- 11 dec 2010
Israel's serious concerns about legal action due to flotilla massacre
Israel has tried hard to justify its violent overtaking of the humanitarian aid convoy to Gaza last spring. http://bit.ly/gEW9IU In particular, it has turned to convoluted, somewhat tortured interpretations of international law, which it claims provides legal cover for the brutal mission. Israel was just enforcing a blockade according to maritime law, or so the argument goes, when its Gandhi-like commandos were mercilessly attacked by Muslim extremists. This mantra has been accepted uncritically by the Israeli public.
But recent news belies the Israeli facade of legality. According to new reports, http://bit.ly/fDlSGR Israel is currently in discussions with Turkey to bribe them into legal protection. The Israelis have proposed financial compensation of $100,000 to each family of a murdered flotilla member. In return, the Israelis are demanding Turkey's assistance in indemnifying the Israeli Navy against lawsuits. This is not the behavior of a party convinced of its legal position. Rather, it is the behavior of a party that knows clearly that the Turks are able to raise this matter in international courts and is worried because of it.
Official Israeli comments on this proposed deal are quite revealing:
We made a compensation offer, and asked the Turks to do what needs to be done to address our legal concerns, said an Israeli official involved in the negotiations.
Netanyahu's adviser added that the two countries were discussing the phrasing of a compromise that both sides can live with [and] that will get our relations with Turkey back on track and remove the whole affair from the international agenda [emphasis added]. What is important to the Prime Minister, he added, is to protect the marines and commanders.
If this is not an example of outright bribery intended to avoid compliance with international law, then I don't know what is.
(9 dec 2010)
Israel offers compensation for Gaza flotilla deaths
Israel offers £63,000 each to families of men killed on Mavi Marmara in exchange for Turkey's help in indemnifying navy against lawsuits.
Israel has proposed paying compensation to relatives of Turks it killed during a raid on a Gaza-bound ship, in exchange for Ankara's help in indemnifying the Israeli navy against lawsuits, officials said today.
The offer, broached by envoys in Geneva over the weekend, included measures to improve relations between the countries, but appeared to have fallen short of Turkey's demand that Israel formally apologise for the deaths of the nine pro-Palestinian activists in May.
The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, whose delegate to a UN investigation into the bloodshed attended the rapprochement talks, also faces opposition to such a deal from his hawkish foreign minister and government coalition partner, Avigdor Lieberman.
"We made a compensation offer, and asked the Turks to do what needs to be done to address our legal concerns. We also want to see them return their ambassador and allow us to appoint a new ambassador in Ankara," an Israeli official said. "For now, however, there are still big obstacles."
The draft offers Turkey $100,000 (£63,000) each to families of the men shot dead by Israeli marines during altercations aboard the converted cruise ship Mavi Marmara, and an Israeli expression of "regret" over the incident, Israeli diplomatic sources said.
Netanyahu's adviser Ron Dermer said today Israel and Turkey were discussing "the phrasing of a compromise that both sides can live with %u2026 [and] that will get our relations with Turkey back on track and remove the whole affair from the international agenda".
He told Israel Radio: "We must remember that there are those at the United Nations, there are forces which would like to see our personnel arrested. What is important to the prime minister is to protect the marines and commanders. We have said at every discussion, at every meeting, that the troops acted in self-defence there's no question about it and not out of malice."
Rattled over private war-crimes suits filed abroad against its military brass and politicians by pro-Palestinian groups, Israel has tried to stave off any similar Turkish actions in global forums by quickly setting up two internal investigations, the findings of which will become its submission to the UN inquest.
Turkey has dismissed the Israeli inquiries as insufficient.
The rapprochement talks followed the dispatch by the Turkish prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, of planes to help Israel extinguish a forest fire last week. Netanyahu had pledged to "find ways to express our appreciation" to the Turks.
Erdogan, leader of the Islamist-rooted AK party who is a frequent critic of Israel's Palestinian policies signalled yesterday no flexibility in Turkey's terms. He even added an older demand that Gaza's Hamas-ruled borders be opened.
"If there are those who want to start a new period, I repeat: They must accept their guilt, apologise and pay compensation. I say too that the embargoes, which have been eased but not enough, should be lifted," he told AK legislators.
The Mavi Marmara led an aid-ferrying flotilla that tried to breach Israel's Gaza blockade, imposed with the declared aim of keeping arms from Islamist organisation Hamas. A worldwide outcry at the vessel's seizure prompted Israel to allow more goods to reach Gaza's 1.5 million Palestinians by land, but not by sea.
Among the most vocal champions of the blockade is Lieberman, who leads the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party in alliance with Netanyahu's rightist Likud.
Political sources say Lieberman is often excluded from Israel's more sensitive diplomatic contacts.
Noting that several marines were injured in the Mavi Marmara raid, a Lieberman confidant said: "It's the Turks who should be paying us compensation, and not the other way around."
That foreshadowed a possible showdown in Netanyahu's cabinet should the proposed rapprochement deal be brought to it for approval.
http://bit.ly/fDlSGR
http://bit.ly/gD6vzx
Israel: Apologizing over flotilla attack could lead to worldwide lawsuits
NAZARETH, (PIC)-- Israel's deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon is advising his government not to apologize to Turkey over the May 31 attack on the Freedom Flotilla that left nine Turkish passengers dead and many others injured, saying the move would result in international lawsuits.
We must not apologize to Ankara, because there are ethical, diplomatic and legal implications that could be presented against our soldiers for lawsuits and compensation, Ayalon told Israeli Radio.
The Turkish government is demanding that Israel apologize and pay monetary compensation to the families of the victims of the lethal attack before restoring the once sturdy diplomatic relations between the two regional powers.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu recently stated that the state's position has never changed.
http://bit.ly/gvvd7d
'Israel to compensate flotilla victims'
Israel is reportedly seeking to reach a deal with Turkey to compensate the relatives of those Turkish activists killed in the May raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
In exchange, Tel Aviv wants a "full shield" to protect its troops from possible legal action.
Nine Turks died and around 50 other people were injured on May 31, when the Israeli military assaulted the Gaza Freedom flotilla.
"We made a compensation offer, and asked the Turks to do what needs to be done to address our legal concerns. We also want to see them return their ambassador and allow us to appoint a new ambassador in Ankara," an Israeli official told The Telegraph.
"For now, however, there are still big obstacles," the official went on to say.
Israel has offered to pay $100,000 dollars to each family of the nine slain activists.
Tel Aviv also wants to express "regret" over the bloodshed rather than "apologize" -- which has been one of Ankara's main demands.
Turkey, however, says its demands have not changed.
"Israel has behaved unjustly towards Turkey regarding the aid ship Mavi Marmara and we are still expecting compensation and an apology," Turkey's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Selcuk Unal said on Friday.
Last Sunday, Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated his position that Israel must apologize and pay compensations over the killing of nine Turkish activists.
"No one should expect us to keep silent and forfeit law and justice as long as the blood spilled in the Mediterranean is not cleared," he said.
The bilateral relations between Turkey and Israel reached their lowest ebb ever following the incident.
"Some say we should turn a new page... An apology must be offered first, compensation must be paid first," Erdogan noted.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/154932.html
13 dec 2010
Israeli lobby presses media to call off Freedom Flotilla press conference
ROME, (PIC)-- Chief Italian journalist Enzo Iacopino has fallen victim this month to pressure from the Israeli lobby in his home country over plans to host a press conference Monday for the Freedom Flotilla 2 coalition, which is set to head out to the besieged Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian aid next year.
Iacopino received dozens of letters from the Israeli lobby accusing him of hostility towards Israel and filled with statements of disapproval of his position and accusations of turning Italy's news syndicate into an un-neutral body, Quds Press quoted sources as saying.
The Freedom Flotilla coalition condemned the lobby's attacks against Iacopino, who heads 150 members of the Italian national council of journalists, calling the step an attempt to silence activists who sympathize with the Palestinians, especially those under siege in Gaza.
The coalition concluded Sunday a conference to discuss the latest preparations in the flotilla's launch. Iacopino is scheduled to throw a press conference Monday to announce those developments.
http://bit.ly/huJ9VZ
15 dec 2010
Deputy FM: Israel won't apologize for Gaza flotilla raid
Danny Ayalon's statement comes in the wake of recent reports of Israel-Turkey talks aimed at ending the diplomatic crisis between the two nations.
Israel has no intention of apologizing to the Turkish government for the Israel Defense Forces raid on Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May that left nine Turkish citizens dead, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told the Knesset on Wednesday.
Ayalon, a member of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party, spoke to the Knesset in the wake of recent reports that Israel and Turkey have been in negotiations to end the diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
Earlier this week, it was reported that the negotiations have become deadlocked because of Israel's refusal to apologize for the killings of Turkish activists aboard the Mavi Marmara and Turkey's refusal to promise to abstain from legal action against Israeli soldiers and declare that the soldiers acted in self-defense.
An Israeli official told Haaretz that the talks are "stuck" and that "differences are still great." Nonetheless, he said it is still early to declare the talks dead and expects further discussions very soon. A Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman also stated last Friday that the talks will resume soon.
According to previously published reports, Israel has offered $100,000 to each Turkish family that lost a family member during the takeover of the Mavi Marmara. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, however, called these figures "pure speculation."
A senior Turkish source told Haaretz that the disagreement now revolves over the wording of the Israeli apology and not the issue of compensation.
Zaman, a Turkish daily which supports Turkish Prime Minsiter Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party, on Saturday quoted official sources saying that the talks in Geneva were disrupted "because of the stance of the Israeli army which is similar to that of [Avigdor] Lieberman." These sources also said that Defense Minister Ehud Barak is opposed to an Israeli apology, even though he attaches great strategic importance to relations between Israel and Turkey.
The reports of a possible Israeli apology for the raid, as well as compensation for the families of the dead Turks, aroused sharp criticism from Lieberman and others within Yisrael Beiteinu.
"An apology to Turkey is giving into terrorism," said associates of Lieberman.
Lieberman associates argued that it is Turkey who should apologize to Israel for the Gaza flotilla incident.
The recent spurt of diplomatic activity between Israel and Turkey started when Erdogan decided to send aid to help Israel extinguish the Carmel forest fire earlier this month.
Last week, Davutoglu said a "new era" of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Israel had begun following the fire
http://bit.ly/eqKohy...Read more 7 jul 2011, 01:22 , Respect -
Maria 16 dec 2010
Israel will not offer apology to Turkey over May 31 flotilla attack
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli foreign ministry has refused to offer an apology to Turkey for the country's May 31 naval attack on the Freedom Flotilla, which was on its way to the besieged Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian aid.
Israel does not intend to make an apology to Turkey concerning the fleet of ships, Deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon told the media Thursday. Turkey has insisted on demanding an apology and compensation to the victims' families from Israel as a basic condition before announcing the agreement to end the diplomatic relations crisis between the states.
On a similar note, Israeli lawmaker Danny Danon from the ruling Likud party wrote to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sarcastically apologizing for Israeli soldiers using extreme restraint while seizing the ship and killing six "terrorists" only.
If Israel had prior knowledge of the presence of terrorists on board the ship, orders would have been issued that soldiers kill anyone who puts their safety at risk, Danon said.
Tel Aviv should have inspected the ships before they set sail from Turkish shores, on the grounds that its passengers carried firearms, Danon alleged.
http://bit.ly/gtfiqB
9 jan 2011
Deadline for UN probe into deadly flotilla raid postponed yet again
A U.N. inquiry into the Mavi Marmara tragedy has again postponed the release of its report. The report will be released in April. Nine Turkish activists were killed in a raid by Israeli soldiers last May as the Mavi Marmara sailed toward Gaza as part of an international aid flotilla, largely freezing relations between the once-friendly states. Reconciliation efforts between Turkey and Israel received a jump-start with meetings between high-level officials in Geneva last month but ultimately failed to produce results.
