey had the right to open its own investigation into the matter.
“Turkey, as any sovereign country, has a right to conduct its own investigation. I’m not aware that Turkey has reached its own judgment on how to proceed,” he said.
Crowley reiterated that United States’ position that it saw Israel as “capable of conducting” an impartial probe, adding: “We stand by Israel, and we’ll voice our strong views against any action that is one-sided or biased by an international organization.”
When asked about the growing international pressure on Israel to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip, Crowley said that the United States was working with partners in Israel and Egypt to ensure that humanitarian assistance be allowed into the Hamas-ruled territory.
“We are continuing to work with Israel, Egypt and others to try to figure out how to expand the amount of assistance to the people of Gaza,” he said.
“But it remains a very legitimate concern that Israel [has],” Crowley said, referring to the flow of arms into the Gaza Strip. “They have, in fact, in the past, intercepted ships that were carrying weapons and armaments that have been used to threaten the Israeli people.”
UN keeps proposal for international probe ‘on table’
The United Nations responded cautiously to Israel’s approval of an internal probe, saying the investigation “could fit” with internation calls for a credible investigation.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon “took note” of Israel’s announcement, said UN spokesman Farhan Haq, but continued to push for a full international investigation.
“The Secretary-General [Ban Ki-moon] takes note of the Israeli announcement on their inquiry,” Haq told reporters.
“A thorough Israeli investigation is important and could fit with the secretary-general’s proposal, which would fully meet the international community’s expectation for a credible and impartial investigation,” he said.
But Haq added that Ban’s “proposal for an international inquiry remains on the table and he hopes for a positive Israeli response.” He said Israel had not rejected Ban’s idea.
Diplomats say Ban has urged Israel to accept a neutral inquiry panel led by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and the cautious UN reaction may indicate that Ban had doubts about whether an Israeli-led probe would suffice.
Angered by the killing by Israeli commandos of nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists on May 31, Turkey said an Israeli investigation would be biased and reiterated demands for a UN-controlled probe.
Diplomats familiar with Ban’s proposal said he suggested Palmer could have two deputies, one from Israel and another from Turkey. Israel has responded coolly to Ban’s idea.
UN diplomats say it is clear that Israel opposes a UN-led investigation. The main reason is the Israeli view that a U.N. Human Rights Council-mandated inquiry into the December 2008-January 2009 war in the Gaza Strip led by South
African jurist Richard Goldstone did serious damage to Israel.
The Goldstone Report accused both Israel and Hamas militants who control Gaza of war crimes, charges the Israelis and Hamas rejected.
At least four separate inquiries into the flotilla incident have been proposed, including the Israeli probe and Ban’s inquiry. Turkish authorities have to carry out their own investigation because Turkish nationals were killed. The Human Rights Council has also said it would organize its own fact-finding mission.
Mad Israelis section
EDITOR: A new contributor to this section, Colonel (Res) Yehuda Wegman is here to tell us all about it…
The names of contributors to this section are always in red, lest you may think they belong to another section…
Sovereignty under attack: YNet
Inquiry into flotilla incident paves way for questioning Israel’s right to exist
Yehuda Wegman
Published: 06.14.10
Maintaining one’s sovereignty? Preventing the transfer of weapons to terror groups? Upholding ones principles? Eliminating terrorists who attempted to murder our Navy commandoes? As far as the State of Israel is concerned, none of the above issues must be mentioned in wake of the Gaza flotilla incident.
More than a week after the successful raid on the Mavi Marmara, the real picture of what took place there is increasingly being clarified. Unsurprisingly, what we’re seeing is very different than what the public was told at first.
Three main pieces of evidence have become largely unquestionable ever since the raid:
Firstly, it turned out that the decision to stop the ship was very appropriate, both because no sovereign state would allow its sovereignty to be violated without unequivocally stopping those who try to do so and because the ship was carrying major terrorists.
Secondly, it turned out that had Navy commandoes operated from the first moment in combat mode and as they should have done, according to our blabbering experts, we would see 50 bodies lying on the deck, while none of our fighters would have suffered as much as a scratch.
Thirdly, something in the understandings between Turkey and Israel regarding the type and intentions of passengers on board the ship went completely wrong, and the reason for it has not been clarified yet. In the days after the raid, many sources reported that before the flotilla headed to Gaza, both states engaged in contacts at the highest levels of government, in a bid to avert what ended up happening.
As the ties between the Turkish and Israeli army are very tight, we can assume that such contacts indeed took place, and therefore what ended up happening was a result of Israeli misunderstanding, or more likely, a Turkish trap.
No reason to apologize
There is a very small distance, if at all, between an inquiry into a state’s right to safeguard its sovereignty and an inquiry into that state’s very right to even maintain this sovereignty. Agreeing to any kind of commission of inquiry as result of international pressure paves the way for an inquiry into Israel’s right to maintaining its sovereignty – that is, looking into Israel’s right to exist as a state.
In the world of lies and hatred where Israel exists, all we need is a few more Goldstone-style committees in order to see a UN debate on annulling the 1947 partition decision.
Alongside the duty to undertake professional and operational probes, the Israeli government should have resisted any domestic or international legal probe. We are dealing with a simple and familiar case, where a state legally safeguarded its sovereignty; nothing more than that. There is no reason whatsoever to apologize for this, and certainly not apologize to those who sent the terrorists or support them.
In addition, regardless of whether we are dealing with a self-righteous ally or a wicked enemy, Israel must respond to any demand made of it with an immediate, identical counter-demand – this is how a sovereign
state should act. Those who try to justify themselves make the accusers respect them even less, and this self-justification merely fans the flames of hatred.
The needless desire to prove to the world Israel’s righteousness via the establishment of yet another legal committee causes our government to back our own de-legitimization effort. This is not the way.
Colonel (res.) Yehuda Wegman is an instructor specializing in military doctrine and IDF history