As the possibility of reconciliation at a bilateral level between Turkey and Israel has dimmed, the focus has turned one more time to the U.N. inquiry into Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla that left nine Turks dead.
The deadline for the U.N. probe, announced last August, has been postponed once more to April. The Turkish side remains anxious to finish the inquiry before May 31, the anniversary of the deadly incident. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had set mid-September last year for the panel to submit a first progress report. Chaired by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer, the panel included an Israeli and a Turk among its four members. Turkey handed its own report into the incidents on Sept. 1, as both countries were asked to present their national inquiries to the panel by that date.
Israel's acquiescence to cooperating with the U.N. probe was unprecedented, and came as a result of months-long negotiations on the panel's mandate. Yet as Israel has not presented the panel its own investigation report, the deadline for the work of the panel had been first postponed to the end of February.
As Israel continued to delay handing in its report, a move that is expected to finally be done in the second half of this month, the deadline of the panel's work has one more time been postponed to late March-early April, the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review has learned. The panel plans to start work in the second week of February. We don't want any further postponement. The panel's work should finish before May 31, said a Turkish official familiar with the process.
Israel concerned by prosecution of its citizens
The May 31 incident further deteriorated the already strained relations between the two countries.
A meeting in Geneva last month of senior officials from Turkey and Israel to mend fences failed to produce results. Turkey asks for a formal apology as well as compensation for the victims families.
The Geneva talks followed Turkey's decision a week prior to send two aircraft to help fight a forest fire in Israel.
Despite statements to the contrary, diplomatic sources say a formula can be accepted by both sides including a formal apology, yet Israel's concern of a possible prosecution of its citizens remains the main stumbling block to an agreement. Turkey is not in the position of providing the guarantee sought by Israel, as it cannot exert pressure on its own citizens to not seek justice through international channels. Furthermore, citizens from other countries were also on the ship attacked by Israel.
The Israeli state is concerned that by agreeing to apologize it would open the way to judicial cases being opened against its citizens. Turkish sources say there are also ways to overcome that problem, one of which includes an exchange of letters between the two countries, whereas Israel says it considers the case closed and won't accept any further inquiry.
The International Criminal Court was asked by lawyers acting on behalf of Turkish citizens injured or killed during the May incident to prosecute members of the Israeli armed forces last October. The court has not yet announced how it will proceed with the request. Experts say it might take years for the court to come up with a decision.
The likelihood of Israel being prosecuted for its actions in Gaza has long attracted controversy. Neither Turkey nor Israel is party to the treaty that established the international court. Turkish lawyers claim there is an overwhelming case for prosecution by the court, which some experts say has jurisdiction to prosecute those involved in the raid despite Israel not recognizing its jurisdiction.
The flotilla was made up of six ships and crewed by activists from a coalition of pro-Palestinian groups trying to break an embargo on ships entering Gaza.
Hundreds of Turkish activists were on board one of the vessels, the Mavi Marmara, when it was raided by Israeli commandos in international waters.
The activists said the commandos opened fire when they boarded the ship, but the Israelis say their troops were attacked by the activists.
The U.N. Human Rights Council's international, independent fact-finding mission concluded in September that Israeli forces violated human rights and international humanitarian law during the incident.
In a 56-page report, the fact-finding mission found that the actions of the Israeli forces in intercepting the Mavi Marmara on the high sea was clearly unlawful.
http://bit.ly/hABC34
10 jan 2011
Turkel committee interim report to be published within a week
The Turkel Commission of inquiry, formed to investigate the flotilla raid last may is scheduled to submit its interim statement within a week, sources familiar with the commission%u2019s work told Ynet on Monday.
According to estimates, the committee has completed its work, which primarily deals with the legality of the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip.
http://australiansforpalestine.com/36157
20 jan 2011
Flotilla raid probe: IDF acted properly
First part of Turkel report on lethal flotilla raid in May 2010 to be published Sunday, expected to rule that troops acted properly during takeover of Turkish ship; experts say world unlikely to endorse findings.
Some eight months after the lethal IDF raid on the Turkish Marmara vessel, the Turkel Committee charged with probing the incident is set to submit the first part of its report.
The report's first chapter, to be published Sunday, is expected to rule that IDF troops acted properly in taking over the Gaza-bound ship.
A source who is well familiar with the committee's work said all its members, including the two foreign observers involved in the probe, agreed that Israel's Navy commandoes did not violate international law, even after the operation aboard the Marmara encountered unexpected entanglements.
Professor Yossi Shain, an international relations expert at Georgetown University and the head of Tel Aviv University's diplomacy program, said that any professional observer would view the Turkel Committee as a serious, distinguished team. He added that the Irish and Canadian observers appointed by the committee further boosted its credibility.
However, despite this, Shain said he expects the world to treat the committee's findings with suspicion.
"Almost naturally, committees established by Israel draw a suspicious attitude in the world," he said. "There will always be a perception whereby Israeli committees take Israel's side."
"In any case, the UN committee would have to address the Turkel report and examine the differences between its findings and UN decisions in order to find out the reason for this," he said.
Shain stressed that in his view the Turkel Committee aimed to uncover the truth, and therefore its recommendations are expected to be accepted by bodies considered objectives. However, he added that in certain international forums the battle for Israel's image is a lost cause.
"The Turks and those who are hostile to Israel, who already rushed to draft their conclusions and rule that it was murder, will have no interest in the Turkel report," he said.
Similarly, legal commentator Dror Arad-Ayalon said that in any case, regardless of Turkel's findings, "Those who have a biased view to begin with or are a party to the de-legitimization campaign against Israel will likely not be impressed by the probe."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4016792,00.html
Turkel committee to submit partial conclusions on Sunday
The Turkel Committee, probing the Navy raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, is scheduled to submit the first part of its conclusions report to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.
This part of the report examines the legality of the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip and its enforcement, as well as the actions of the flotilla passengers and their identity.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4016489,00.html
'Turkel C'tee likely to find Israel innocent of war crimes'
Source who has been working closely with Gaza flotilla commission says conclusions will show Israel acted in accordance with int'l law.
A source who has been working closely with the Turkel Committee said Thursday that its members were likely to find Israel innocent of war crimes when they release a report of its conclusions, Army Radio reported.
He said that the committee set up to investigate the events of the May 2010 raid of the Gaza flotilla will likely conclude that the way in which the IDF took control of the Mavi Marmara aid ship was in accordance with the rules of international law.
According to the source, the conclusions, which will be released next Monday, were adopted by all members of the committee and two foreign observers, who are experts in dealing with terrorism.
The report will focus on whether the blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza was legal and complied with international law.
IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi took responsibility for the botched flotilla raid in October when he testified before then Turkel Committee.
Ashkenazi told the committee that he was responsible for all IDF operations and that as the representative of the entire military there was no reason to summon additional officers or soldiers to testify before the committee.
Ashkenazi praised the commandos from the Navy%u2019s Flotilla 13 %u2013 known as the Shayetet %u2013 who boarded the ship and, according to the IDF, were lynched by a group of mercenaries. He said that the second soldier who fast-roped onto the boat from a helicopter was immediately shot.
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=204441 7 jul 2011, 01:27 , Respect -
Maria 23 jan 2011
Hamas condemns Turkel probe's exoneration of Israel
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.
http://bit.ly/gaMwQF
Panel blasts 'wild' Flotilla attack
A relative reacts during the funeral of a victim of the Israeli commando attack.
A Turkish committee investigating a deadly Israeli attack on the Gaza-bound aid convoy Freedom Flotilla has condemned the military's unbridled application of force.
The team released its preliminary findings on Sunday, saying, "The Israeli Army used excessive force against the Mavi Marmara (the lead ship of the six-vessel fleet),%u201D AFP reported.
Israeli commandos attacked the convoy in international waters on May 31, killing nine Turkish activists and injuring about 50 others.
The fleet was carrying around 10,000 tons of humanitarian supplies for the Gaza Strip, which came under a tight land, naval and aerial Tel Aviv-imposed blockade in mid-June 2007. The restrictions have been depriving 1.5-million Palestinians in the sliver of food, fuel, medicine and other necessities.
The activists, who survived the attack, were subsequently expelled and the cargos transferred to the Israeli port of Ashdod in the south of Tel Aviv.
Much of the international community united in expressing outrage over the incident and a United Nations inquiry found -- by complete contrast -- that the forces had shown %u201Can unacceptable level of brutality.%u201D
The Turk investigators, who interviewed Turkish and foreign human rights campaigners activists on the Flotilla, likewise said the force used on Mavi Marmara %u201Cexceeded the limits of what was appropriate and necessary."
The commission criticized the "disproportionate nature of the attack" and called on Tel Aviv to compensate the survivors of the assault.
An Israeli probe, however, claimed that both the attack and the siege were %u201Clegal pursuant to the rules of international law.%u201D
The May incident has caused Ankara's ties with Tel Aviv to hit their lowest ebb.
Israel has so far rejected to either apologize for the incident or pay any compensation -- two measures it has been obliged by Turkey to take to make amends.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/161600.html
Turkey 'appalled' at Israeli panel on Gaza raid
Turkey said on Sunday it was "appalled and dismayed" at the findings by an Israeli inquiry that cleared the Israeli government and military of wrongdoing in the raid on a Turkish aid ship bound for the Gaza Strip.
Turkey also said its own panel's report into the May 31 incident, which it submitted to a UN inquiry in September, had found that Israel's blockade on the territory and "attack against the humanitarian aid convoy" had violated international laws.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017782,00.html
Turkey shocked at Israel Flotilla claims
Turkey is dismayed over an Israeli investigation panel's attempt at rationalizing Tel Aviv's deadly strike on the Gaza-bound convoy, Freedom Flotilla.
Ankara said it was %u201Cappalled and dismayed%u201D at the Israeli panel's findings, which had called both the assault and Tel Aviv's siege of the Gaza Strip 'legal.'
Israeli commandos attacked the convoy in international waters on May 31, killing nine Turkish activists and injuring about 50 others.
The fleet was carrying around 10,000 tons of humanitarian supplies for Gaza, which came under the tight land, naval and aerial blockade in mid-June 2007. The restrictions have been depriving 1.5-million Palestinians in the sliver of food, fuel, medicine and other necessities.
The activists, who survived the attack, were subsequently expelled and the cargos transferred to the Israeli port of Ashdod in the south of Tel Aviv.
Much of the international community united in expressing outrage over the incident and a United Nations inquiry found -- by complete contrast -- that the forces had shown %u201Can unacceptable level of brutality.%u201D
Headed by former Israeli judge Yaakov Turkel, however, the six-member committee concluded that "the actions taken were found to be legal pursuant to the rules of international law," AFP reported.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/161575.html
Turkish PM dismisses Israeli report on flotilla
JERUSALEM %u2013 Turkey's prime minister is dismissing an Israeli inquiry's findings defending the actions of Israeli troops in the deadly interception of a Turkish-led protest flotilla to Gaza last year.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters in Ankara on Sunday that the Israeli report had "no value or credibility."
The Israeli inquiry found that the actions of troops who met violent resistance aboard one ship were legal under international law. Israeli troops killed nine of those on board.
The report said soldiers were attacked by activists upon landing on the 600-passenger Mavi Marmara and used lethal force because their lives were in danger.
The flotilla was dominated by an Islamic charity from Turkey and had the unofficial backing of Erdogan's government.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
JERUSALEM (AP) %u2014 An Israeli inquiry commission defended the actions of the country's troops during last year's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound protest flotilla sailing from Turkey, finding in a report released Sunday that Israel had not violated international law.
While offering some criticism of the way the takeover was planned, the commission's conclusions exonerated the government, the military and individual soldiers of wrongdoing. The findings were unlikely to put to rest the international controversy over Israel's actions, which badly damaged its relations with Turkey and led to the formation of a U.N. investigation.
Israeli naval commandos killed nine activists aboard the Turkish protest ship Mavi Marmara on May 31 after passengers resisted the takeover of the vessel in international waters. The condemnation that followed the bloodshed forced Israel to ease the blockade on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
The nearly 300-page reported released Sunday by the government-appointed commission said the naval blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza, the decision to intercept the protest flotilla in international waters and the soldiers' use of lethal force "were found to be legal pursuant to the rules of international law."
The commission, headed by a retired Supreme Court justice, included four Israeli members and two international observers %u2014 David Trimble, a Nobel peace laureate from Northern Ireland, and Brig. Gen. Ken Watkin, Canada's former chief military prosecutor. All signed off on the conclusions.
A fifth Israeli participant, 93-year-old international law expert Shabtai Rosenne, passed away during the deliberations.
Soldiers rappelling from helicopters onto the deck of the Marmara, with some 600 passengers on board, were mobbed by several dozen activists as they landed on deck one by one.
Soldiers were beaten, and some were thrown onto a lower deck. According to Sunday's report, two of the soldiers were shot, apparently with weapons taken from the Israelis themselves. Both soldiers and activists have said they acted in self-defense.
The commission faulted the military planners of the mission for not taking into account the possibility of serious violence, saying "the soldiers were placed in a situation they were not completely prepared for and had not anticipated."
However, looking at 133 individual cases in which soldiers used force %u2014 16 of them involving shooting to kill %u2014 the commission found soldiers had acted properly and that their lives had been in danger. The soldiers, the report said, "acted professionally in the face of extensive and unanticipated violence."
Alan Baker, former legal adviser to Israel's Foreign Ministry, said the report will likely be accepted and rejected by countries based on their prior feelings toward Israel.
He said the committee's makeup should boost its credibility among Israel's allies. He also expected the U.N.'s commission to take it seriously.
"Whether this will persuade Turkey is doubtful. Whether this will persuade the Arab countries is very doubtful. I think the serious countries will take it very seriously because of the people who were involved and because of the international observers," he said.
"I doubt very much whether it will make an impression on those elements of the international community who are pushing the anti-Israel hostility," he added.
http://yhoo.it/i07HAq
Israeli soldiers fired at Gaza aid flotilla in self-defence, says inquiry
A member of the Turkel commission (left) hands a report into the raid on a Gaza aid flotilla to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Raid on Gaza-bound ships in which nine activists was killed was legal, government-appointed Turkel commission concludes.
Israeli soldiers opened fire in self-defence during a raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla of aid ships in which nine activists were killed, an Israeli inquiry concluded today.
The assault last May - which triggered a worldwide furore - did not violate international law, the 300-page report from the government-appointed commission of inquiry found.
The commission, headed by retired supreme court judge Yaakov Turkel, was announced last June, almost a month after the deadly interception of the flotilla, which was carrying aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Its conclusions were endorsed by two international observers, who were appointed to the commission following claims that an internal Israeli investigation into the raid would not be objective.
Israel intercepted the flotilla in international waters, claiming the boats could be carrying arms or materials that could be used by militants. A battle between naval commandoes and mainly Turkish activists on the lead ship, the Mavi Marmara, ended with the death of nine people %u2013 including one who sustained four bullet wounds to the head.
The report, delivered to the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, said the Israeli military "were found to be legal pursuant to the rules of international law".
The report said that Israel's blockade of Gaza was legal under international law, but recommended that the government examine ways to "focus its sanctions on Hamas", referring to the Islamist organisation that runs the territory, rather than on the civilian population as a whole.
The raid on the Mavi Marmara caused a wave of global protest. Relations between Israel and its close ally Turkey came close to breaking point. The Mavi Marmara had sailed from Turkey and all those killed were Turkish citizens.
Israel rebuffed calls for an international investigation after the botched assault. However it faced criticism over its choice of commissioners, with critics saying the outcome of the inquiry would be a whitewash.
The two international observers %u2013 former Northern Ireland first minister David Trimble and Brigadier-General Ken Watkin of Canada %u2013 were intended to counter such criticism.
The Turkel commission will continue to investigate the political decision making process in the runup to the raid. It is expected to report later this year.
Among those giving evidence to the commission were Netanyahu, the defence minister, Ehud Barak, and army chief Gabi Ashkenazi.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/23/israel-gaza-aid-flotilla-inquiry
Israeli panel reports on Gaza flotilla assault (1st Lead)
Jerusalem - Eight months after Israeli commandos killed nine pro-Palestinian activists on board a Gaza-bound Turkish ship, Israel's political and military leadership were bracing themselves Sunday for the findings of an Israeli probe into the incident.
The public commission of inquiry headed by retired Israeli supreme court judge Jacob Turkel submitted its findings to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the early afternoon.
It was expected to make its conclusions an hour later, with Turkel reading the report to journalists.
But according to leaks in the Israeli press, the report is expected to largely exonerate the conduct of the Israeli military. If that happens, Turkey and other members of the international community are likely to quickly dismiss the findings as a white-wash.
Netanyahu appointed the commission, which includes two foreign observers - Northern Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lord David Trimble and Canadian former judge advocate general Kenneth W. Watkin - two weeks after the Israel Navy overpowered the Turkish Mavi Marmara in international waters off the coast of Gaza on May 31.
The Israeli naval commandos shot dead eight Turks and an American of Turkish descent.
The activists accused the Israelis of indiscriminately opening fire with no justified reason as soon as they repelled onto the ship from helicopters.
Israel accused a group of several dozen 'extremist' activists among the hundreds on board of having used sticks and knives against the soldiers, who felt their lives were in danger and acted in self- defence as they were being 'lynched.'
The activists had declared they planned to breach Israel's stringent blockade of Gaza, imposed in 2006 in response to rocket and mortar fire from the coastal enclave at southern Israeli towns and villages, and further tightened in 2007 after the radical Islamist Hamas movement seized sole control of the strip.
The Turkel commission Sunday is publishing the first part of its report, which is to answer the question whether the Israel Navy violated international law.
It also examines whether the naval blockade of Gaza is legal, and the identity and conduct of the activists on board the flotilla.
Following international condemnation in the wake of the flotilla take-over, Israel greatly eased restrictions on the import of goods into Gaza, but exports and the movement of people remain highly restricted.
A United Nations Human Rights Council fact-finding mission ruled in September that Israel used 'totally unnecessary violence' and an 'unacceptable level of brutality' during its interception of the Gaza-bound flotilla. The soldiers' conduct toward the passengers on board was 'disproportionate and excessive,' it said.
Israel has refused to cooperate with the mission appointed by the Human Rights Council, which it accuses of a strong bias against it.
Turkey has said the findings of the Israeli commission would be 'irrelevant' to it. Relations between the former allies have hit rock bottom since the deadly take-over.
Ankara has demanded an apology and compensation for the victims by Israel, which has refused any acceptance of blame, with its outspoken and controversial foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, calling the demand a 'chutzpa' (audacity).
Ties have recovered to a limited degree after Turkey sent two planes to help fight Israel's worst-ever forest fire on the northern Carmel hill late last year.
One member of the eight-member panel, the renowned Israeli jurist Shabtai Rosenne, died in September at the age of 92.
http://bit.ly/hqRWph
Israel findings on Gaza flotilla raid due
An Israeli inquiry into a military raid on aid ships trying to reach Gaza last May is due to publish its first findings.
The raid, in which nine Turkish activists were killed, attracted widespread international condemnation.
The report is expected to broadly exonerate the actions of the Israeli navy.
A separate UN enquiry earlier this year said the navy had shown an "unacceptable level of brutality".
The Free Gaza Flotilla, which had over 600 pro-Palestinian activists on board, was trying to break Israel's blockade of the territory when it was intercepted by Israeli navy commandos.
Those on board the flotilla said they were savagely attacked.
Israel says its forces acted in self-defence, and set up its own enquiry.
The initial panel, with an average age of over 85, has been sitting for seven months - although one 93-year-old member died mid-way through.
According to leaks in the Israeli press, its initial findings will largely clear the navy of wrong doing.
If that happens, Israel's critics, for whom the internal investigation has little credibility, will likely call it a whitewash.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12260983
Israel probe on flotilla raid due Sunday
JERUSALEM (AFP) -- An Israeli commission investigating last May's deadly raid on aid ships trying to break a blockade on the Gaza Strip will release its first report on Sunday, an official source said.
The Israeli naval raid killed eight Turkish citizens and one dual Turkish-US national, prompting an international outcry and throwing relations between Israel and Ankara into a deep crisis.
An Israeli military inquiry already released its findings in early June. The investigation said the Israeli commandos who boarded the ships via helicopter and killed nine passengers acted without negligence. Several were awarded military honors.
The military investigation said the deaths were "due to mistakes made at the relatively top levels that caused the results to be different from what was planned."
A UN-mandated investigation released its report http://bit.ly/d1pRBg at the end of September and called the incident a violation of international law.
Israel's Foreign Ministry responded shortly after the 56-page report was released, saying its authors had adopted a "biased, politicized and extremist approach."
The four-member UN committee, approved http://bit.ly/flYmyq in June in an emergency session of the UN, was charged with conducting an investigation into possible "violations of international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights law, resulting from the interception by Israeli forces of the humanitarian aid flotilla bound for Gaza on 31 May 2010."
Israel decided in July to launch its own civilian inquiry into the incident, though it has publicly defended its actions, accusing activists on board the boats of carrying weapons and attacking its troops when they boarded.
"The commission will publicly deliver on Sunday the first part of the report, which will cover in particular the legality of the maritime blockade of Gaza as well as the action of the Israeli military and the flotilla's passengers," a spokesman for the commission, Ofer Lefter said.
The inquiry commission, headed by former judge Yaakov Tirkel, is examining several aspects of the raid, which occurred on May 31 as a group of aid ships led by the Turkish Mavi Marmara sailed to the Gaza Strip.
Israel imposed a blockade on the coastal enclave on the Gaza Strip in June 2006 after militants there kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who is still being held there.
It was tightened a year later when Hamas seized power in the territory of 1.5 million people, ousting its Fatah rivals.
The commission has heard testimony from high-ranking Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and army chief General Gaby Ashkenazi.
None of the soldiers who actually participated in the raid have been authorized to provide their testimony.
Ma'an staff writers contributed to this report
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=352785 7 jul 2011, 01:28 , Respect -
Maria 24 jan 2011
Israel Human Rights Group Disputes Turkel Commission Findings
Tel Aviv PNN - The Israeli human rights group Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement published a press release on Sunday disputing the interim conclusions of the Turkel Commission, the Israeli legal body assigned the task of investigating the May 31 Gaza flotilla attack.
After the commission, chaired by retired judge Jacob Turkel, concluded that both the blockade and the raid which killed nine Turkish aid activists were legal under international law, Gisha released a statement to the press concluding the opposite:
No commission of inquiry can authorize the collective punishment of a civilian population by restricting its movement and access, as Israel did in its closure of Gaza, of which the maritime closure was an integral part.
Gisha cites a list of international law violations committed by Israel in connection to the Gaza blockade, including the prevention of passage of civilian goods such as spices, raw materials and consumer items, even limiting the food purchasing power of each Gaza resident.
So long as Israel controls central elements of life in Gaza, concluded the Gisha report, including movement via the crossings, it must take responsibility for the effects of its control on the 1.5 million human beings living in the Gaza Strip.
The Turkel Commission found that in 133 cases of force used against passengers on the Mavi Marmara ship, on which nine were killed including one American dual citizen, 127 were justified. The other six lacked sufficient data. The use of naval commandoes, according to the Commission, was legal as a means of enforcing the blockade.
Turkish authorities slammed the Turkel findings, saying they were "appalled and dismayed" about the findings, which they claimed had "no value or credibility." Israeli Arab MK Hanan Zoabi, who joined the flotilla, said the findings "cannot erase Israel's reputation as a country that repeatedly breaks international law."
http://bit.ly/farv0j
'World lets Israel get away with crimes'
Human rights activist Ken O'Keefe was onboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla attacked by Israeli forces in the international waters in May.
A Human Rights activist says Israel will continue its crimes against humanity since the international community allows the Israeli regime to get away with its bloody murders.
In an interview with Press TV, rights activist Ken O'Keefe, who was on board a Gaza-bound aid flotilla attacked by Israeli forces in May, denounced the international community for allowing Israel to get away with murder over and over again without any kind of punishment.
I have scorned the world such as the United Nations, the European Union and the United States because we have allowed Israel to get away with bloody murder for decades now, O'Keefe noted.
It would of course make sense to the Israelis that anything they do is perfectly legal, O'Keefe went on to say.
The rights activist pointed out that he was on board the Mavi Marmara when Israeli commandos' raided the ship and "executed people in cold blood."
The Israeli forces killed nine activists, mostly Turks, and injured about 50 others.
Israel has recently released a report of an inquiry by an Israeli investigation committee, defending a naval assault on the Gaza Strip and the decision to prevent the flotilla from reaching the besieged territory, saying the attack was "legal."
They didn't just murder people, they executed people in cold blood including Furkan Dogan, who they continually call in the liberal Western media a Turkish citizen, but he happens to be a Turkish American citizen, O'Keefe added.
Obama and the Western governments continue to pretend as if one of their citizens were not executed, the rights activist concluded.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/161654.html
25 jan 2011
Navy doctor: We saved flotilla rioters' lives
For first time, commandos discuss takeover of Turkish ship. Medical officer: We made every effort to care for and save lives of injured rioters, and when I say every effort I mean it'.
Following the publication of the Turkel Committee report into the events surrounding the Turkish flotilla to Gaza, senior officers from the Israeli navy addressed the committee's findings and the events aboard the Mavi Marmara ship. They told the navy's official website that each and every thing the commandoes did was necessary.
"The Marmara incident was heroic," Lieutenant Colonel D. a veteran operations officer in the elite commando unit stated. "I am proud to be associated with an operation like this, in which people operated with true heroism. Our mission was to tie up six ships and bring them into harbor - and all six ships were in the Ashdod harbor by morning."
In a conversation with Ynet, military sources expressed their satisfaction with the committee's findings. They determined that had the commandos not operated as they did the final results would have been more severe. "From my examinations, no commando unit the world would have been able to take over a ship with 700 people on board, some of whom were terrorists," said the navy's international policy officer, who was responsible for the diplomatic aspects of the operation.
"The IHH, which was the chief organizer of the Turkish flotilla, is an extremist organization and its people were very organized and went on board with an unambiguous goal to kill IDF soldiers, there is no other explanation. We didn't surprise them, we announced that we were coming on deck, they knew everything, there was no secretive aspect, and we arrived on helicopters.
"We thought there would be a reasonable amount of resistance, which is why the commandos were armed with crowd dispersal equipment and with a firearms for emergencies. When they got on the ship, the passengers came at them with knives, axes, clubs and daggers, so there was no doubt about what they had in mind. Not to injure but to kill. They came to kill. There is no other way to interpret axes and knives," said the officer.
The corps' medical officer and the officer in charge of the commandos' doctors, Lieutenant Colonel Dr. A discussed the operation: "In the operation's medical plan, just as in any medical plan, we raised the risk factors by a few levels, which is why I can't remember a navy operation that involved so many senior doctors and the amount of medical equipment there was never a question of whether to care for the rioters or not," said Dr. A.
"The commandos made every effort to care for and save the lives of the injured rioters, and when I say every effort I mean it."
The medical team estimates that "the lives of seven rioters were saved and medical complications were avoided in the cases of 12 rioters. In total, 55 wounded passengers received different levels of medical care."
During the takeover the commandos passed through the ship's sections and discovered more wounded people, which created a new problem. "In addition to the fact that some of the rioters refused to cooperate with the commando forces, they were literally hiding the wounded and we needed to actively search the ship for more wounded," revealed Dr. A.
"There was one case where a soldier told them 'listen, there are wounded people here. I want to save their lives, let me save their lives,'" the IDF doctor recalled.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4019111,00.html
US defends Israeli flotilla attack
US State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley
The US has described an Israeli probe into a raid on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla aid convoy that killed nine Turkish activists as a "credible and impartial" effort.
The praise came after an Israeli investigation panel declared Tel Aviv's military attack on the Freedom Flotilla as "legal" under international law, Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported.
The panel also claimed that the Israeli soldiers who took part in the killing of the nine activists acted in self-defense.
The activists aboard the aid convoy, which was attacked in international waters, were unarmed and only planned to deliver aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip.
"We think that this is an independent report, credible and impartial and transparent investigation that has been undertaken by Israel," US State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said on Monday.
This is while an independent Turkish committee investigating the incident concluded on Sunday that "the Israeli Army used excessive force against the Mavi Marmara [the lead ship of the six-vessel fleet].
Israeli commandos attacked the convoy in international waters on May 31, 2010, killing nine Turkish activists and injuring about 50 others.
The Israeli assault on the aid convoy provoked an international outcry, prompting Knesset members to set up a commission to investigate the legality of the raid as well as Israel's blockade of Gaza.
Responding to the Israeli report, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the report had "no value or credibility," with the Turkish Foreign Ministry issuing a statement saying it was "appalled and dismayed" at the Israeli investigative committee's finding.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/161957.html
Turkish Freedom Flotilla probe releases report condemning Israel
ISTANBUL, (PIC)-- Turkey revealed Monday a report condemning Israel for its lethal attack last May on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla dubbed Freedom.
Israel released its own report on Sunday justifying the army's conduct during the attack that left nine Turks dead.
According to the Turkish investigation, no arms were found on the aid convoy during inspections. The Israelis claimed fears that the blockade-busting ship could have been carrying weapons on board.
Troops used laser-guided automatic guns, helicopter, frigates, submarines and rubber boats during the full-fledged attack, the report says. They killed two civilians before boarding the Mavi Marmara ship.
The investigation board told Al-Jazeera it would submit the report to the UN to pass its decision.
The panel's chairman said he expected a "more balanced and rational" report from Israel.
The Israeli probe said the Turkish aid fund IHH was to blame for the attack, claiming it had links to terrorism. It said sunday that the ship's seizure was legal because the convoy was trying to break the Gaza siege.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Israel's report "worthless".
"Can an internal report prepared by Israel have any worth?" he asked.
http://bit.ly/fPAjOm
Yildirim condemns Terkel report, announces new fleet to Gaza
ISTANBUL, (PIC)-- Bulent Yildirim, the head of the Turkish relief organization IHH, condemned the Israeli Terkel committee findings on the Israeli navy attack on the Freedom Flotilla last year.
Yildirim told a press conference in Istanbul on Monday that Israel provided protection for its soldiers through such report.
Israel punished its soldiers who stole money from the passengers aboard that fleet but acquitted soldiers who killed nine Turkish activists, he charged.
The Terkel report is full of lies "we do not trust Israel and no body trust it", he said, adding that the report is thus of no value.
The IHH head affirmed that there were no weapons aboard the Mavi Marmara vessel, the largest in the Flotilla, adding that the sea convoy's goal was solely humanitarian mainly to carry aid to the besieged people in Gaza.
Yildirim announced in conclusion that another fleet would sail for Gaza on 31st May 2011 on the first anniversary of the Israeli attack on the first flotilla. He expected 50 ships to join the new fleet.
http://bit.ly/hWoxZS
26 jan 2011
Hamas denounces results of Turkel probe
BETHLEHEM (Ma`an) -- 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 said "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.
The investigation concluded Israel's siege on Gaza and attack on the Freedom Flotilla were done in accordance with the law 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.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353867 7 jul 2011, 01:29 , Respect -
Maria 28 JAN 2011
Turkish flotilla revenge film misses out on Holocaust day release in Germany
Film about adventures of James Bond-like agent in Israel was reportedly submitted for review too late for screening yesterday.
Producers of a Turkish action film depicting a vengeful raid on Israeli commandos involved in last year's fatal flotilla attack wanted the film to open in Germany on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
But due to time constraint issues at the German film board, it appears the controversial movie, titled The Valley of the Wolves: Palestine, did not screen in the country yesterday. It was reportedly shown at a number of cinemas in Austria.
The film ratings agency, Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle der Filmwirtschaft, told the Wall Street Journal the movie had been submitted too late to complete a review in time for a Thursday opening. Pana Film, the Istanbul-based production company that made the movie, described the move as a violation of "law, democracy and freedom of thought". A separate report indicates the film was later passed by the board for screening in Germany.
The Valley of the Wolves: Palestine is the latest spinoff from a TV series centred on a James Bond-like figure named Polat Alemdar, played by Necati Sasmaz, which has a cult following in Turkey and among Turkish expats abroad. The series has been sharply criticised inside and outside its native country for nurturing nationalism, racial hatred and violence, but makers Pana Film are unbowed. "Our guilt lies in standing beside innocent people, and not being supporters of Zionist-fascist policies," a spokesman said on Tuesday.
In a trailer for the film, Alemdar is asked what he is doing in Israel. He replies that he is in fact in Palestine. Later, an Israeli threatens him by saying: "You know you won't make it out of our promised land." Alemdar responds: "I don't know what part of these lands were promised to you, but I promise you six feet under."
http://bit.ly/fr2vxH
29 jan 2011
Controversial Turkish film released
(2:05) Controversial Turkish film set for release.
A controversial Turkish film, based on real events to explore Israeli policies toward Palestinians, has been released in cinemas throughout Turkey.
Based on real events with a fictitious twist of drama, the filmmakers of 'Valley of the Wolves: Palestine' (Kurtlar Vadisi: Filistin) told Press TV in Istanbul on Friday that their aim was to explore Israeli policies toward the Palestinians.
The film has shots of Israeli gunboats before Israeli commandoes attacked a Turkish aid ship with humanitarian aid, the Mavi Marmara, along with six others ships, on May 31, 2010, on its way to Gaza. The attack killed nine Turks.
The film was released in Turkish cinemas on Friday.
The film has been hailed as truth by pro-Palestinian supporters and labeled anti-Semitic by pro-Israelis.
The film, which reflects a growing unease in Ankara over Israeli policies towards the Palestinians, has already been postponed in German cinemas.
Turkey wants a full apology for the Israeli raid and compensation for the families of nine activists who were killed.
Last year Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel after the same production company depicted Mossad agents running a child trafficking ring.
Turkey's ambassador has yet to return to Israel. Whether or not the film will prolong his absence remains to be seen.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/162498.html
Amnesty: Israel's flotilla probe a 'whitewash'
LONDON (Ma'an) -- London-based rights group Amnesty International condemned on Friday the findings of an Israeli inquiry into last year's raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla as a whitewash, saying the Israeli investigating panel failed to account for the deaths of nine Turkish nationals at the hands of Israeli commando forces.
The findings of the inquiry, known as the Tirkel Commission, were released on Sunday, and said that Israel's military acted lawfully when they captured the Mavi Mamara on 31 May 2010, killing nine activists on board, and intercepted five other ships. http://bit.ly/fCpfiY
Named after leading investigator, former Israeli justice Yaakov Tirkel, the investigation was the second launched by Israel into the events on the flotilla. A military probe found issues with the intelligence gathering process used ahead of the attack, but said soldiers acted bravely and within the military's code when they shot and killed the passengers.
"Despite being nearly 300 pages long, the [Tirkel] report crucially fails to explain how the activists died and what conclusions the Commission reached regarding the IDF's specific actions in each case," said a statement from AI.
"The Commission's failure to account for the deaths reinforces the view that the Israeli authorities are unwilling or incapable of delivering accountability for abuses of international law committed by Israeli forces," the organization accused, saying the inadequate findings of the commission, "highlights the need for follow-up to ensure that the sharply contrasting conclusions of the International Fact-Finding Mission appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, which were issued on 22 September 2010, but not even mentioned by the Commission, are addressed and that the rights of victims to an effective remedy are upheld."
Amnesty also criticized the legal framework used by the report, which was overseen by two international observers appointed by Israel, a former Canadian brigadier general and an Irish Nobel peace laureate. http://bit.ly/feWFnP
Humanitarian law used to govern situations of armed conflict, AI said in its statement, "allows much greater latitude for the use of lethal force," and said it "categorically rejects the application of this legal framework to the events concerned."
Of the 133 incidents of force used by the military which were identified by the commission, it found 127 were in conformity with international law, while it had insufficient information to make a determination on the other six, three of which involved the use of live fire.
"The Commission does not indicate which of the incidents of force resulted in deaths or even if it has this information," AI reviewers said, adding that information containing a detailed analysis of each incident, as well as the Israeli soldiers written testimonies on which the analysis was based, "are contained in an unpublished annex to the report."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=355195
30 jan 2011
Turks avenge deadly Israeli raid on the big screen
(2:05) Controversial Turkish film set for release.
By Nicolas Cheviron
ISTANBUL (AFP) -- You cannot kill a Turk with impunity -- this is the message to Israel from a Turkish movie that opened Friday, taking fictional revenge of a deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship last year and threatening fresh political tensions.
"Valley of the Wolves: Palestine" -- to be shown in a dozen European countries and more than 20 others in the Middle East -- promises to be a blockbuster with Turkish and Arab audiences, but may make life harder for Turkish diplomats at a time when ties with Israel are already in a deep crisis.
"Go and show the world what is really the state of Israel," says an Israeli officer named Moshe Ben-Eliezer -- an incarnation of evil -- as he orders the assault on the Mavi Marmara ferry in the film.
The May 31 raid on the Turkish vessel claimed the lives of nine Turks, dealt a major blow to once-close Turkish-Israeli ties and triggered a wave of international criticism of the Jewish state.
In the movie, scenes of massacre on the Mavi Marmara are followed by Turkish agent Polat Alemdar stepping in to settle the score -- namely to kill the hateful Moshe.
The Turkish hero goes to Israel and accomplishes his mission at the end of 110 minutes of gunfire, punctuated by Israeli atrocities against innocent Palestinians, including the death of a paralysed boy under the debris of his demolished home.
A young Jewish-American beauty is also involved in Polat's adventures and eventually takes up the Palestinian cause.
The movie attracted criticism even before its release as its creators have already been under fire for earlier productions that drew Israeli ire and triggered condemnation at home for glamorising violence and nationalism.
"Even in the fragments we see... some generalisations about the Jewish people and anti-Semitic approaches that are quite disturbing," Israeli Ambassador Gabby Levy said earlier this week, quoted by Anatolia news agency.
In Germany, the film, which had been scheduled to debut Thursday, coinciding with Holocaust remembrance day, was first stopped and then banned for viewers aged under 18.
"Valley of the Wolves", which started as a television series in 2003 and became an instant hit, angered Israel in January 2010 with an episode that showed Polat storming an Israeli embassy to rescue a Turkish boy kidnapped by Mossad.
Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon gave the Turkish ambassador a public dressing down in a meeting to protest the series, infuriating Ankara. He later apologised to avert a crisis.
The movie's creators reject accusations of enmity towards Jews, arguing they target only Zionism and Israeli oppression of the Palestinians.
"In our movie, we are exposing a fascist, racist ideology and we are trying to kill it before the eyes of the people," scriptwriter Bahadir Ozdener said.
Actor Necati Sasmaz, who plays Polat Alemdar, insisted: "We have no problem with any people. There is no anti-Semitism here."
Fresh tensions with Israel would certainly not help Ankara at a time when it is seeking an apology and compensation from Israel to settle the crisis over the raid.
A senior Turkish diplomat commented that the production company was motivated by profit following the commercial success -- at home and abroad -- of their 2006 movie that dealt with the US invasion of Iraq.
"Now they believe they will sell well this one too, especially in the Arab world... Undoubtedly, it is not very helpful but we cannot prevent them from doing so," the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=355410 7 jul 2011, 01:33 , Respect -
Maria 11 febr 2011
Turkey bashes Israel in deadly ship raid report
ANKARA, Turkey (AFP) -- Israel used "excessive" force and breached international law in a raid on Gaza-bound aid ships last year that killed nine Turks, a Turkish inquiry commission said in a final report released on Friday.
Israeli soldiers mounted a "full-fledged and well-planned attack" on the international aid flotilla on May 31, using "excessive, indiscriminate and disproportionate force" against the civilians on board, said the report, which Turkey handed over to a United Nations inquiry panel earlier Friday.
It argued that "since Israels naval blockade on the Gaza Strip is unlawful, any act it perform as a function of this blockade is unlawful par excellence."
Ankara now expects the UN panel to "produce an assessment that would not hurt the conscience of the international community... [and] reflect the truth... and that afterwards Israel would acknowledge the facts," Mithat Rende, a senior Turkish diplomat, told reporters.
"The case is a critical litmus test for the international community in upholding the rule of law... Impunity must give way to accountability," the report said.
"Israel must... convey a public apology to Turkey and provide compensation for all damages and losses," it said, echoing Ankaras conditions for mending fences with its one-time ally.
In its own report last month, Israels commission concluded that both the raid and the blockade of Gaza complied with international law, while acknowledging "regrettable consequences."
It said Israeli troops "encountered extreme violence" when they boarded the Mavi Marmara ferry, where all deaths occurred, and that activists from the Turkish Islamist IHH charity used firearms against the soldiers, repeating an allegation denied by the activists.
Rende also dismissed the claim Friday, saying that "the passengers in no way used any firearms against the Israeli forces."
He said passengers had seized three weapons from Israeli soldiers in the melee on board, but threw them into the sea.
The Turkish report said Israeli forces fired from a helicopter, killing two activists before any soldier landed on board, terrorizing the passengers.
The activists "only exercised a lawful right of self-defense, without any firearms," it said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=359099
12 febr 2011
Israel used excessive force on Flotilla
Turkey says it has unveiled its final inquiry report on the Israeli deadly attack on a Gaza-bound aid convey last year, which proves Israel used excessive force and trampled international law.
The Israeli commandos attacked the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31, killing nine Turkish citizens on board the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, and injuring about 50 other people who were part of the team on the six-ship convoy.
The Turkish National Commission of Inquiry said in its final report to United Nations released Friday that Israel used excessive, indiscriminate and disproportionate force against the unarmed civilians on board the aid convoy, TurkishPress.com reported.
The report has been submitted to the Panel of Inquiry set up by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in August 2010, it said.
The case is now a litmus test for the international community in upholding the rule of law, it added.
It also argued that "since Israels naval blockade on the Gaza Strip is unlawful, any act it performs as a function of this blockade is unlawful par excellence."
The report said that the Israeli raid was a "full-fledged and well-planned attack" on the international aid flotilla.
"Israel must acknowledge its responsibility and accordingly convey a public apology to the Republic of Turkey and provide compensation for all the damage and losses resulting from its unlawful attack," according to the report.
"The attack took place 72 nautical miles from the nearest coast, and 64 nautical miles from the zone declared unlawfully, as will be seen, blockaded by Israel. As a result of the attack, eight Turkish citizens and one US citizen of Turkish descent were killed. Over 70 passengers from a host of nationalities were wounded. One of these remains in a coma to this day," the finding revealed.
"The case is a critical litmus test for the international community in upholding the rule of law ... Impunity must give way to accountability," the report said.
The Turkish report challenged an Israeli inquiry that cleared its military and government of any wrongdoing. The Israeli finding sparked Turkish protests.
Ankara said it was appalled and dismayed at the Israeli panels findings, which had called both the assault and Tel Avivs siege of the Gaza Strip legal.
Much of the international community is united in expressing outrage over the incident and a United Nations inquiry found -- by complete contrast -- that the forces had shown an unacceptable level of brutality.
Israel has so far rejected to either apologize for the incident or pay any compensation -- two measures it has been obliged by Turkey to take to make amends.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/164835.html
21 febr 2011
Turkish flotilla victims father to seek legal remedy in US
Araturk said lawyers and Dogan will hold senior-level meetings in US.
Ahmet Dogan, father of 19-yeard old Furkan Dogan, who was killed in a lethal Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara, which was carrying humanitarian aid to besieged Gaza on May 31 of last year, is headed to the US to launch an investigation into his sons killing.
Ahmet Dogan went to Chicago with two lawyers, Ramazan Artürk and Ugur Sevgili, on Friday to seek legal action in the US for his son's death during the Israeli raid, which also killed eight Turkish nationals, Cihan news agency reported.
Turkish autopsy reports of 19-year-old Dogan, a US citizen, revealed he was shot five times -- at close range on the right side of his nose, in the back of the head, in the back and twice in the left leg.
Turkish officials repeatedly called on the US to take the issue seriously, but the US said Israel was "best positioned to start the probe into the raid."
Dogan will also be awarded the annual American Muslim Foundation (AMP) Jerusalem Award for 2011.
Speaking to reporters at Istanbul Atatürk International Airport, Aratürk said lawyers and Dogan will hold senior-level meetings at the State Department and Justice Department.
Aratürk said they will also visit the family of Rachel Corrie, an American college student killed when she was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza Strip during a peaceful protest in 2003.
Dogan told reporters that they will also have a chance to meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and said they will launch every kind of probe to investigate the death of Dogan. "If there is a law, humanity, we believe we will get results," Dogan said.
Aratürk said there is an ongoing investigation in the US and that they will also inquire as to its current status.
Aratürk also said the report they have prepared on the Mavi Marmara incident, which is similar to the report Turkey prepared earlier for the UN, will be delivered to the UN Secretariat.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/?a&ArticleID=69981 7 jul 2011, 01:34 , Respect -
Maria 1 mrt 2011
'Israel leading human rights abusers'
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says the Israeli regime is at the very top of the list when it comes to human rights violations.
In case a list was made for countries with most violations of human rights, Israel would be on top of that list, Anatolia news agency quoted Davutoglu as saying on Monday at Ankara's Esenboga International Airport prior to a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Davutoglu also described the attack launched by Israeli forces on a Turkish aid ship bound for the besieged Gaza Strip as an attack on a civilian convoy that violated all human rights and principles.
He also pointed out that he would submit a report about the raid on March 21, when the UN Human Rights Council convenes for the next meeting.
The Israeli military attacked the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31, 2010, killing nine Turkish citizens on board the Turkish-flagged MV Mavi Marmara and injuring about 50 other people that were part of a group of relief workers and activists on the six-ship convoy.
Israel also arrested and later released nearly 700 activists from 42 countries that were on board the ships of the Freedom Flotilla, which was attempting to break the siege of Gaza to deliver 10,000 tons of humanitarian relief aid to the long-suffering people of the territory.
Meanwhile, the Turkish minister rapped the United States for its recent veto of a UN resolution that called for a cessation of Israeli settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.
You can't expect Israel to take the necessary steps for peace at the negotiation table if other countries refuse to criticize it, Davutoglu said.
The remarks come as the Israeli regime has been persistently proceeding with the construction of settlements in the occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
The United Nation has repeatedly condemned Tel Aviv for defying international calls to halt its settlement construction activities.
Palestinians view Israel's unrelenting settlement construction activities as a major hurdle in efforts to establish an independent state on the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/167595.html
10 apr 2011
Czech reporters sue Israel over flotilla raid
Two journalists say Jewish state has yet to return money and equipment confiscated during Commando operation on Gaza-bound ship, demand apology.
Two Czech reporters who were on the Gaza-bound Turkish Marmara vessel during a deadly Israeli Commando raid last May are suing Israel, claiming the Jewish state has yet to return money and personal equipment confiscated from them.
"We demand that Israel apologize for the incident," the two insist.
The two journalists filed a criminal claim in their country against Israel, although the prosecutor's office in Prague has already instructed the police not to investigate the case. The two turned to a higher authority, the attorney general's office, in a bid to overturn the decision.
The journalists' complaint includes 29 criminal acts allegedly committed by the Israeli soldiers, including theft and abduction. The two are demanding a "serious investigation", as well as legal and consular aid from the Czech authorities.
The two say they are furious with the Czech Foreign Ministry and the Czech Embassy in Israel for "violating international treaties on consular relations" in handling the flotilla incident.
Officials in the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem believe the claim was filed following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the Czech Republic last week.
Meanwhile, it appears the Israeli efforts to stop future Gaza-bound flotillas are being supported by unlikely elements. Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said in an interview to local newspaper VG Nett that "those taking part in the planned journey to Gaza in May are in risk of being exploited by groups with different interests.
"Such journeys are mainly symbolic," he added, "as most of the goods they bring along can also be brought through land. What comes through the sea will likely be received by the Hamas-ruled economy, and everyone should be aware of that."
The Norwegian foreign minister's remarks were made on the backdrop of the announcement of a group of parliament members from Norway that they plan to take part in the Gaza-bound flotilla in May.
Foreign Ministry officials were pleased with the Norwegian minister's comments, particularly in light of the fact that the relations between Israel and Norway are not considered warm.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4054988,00.html
AG 'unsatisfied' with pace of IDF probes
In his testmony before Turkel Commission on Gaza flotilla raid, Yehuda Weinstein says inquiry procedures must be shortened. Israel does operate according to international law, he adds.
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein testified Sunday before the Turkel Commission and addressed the probe into the actions of Israel Defense Forces troops during last year's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla sailing from Turkey.
"I'm not satisfied with the pace in which the complaints over these events and other events related to violations of the warfare laws are handled," said Weinstein.
In his testimony Weinstein stressed "everything must be done in order to shorten procedures. Don't rest on your laurels just yet."
According to the attorney general, "the amount of time it takes to complete investigations on violation of warfare laws depends on the circumstances. He added that "examining these events thoroughly and seriously is a complicated task which might take some time."
Weinstein admitted the civil system has not been working fast enough and suggested the military system should help speed things up.
In accordance with the international law, Weinstein said, "Since the Israeli Declaration of Independence until today Israel has been working on all levels to emphasize the international law, even when facing complicated security challenges and murderous terror attacks throughout its existence, unlike in any other country in the world."
"Israel meticulously operates according to its internal values and the law, as well as the international warfare laws, even when fighting terror organizations. The warfare laws are an integral part of the IDF commanders' training," stressed Weinstein.
The attorney general added that "the State of Israel's obligation to operating by warfare laws is reflected in its commitment to inquire claims of law violations. Therefore the State of Israel has independent and professional elements intended to examine such claims."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4054937,00.html
20 apr 2011
Complaints against BBC Panorama programme are upheld
Gaza, (Pal Telegraph) - Three serious complaints made against a BBC programme which purported to tell the story of Israel %u2019s attack on the Gaza aid flotilla last year have been upheld at the highest level.
Despite a highly unsatisfactory internal process, with the BBC's own Editorial Standards Committee ruling on a BBC programme, Panorama%u2019s Death on the Med, the Committee ruled that the programme broadcast in August 2010, had breached the BBC%u2019s Editorial Guidelines on accuracy and impartiality on three counts. The decision of the Committee to rule against the other points of complaint underlined why an independent, external complaints process is essential.
The committee found that the Panorama team had failed to make use of autopsies showing how nine Turkish aid workers on board the largest boat in the flotilla, the Mavi Marmara, were killed by Israeli commandos and the level of violence used against them, even though this was fundamental in considering the motives of Israel in storming the boat.
It also found that the programme should not have dismissed medicines being carried on the Mavi Marmara as out of date, which suggested the rest of the aid was worthless, and that it failed to mention other valuable aid that was being carried.
The programme also failed to mention that many of the activists wounded by Israeli troops did not receive treatment for hours and that many of the passengers were seriously mistreated by Israeli commandos.
Nearly 2,000 people contacted the BBC after the programme was aired last year, and of those, around 1,440 made contact in order to complain about bias and inaccuracy.
The complaints process has taken eight months, with the final appeal being heard by the BBC in March. The decision taken by the Editorial Standards Committee was published yesterday (19 April).
Sarah Colborne, Director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which has been closely involved in the complaints process, said: This has been a long and not entirely transparent process, with the BBC changing the goalposts along the way and setting sudden deadlines.
However, the BBC needed to be brought to account for making a programme that was shocking in its inaccuracy and impartiality. Israeli commandos attacked unarmed civilians in international waters and, if Panorama had used the information available in the autopsies and reported on the mistreatment of other passengers, then the full extent of Israel's aggression would have been made clear.'
Ms Colborne also called for the complaints process to be freed from BBC control. She added: 'We need the appointment of an independent adjudicator to examine complaints against the BBC and make sure the organisation learns from its transgressions. This will never happen while the BBC is its own judge and jury.
The BBC's findings in full: http://bbc.in/gH3Grj
http://fwd4.me/zz5
BBC: Flotilla investigative report accurate, impartial
British network receives 2,000 complaints after broadcasting show about IDF raid on Mavi Marmara ship last May. 'Despite three breaches in guidelines, it was an original, insightful piece of journalism,' says chair of BBC Trust editorial standards committee.
The body responsible of mediating between the British Broadcasting Corporation and license fee payers, the BBC Trust, has rejected criticism against an investigative report about the IDF navy raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla last may.
The trust's editorial standards committee stated that "the film achieved due impartiality and due accuracy and did not uphold the complaint overall".
The report, titled "Death in the Med," was broadcasted last August as part of the "Panorama" program, which is considered one of the network's flagship shows.
Reporter Jane Corbin was given authorization to interview navy combatants that participated in the raid, as well as Turkish passengers.
In one of the interviews, the wife of an activist killed on board the Mavi Marmara told Corbin that her husband wanted to be a "Palestinian martyr."
After the show was broadcasted, the BBC received some 2,000 calls, out of which 72% expressed a negative opinion about the report. The BBC also estimated that up to a quarter of the complaints were made by a lobby organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign website.
Finally, the committee examined a total of 19 complaints that raised 51 "substantive points."
'Well-researched piece'
According to a report published by British newspaper Guardian, "Complaints on three of these points were upheld by the trust two relating to breaches of the BBC's editorial guidelines regarding accuracy and one on impartiality.
"The accuracy breaches related to the failure to include preliminary autopsy reports into how activists died and more details of the exact nature of the aid for Gaza being carried by the flotilla," it read.
The BBC Trust also found the report was in breach of the impartiality guidelines, because it failed to verify that the Israelis treated the injured passengers well following "allegations of mistreatment of some of the casualties."
Chairwoman of the BBC Trust's editorial standards committee Alison Hastings said that "Despite the three breaches, for which the trust apologizes on behalf of the BBC, this Panorama was an original, insightful and well-researched piece of journalism and we commend the BBC for having tackled this issue.
"It revealed important new evidence in a much-publicized story and, overall, the program was both accurate and impartial. However, these breaches are a firm reminder that the BBC must take great care over accuracy and impartiality, particularly when the subject matter is as controversial as this," she noted.
A BBC News spokesperson noted that "BBC News welcomes the findings of the trust on the Panorama Death in the Med," adding that the network "will consider seriously any lessons to be learned."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4058982,00.html...Read more 7 jul 2011, 01:38 , Respect -
Maria 21 apr 2011
BBC defends "biased" documentary on Gaza flotilla attack
(2:45) BBC defends documentary on Gaza flotilla attack - PressTV 110421
The BBC was condemned as biased by observers last year after it aired a documentary, which purported to investigate what took place on the Mavi Marmara. The aid ship was part of a larger flotilla heading to Gaza in May last year, which was attacked by the Israeli military, leaving nine passengers dead.
The Israeli military gave the BBC special access to its commandos. But critics of the BBC's documentary say it served to whitewash what took place, reflecting a wider pro-Israel bias in the corporation's coverage.
And complainants say it's difficult to bring the BBC to account.
Unlike all other broadcasters in the UK, the BBC isn't regulated by the government media watchdog OFCOM. Instead, it regulates itself through a body called the BBC trust. And the BBC trust says that, overall, the programme was both accurate and impartial.
The trust's investigation into the programme did however find fault on three points. The programme failed to provide enough detail on how the nine aid workers died - the UN report on the matter describes at least six of the deaths as executions, which Israel has denied.
The programme also failed to mention the allegations of mistreatment made against Israel by the injured, and didn't fully describe the aid onboard the flotilla, while dismissing its medicine as useless.
Complaints that the programme had misrepresented the humanitarian situation in Gaza, misrepresented the humanitarian aims of the flotilla, downplayed the ferocity of the Israeli attack, ignored pronouncements that the raid on the flotilla and the blockade of Gaza were and are illegal, as well as many more arguments alleging the programme was skewed in favour of Israel were dismissed by the BBC Trust.
A second freedom flotilla is due to set sail for Gaza in the coming months. Israel has warned it may again use force to prevent it from breaking the blockade around Gaza.
http://presstv.com/detail/176024.html
Anti-Israel film to be screened in Cairo
(2:10) Valley of The Wolves - Palestine | Official Trailer HD
(Video) Turkish film about IDF raid on Marmara ship reaches Egypt. Distributor says screening scheduled to coincide with Holocaust Remembrance Day events in Poland.
A special screening of an anti-Israel Turkish film is scheduled to take place in Cairo under the auspices of the Turkish ambassador on Saturday.
"Valley of the Wolves – Palestine" tells the story of the IDF raid on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara last May and has already prompted massive criticism in Israel.
The plot focuses on a group of Turkish commando combatants which was ordered to eliminate a senior IDF officer who the film suggests gave the order "to murder Marmara passengers."
The film's last scene shows IDF soldiers with the bodies of nine Marmara passengers.
On May 31, 2010 a Navy force raided the Marmara ship which had broken the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip. Nine passengers were killed in clashes between the soldiers and IHH terrorists.
The film's Egyptian distributor, Adel Adib, said that the special screening was set for a date ahead of the March of the Living in Poland marking the Holocaust Remembrance Day. The march is set to take place on May 2.
The Turkish film will be screened in 10 movie theatres across Egypt after the festive premier.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4059302,00.html
23 apr 2011
Furkan Dogan - Viva Palestina 5 Movie [Press TV]
(2:12) Furkan Dogan - Viva Palestina 5 Movie [Press TV]
Unurumuz Sehidimiz Furkan Dogan was murdered by Israelis on the Freedom Flotilla in May 2010.
Part of the 'Viva Palestina the Ongoing Journey' documentary
Turkish NGO demands indictment over Gaza flotilla massacre
ISTANBUL, (PIC)-- A Turkish NGO has demanded that the Turkish public prosecutor in Istanbul files an indictment against the Israeli occupation forces that attacked the Turkish Mavi Marmara late last May as activists tried to bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
The demands came during a press statement read by protesters gathered at the Sultanahmet Courthouse on Friday evening.
A media source from the Turkish humanitarian relief fund (IHH) told our correspondent in Istanbul that the attorney of those killed in the attack, those on board, and the victims' families were present to take part in the reading of the press statement.
The NGO's chief member said the participants have been urgently waiting for proceedings.
Cihat Gökdemir, the attorney who represents the victims on board the attacked aid flotilla, said investigations have continued since last year by the prosecutor in Istanbul, but he has not yet made a decision to prosecute those who massacred the activists on board.
Gökdemir emphasized that perpetrators must be brought to trial as soon as possible, pointing out that the ambition of the victim's families and participants on board is to have an arrest warrant issued against those perpetrators.
http://fwd4.me/00AB
14 mei 2011
Israel-favored UN draft angers Turkey
Turkey has threatened to drop out of a UN panel investigating Israel's deadly attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, following the release of an Israel-favored draft report over the incident.
The United Nations inquiry panel has released a draft report of its findings, days before making its results officially public, Turkey's Hürriyet daily reported on Friday.
Ankara says the draft clearly favors Tel Aviv, as its wording falls short of condemning Israel for violating international law. Turkey has threatened to drop out of the UN panel unless drastic changes are made to the draft.
On May 31, 2010, nine Turkish activists were killed and about 50 others injured after Israeli commandos attacked the Mavi Marmara, one of several aid vessels in the Turkish-sponsored Freedom Flotilla, in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea.
The fleet, which was carrying approximately 750 human rights activists and around 10,000 tons of construction material, medical equipment and school supplies, planned to break Israel's deadly siege on the Gaza Strip.
The activists were subsequently expelled and the cargoes transferred to the Israeli port of Ashdod south of Tel Aviv.
Reports, meanwhile, pointed to Israeli forces' appropriating and misusing the activists' personal belongings.
Relations between Turkey and Israel reached their lowest ebb ever following the incident.
Turkey says relations with Tel Aviv will resume only after Israel apologizes for the attack and pays compensation to the victims' families.
Israel has remained defiant, calling its internationally-condemned assault on the activists an act of self-defense.
Following the controversy, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon set up a four-member review panel in August 2010, led by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer.
The panel listened to the representatives for the last time late April and was expected to make its findings public this month.
The development comes as a new Gaza-bound flotilla prepares to set sail to the impoverished coastal sliver in mid-June.
Israel has so far urged Europe to do all it can to prevent its nationals from taking part in the international “peace” flotilla, which comprises of more than 15 ships.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/179836.html
Turkey demands names of soldiers involved in flotilla raid
Ankara Prosecution sends Justice Ministry letter demanding to receive names of all Naval, military and ministerial officials involved in decision to raid Marmara in May 2010.
The Turkish Prosecution demands Israel divulge the identity of the Naval Commandos who participated in the deadly raid on the Mavi Marmara, in May of 2010.
A Justice Ministry official said Israel was unfamiliar with the demand.
The Marmara was the lead vessel in last May's aid sail to Gaza Strip. Israeli commandos attempting to stop the ship from breaching the Gaza blockade boarded the ship after it refused the Navy's hails to stop. The ensuing violence resulted in the death of nine Turkish activists.
Diplomatic relations between Israel and Turkeys have been extremely tense ever since.
According to a Saturday report in the Turkish daily Zaman, Ankara sent the Justice Ministry a letter demanding it disclose the names and addresses of all Navy and military personnel involved, as well as the details of all government officials involved in ordering the raid.
The demand was reportedly based on the testimonies of over 500 activists who were aboard the Marmara and claimed they were "grossly mistreated" by the Israeli soldiers.
Meanwhile, Turkey threatened to withdraw from the United Nations panel investigating the raid over what it called its finding's "soft wording," which favor Israel.
According to Turkish daily Hurriyet, Ankara said the panel's findings "fall short of concluding that Israel violated International Law" when its commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara.
Israel and Turkey were both handed a draft of the UN report ahead of its intended public release later this month. Ankara has since said it would "disassociate itself from the report" unless radical changes were made to its findings.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4068368,00.html
17 mei 2011
Davutoglu: We will continue efforts to incriminate Israel over flotilla attack
ANKARA, (PIC)-- Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said that his country would not pull out from the investigating committee formed by the UN human rights council to probe Israel's navy attack on the Freedom Flotilla.
The Turkish chief diplomat said in a televised statement on Tuesday that his country would continue its efforts to incriminate Israel over the incident.
He said that Turkey would not accept a change of the investigating committee's work into the incident in a bid to picture the crisis between Turkey and Israel as a political one and not a flagrant violation of the international law, adding that such an attempt would shake confidence in the UN.
He said that the only way that could return his country's relations with Israel to normalcy was an Israeli acknowledgement of its responsibility for the attack that left nine Turkish citizens dead and more than 30 others wounded in addition to compensating the victims.
Davutoglu warned Israel against attacking the Freedom Flotilla 2 while on its way to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza next month.
http://fwd4.me/01ft 7 jul 2011, 01:39 , Respect -
Maria 30 mei 2011
Report: Turkey defers naming new ambassador to Israel
Ankara's Hurriyet Daily says intended ambassador to Israel was reassigned to Vienna.
Ankara diplomats say Turkey has decided to reassign Kerim Uras – its intended ambassador to Israel – to Austria.
According to a Monday report in the Turkish daily Hurriyet, Uras, who was supposed to arrive in Tel Aviv in a matter of weeks, will head to Vienna instead, in what may signal that Turkey does not intend to resume full diplomatic relations with Israel at this time.
Uras was appointed for now-questioned post prior to the raid on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara, but the process was left suspended as tension between the two nations increased after the raid.
The newspaper hedged that Israel is likely to respond with a similar move and suspend the nomination of a new ambassador to Ankara, after current Israeli Ambassador to Turkey Gabby Levy's term come to its end, later this year.
The Hurriyet further said that the United States was trying to stop further deterioration in the relations between its two regional allies.
Washington, said the paper, has two major concerns at this time: The first – a possible Turkish retaliation against Israel, which could be announced on the nearing anniversary of the Marmara's raid; and the second - a second flotilla.
The US is reportedly applying diplomatic pressure on Turkey to stop the flotilla, saying in "needs to embrace a more common-sense policy."
The message sent both to Ankara and Jerusalem was that more martyrs will help nothing but create more instability and pains, Hurriyet said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4075665,00.html
31 mei 2011
Turkey marks Flotilla attack anniversary
Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian activists mark the first anniversary of Israel's deadly attack on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla in Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, May 30, 2011.
Large crowds of people have gathered in Istanbul to mark the first anniversary of the deadly Israeli attack on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla.
Tens of thousands of protesters in Istanbul's Taksim Square denounced the attack by Israeli naval forces on the civilian convoy, the Press TV correspondent in Istanbul reported.
On May 31, 2010, Israeli commandos attacked the six-vessel Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters to prevent the convoy from accomplishing its blockade-busting mission.
In the assault, nine Turkish nationals, including a teenager with Turkish-US dual citizenship, were killed and dozens were injured.
The demonstrators expressed support for the families of the people killed in the incident and also demanded that Israel lift its illegal siege of the Gaza Strip.
Earlier on Monday, peace activists gathered on the deck of the Mavi Marmara -- the ship where the nine people were killed and which is now preparing to sail for Gaza again next month -- and warned Israel not to interfere with the next flotilla.
The convoy, which has been named the Freedom Flotilla II, will comprise some 15 aid vessels and over 1,500 activists of around 100 different nationalities.
According to the organizers, the ultimate mission of the flotilla is not only to provide humanitarian assistance but to draw the attention of the international community to the plight of Gazans, who have been cut off from the outside world for years due to the Israeli siege.
Nine flotillas have attempted to break Israel's illegal stranglehold since August 2008, but only five made it into Gaza. The Israeli military violently intercepted the fleets on the past four voyages, including the May 2010 flotilla, which was organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
The Freedom Flotilla II organizers say the move is an act of nonviolent disobedience meant to persuade the international community to fulfill its obligations toward the Palestinian people and to put pressure on Israel to end its siege.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/182491.html 7 jul 2011, 01:40 , Respect -
Maria 22 juni 2011
Barak and Netanyahu 'criticized' in flotilla reports
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) -- Two reports about the Turkish flotilla to the Gaza Strip last year are expected to be issued in the very near future.
The first is the Israeli comptroller’s report about the government’s performance in the affair.
According to leaks that found their way into most of the Hebrew dailies on Tuesday, the state comptroller’s report is expected to criticize both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak for their conduct.
The report is particularly concerned with the Israeli leaders' alleged failure to consult adequately with the entire security cabinet before ordering the takeover of the Mavi Marmara and the other ships in the flotilla.
A second, expected as early as the beginning of July, is the report by the official UN investigation.
According to Ma’ariv, that report will be issued against the backdrop of mounting Israeli and Turkish efforts to resolve the crisis in relations and to restore ties between the two countries to a more normal track.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=398768
24 juni 2011
Ya'alon: Israel won't apologize for flotilla raid
Minister Ya'alon met Turkish foreign ministry officials last week as part of attempts to solve crisis with Ankara; stressed Israel won't apologize for actions but will compensate victims' families.
Minister Moshe Ya'alon met with Turkish foreign ministry senior officials last week, Channel 2 reported Thursday.
The meeting, which was held in Europe, was meant to resolve the crisis brought on by May 2010's deadly flotilla raid. State officials told Ynet this was a recent development and confirmed there were several meetings with Turkish representatives held last week.
Israel has stressed it will not apologize for the IDF's actions, but Minister Ya'alon expressed willingness to pay compensation for the families of the victims. "Israel is willing to regret the loss of lives but will not apologize," a source familiar with the issue said. "We cannot guarantee Israel and Turkey will reach an understanding," he noted.
State officials told Ynet that Israel wants to calm the atmosphere and convene a meeting with high ranking Turkish officials, referring to the president, defense minister and prime minister. It remains unclear whether such a meeting will in fact take place.
"The Turks were on the Iran-Syria axis and this axis is not looking good these days," a state official added. "Moreover, Turkey still fears the Palmer Committee report (the UN-appointed committee investigating the flotilla) and therefore it is expected Erdogan will try to calm relations with Israel."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a letter to his Turkish counterpart this week expressing hope that relations between the two nations will improve. He added that Israel's government will be happy to work with the new Turkish cabinet.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday criticized activists planning to challenge Israel's sea blockade of the Gaza Strip, saying their efforts are neither "necessary or useful" in helping the Palestinian people of Gaza.
"We do not believe the flotilla is a necessary or useful effort to try to assist the people of Gaza," Clinton told reporters at a news conference with the visiting foreign minister of the Philippines.
"We think that it's not helpful for there to be flotillas that try to provoke action by entering into Israeli waters and creating a situation in which the Israelis have the right to defend themselves."
On Wednesday, the State Department specifically discouraged US citizens from taking part in the flotilla, which is planned for later this month.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4086558,00.html
26 juni 2011
Fire on the Marmara : Telesur
(69:30) Fire on the Marmara : Telesur 1 x viewed
Documentary about the Flotilla to Gaza that was attacked by the israeli commandos in 2010.
2 juli 2011
Israel, Turkey to mollify UN flotilla report?
Amid attempts to launch next Gaza flotilla, officials in Jerusalem, Ankara try to iron out differences, soften conclusions of Palmer committee on previous sail.
WASHINGTON – Israel and Turkey are holding secret talks in an effort to soften the conclusions of the Palmer Report, issued by a United Nations panel appointed to probe the events of the May 2010 Gaza-bound flotilla.
According to information obtained by Ynet, sources in Washington claimed that Israel's representative to the UN inquiry committee Yosef Ciechanover, his Turkish counterpart and other officials were crisscrossing between Jerusalem and Ankara in an attempt to use the report's conclusions to improve relations between the countries.
The sources also noted that the American administration was applying pressure on both sides to end the prolonged feud, and therefore postponed the publication of the committee's final report, which was headed by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.
According to the sources, if Israel and Turkey reach mutual understandings, the United Nations may decide to moderate the reports' conclusions and refrain from assigning direct blame on one of the sides.
Recently, US President Barack Obama held two phone conversations with Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with her Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu in an effort to make progress between the sides.
Washington regards Ankara as a main strategic ally in the new Middle East, especially following the recent uprisings in the region and Syria's violent suppression of protesters.
On Monday, Turkish paper Hurriyet reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to a Turkish demand to issue an apology for the killing of nine activists onboard he Mavi Marmara, but rescinded his decision three times due to internal pressure.
The Prime Minister's Office denied the report, calling it "untrue."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4089941,00.html 7 jul 2011, 01:42 , Respect -
Maria 4 juli 2011
Barak on Turkey: Let's put past behind us
Defense minister says improving ties with Turkey is Israel's priority, slams Palestinian UN bid.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak hinted Monday that reconciliation with Turkey is drawing near, saying that Israel is very interested in "putting the past behind us."
"Turkey is a very important nation, one of four key nations in the region, besides Israel, of course," Barak said during an Independence Faction meeting at the Knesset. "As our ties with the Saudis are strained, in fact we have no ties, our relationship with Iran is hostile, we have peaceful ties with Egypt but it is undergoing difficult changes – it is our priority to iron out the difficulties with Turkey."
Addressing Turkish Prime Minster Recep Erdogan's objections to Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip, Barak noted that "Israel implemented the siege; we did something that we had no other choice but doing. What happened, happened. We are interested in putting it behind us, and moving forward. Turkey remains an important nation in the Middle East."
'PA determined to go to UN'
Barak also addressed during Monday's meeting the Palestinians intention to declare statehood in the fall.
"There are growing signs that the Palestinians are determined to turn to the UN General Assembly to gain recognition for a Palestinian state," he said. "This issue creates a complicated reality for us ahead of September.
"We are committed to the effort to convince the large nations of the world, primarily European nations, that the reason for the lack of progress in the negotiations is this Palestinian behavior," he said.
The defense minister also spoke about the charges pressed against Hezbollah members in connection with the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
"The issue is shaking up Lebanon," Barak said. "It is unclear whether the deeper currents behind the investigation will lead across the border, into Syria, into the government circles there.
"It really shows us who we're dealing with, who are the neighbors that we live amongst," he said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4090950,00.html
Report: Turkey urged to use Hamas ties
Turkish newspaper report suggests US senators asked Erdogan to play role in efforts to solve Israeli-Palestinian conflict, bring Hamas to negotiating table.
A group of US senators told Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the weekend that only Ankara can convince Hamas to join talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported.
According to the report, Erdogan told John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsay Graham that Turkey will try to persuade Hamas to return to the negotiating table if the group is given an incentive.
The Turkish PM added that he may extend his upcoming visit to Egypt to include a visit to the Palestinian Authority. Previous Turkish reports suggest Erdogan plans to enter Gaza via the Rafah crossing.
The US senators discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with Erdogan in a meeting held over the weekend.
The Turkish premier claimed that a peace agreement will be virtually impossible to achieve without Hamas being included in talks. The US delegation responded that Turkey may be the only country to bring Hamas to the negotiating table.
After the meeting Senator Graham expressed hope that Turkey will play a role in solving the conflict and added that Erdogan is the "most impressive speaker in the region."
Erdogan met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ankara 10 days ago, and promised to work to garner support for the recognition of a Palestinian state.
He declared that his country is willing to support efforts to form a Palestinian unity government.
On Sunday, Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Turkey is playing a role in efforts to secure a deal between Israel and Hamas which will see the return of captive soldier Gilad Shalit.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4090759,00.html 7 jul 2011, 14:44 , Respect -
Maria 5 juli 2011
Ya'alon to discuss flotilla report with Turks
Minister heads to New York to meet Turkish, US officials ahead of Palmer report's publication.
Minister Moshe Ya'alon will meet Turkish and American representatives in New York this week to discuss the Palmer report on the 2010 flotilla raid which will be published Thursday.
The parties will try to reach an understanding whereby Israel will not be required to apologize to Turkey and in exchange will not highlight aspects reflecting poorly on Ankara. They will also consider the possibility of setting up a Turkish fund for victims of the Marmara raid which Israel will finance.
State officials said that should the parties reach understandings Israel will help Turkey render the report irrelevant, particularly by avoiding addressing aspects of the report which touch upon on Ankara's ties with the IHH and involvement in the flotilla.
It was also suggested that Israel is interested in improving its relations with Turkey and wishes to arrange a meeting with high-ranking officials, apparently referring to Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Barak stated he seeks reconciliation with Ankara.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tasked Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch with handling the planned pro-Palestinian fly-in to the Ben Gurion Airport.
"The decision was made for the purpose of coordinating the activity of government offices and professional elements which enforce law and order."
http://fwd4.me/05mG
6 juli 2011
Jerusalem not hopeful over Palmer report obstacles
Minister Moshe Ya'alon who is in New York is continuing his contacts with the US and Turkey is efforts to reach an understanding over the problematic articles in the Palmer report on last year's flotilla to Gaza.
Yet Jerusalem is not holding its breath in light of Ankara's insistence to receive an apology from Jerusalem over the deaths of the nine activists killed on the Mavi Marmara last year.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4091588,00.html
7 juli 2011
UN to report on Gaza fleet raid as second aid attempt stalls
(3:26) UN to report on Gaza fleet raid as second aid attempt stalls
Israel unlikely to condemn Turkey over Palmer report
Coming UN report on first Gaza flotilla contains harsh criticism against Ankara, but Jerusalem may choose not to capitalize on it.
The coming Palmer report, investigating the tragic events of the 2010 Gaza flotilla, is expected to harshly criticize Turkey's handling of the sail and its ties to the IHH, but according to Ynet's source, Jerusalem does not intend to propel the report's conclusions into an international media campaign that would "vindicate" Israel.
The report stands to include indirect criticism against Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government's involvement in the sail, but it is believed Israel will hold back so as not to impede the efforts to stabilize relations with Turkey.
Jerusalem and Ankara are still struggling with finalizing the report, but since Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Minister for Home Front Defense Matan Vilnai are pushing to normalize relations with Turkey, Israel will be in no hurry to capitalize on the report.
Turkey's objections to the second flotilla is also one of the reasons Israel prefers not to launch and international media campaign against Ankara.
While the Palmer report contains harsh criticism against both states, it insists Israel's maritime blockade on Gaza is legal.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4092194,00.html
Flotilla report delayed at Turkey's behest
After Palmer report finds Gaza blockade legal, Turkey requests delay for talks with Israel.
Though an inquiry committee investigating the 2010 flotilla has already drawn conclusions, the UN has agreed to postpone its due date for the report until Turkey and Israel come to an agreement on its content, Israeli officials say.
The request to delay the report came from Turkey. Its findings, some of which have already been published, indicate that Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip is legal as well as its raid of the Mavi Marmara.
A UN spokesman said Thursday that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will allow the sides until June 27 to file the Palmer report.
On Thursday morning the Palmer commission, made up of international experts as well as representatives from Turkey and Israel, convened in order to accept from each side its responses to the findings. The Turks then requested a delay for additional talks with Israel, which Ban approved.
Israeli representative Joseph Ciechanover then met with his Turkish counterpart in New York in order to attempt to come to an agreement.
The UN has refused so far to comment on what it plans to do with the report's findings, but Ban has stated in the past that he appointed the commission in order to help Israel and Turkey come to an understanding about the flotilla raid, which killed nine Turks, and not to point fingers.
The commission found that Israel acted too soon in its raid of the Marmara, but that its actions were legal as well as the naval blockade on Gaza. It also heaps criticism on Turkey, finding ties between the state and the IHH as well as direct official involvement in the flotilla.
However sources say Israel will not take advantage of the findings to blame Turkey for the incident, but rather continue its efforts at improving relations with the state despite its insistence that Israel apologize for the raid and compensate the victims.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4092602,00.html
Flotilla backed by Flytilla? Gaza activists to advance by sea & air
(3:23) Flotilla backed by Flytilla? Gaza activists to advance by sea & air
A French ship, bound for Gaza with aid, has been stopped in Crete. It comes as the UN is due to report on last year's Israeli raid on a humanitarian flotilla which killed 9 Turkish activists. The report has been held back because of the row between Israel and Turkey which followed the attack. RT's Paula Slier joins us live with the details.
Official slams UN report supporting Israel on flotilla raid
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- A UN rapporteur slammed a highly anticipated UN report on Thursday which is set to back a 2010 Israeli commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla which left nine people dead.
"The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Prof. Olivier De Schutter, has received a draft of this report and he firmly opposes its conclusions," De Schutter's office said in a statement.
He was preparing "a statement where he denounces the conclusions" of the report by a UN commission which the UN chief is expected to release on Friday, it said, adding such a move would be "exceptional" within the UN.
"Tomorrow, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon will release a statement supporting the legality of the Israeli intervention against the 2010 'Gaza Freedom Flotilla,'" the statement said.
"According to Olivier De Schutter, the blockade and the Israeli intervention clearly violate international law and the human right to food," it added.
Last year's bloody May 31 showdown when Israeli commandos raided a six-ship pro-Palestinian flotilla leaving nine Turkish activists dead triggered global outrage, amid accusations that Israel had been too heavy-handed.
A UN Human Rights Council report released in September said there was "clear evidence to support prosecutions" of crimes including "willful killing; torture or inhuman treatment" against Israel over the raid.
Turkey has demanded an Israeli apology for the deaths, but Israel has refused so far to go further than to express its regret.
Israel-Turkey talks meant to repair strained ties have collapsed, an Israeli official said on Thursday after the two sides failed to reach a compromise.
The UN report had been expected to be released Thursday, the Israeli official said, but publication was delayed, ostensibly because Ban is traveling in Europe, but in reality to give Israel and Turkey time to reach a deal.
No further talks were scheduled however, the official said.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper said the report lists faults by both sides in their handling of the issue.
The Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara was leading a flotilla of activists seeking to reach the coastal Palestinian territory in defiance of Israeli orders to turn back, when Israeli marines stormed it, killing nine Turkish citizens.
The Israeli official said the UN commission of inquiry, chaired by former New Zealand premier Brian Palmer, found that the blockade, which Israel says is essential to stop arms reaching the strip's militant Islamic Hamas rulers, was legal.
Turkey has argued that it was not.
The news of the report's release came as Israel battened down the hatches at its main airport awaiting hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters after a new flotilla bid to ship aid to the Gaza Strip was scuttled.
Organizers of the 10-ship aid flotilla said the lone boat to sneak out of a Greek port was caught Thursday by the coast guard in Crete.
In a new move though, 600 or so activists were jetting in by air planning to spend a week visiting Palestinian families, with organizers saying they have "totally peaceful intentions."
But Israeli authorities appeared to be gearing up for a confrontation, with hundreds of police on standby around the airport.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=403308
Information ministry “welcomes” Israel in therapy video
(1:46) Free Gaza from Hamas, not from the Blockade
Yesterday we covered http://972mag.com/hasbara3/ here a masterpiece of self-defeating propaganda showing “Israel” as a distressed and paranoid young woman suspicious of people trying to help her and having flashbacks to edited and censored videos of the IDF raid on the marmara. While the initial suspicion was that this was a trailer for Ami Kaufman’s Izzie series http://fwd4.me/060F , sources with knowledge of the actress’s engagement confirmed to 972 she was recruited to do a Hasbara video for a government project. Just for the morning exercise of your cringe muscles, here it is again.
The actress, Aimee Neistat, would not confirm, deny or disclose the identity of her employers. We approached the Information Ministry itself for comment, and this is what we got:
“The Information and Diaspora Ministry considers the Internet as a primary Hasbara arena, and welcomes all those individuals and organisations working independently [Heb: be'ofen atzmai, in an independent manner - D.R.] to re the truth behind the provocation of the flotilla organisers.”
I wrote back, asking if they “unequivocally deny any involvement of the ministry in the production of the clip.” The reply I got back was:
“What I sent you is the official comment. Don’t add or redact.”
Alrighty then.
On a personal note, I spent considerable time last night censoring and erasing comments attacking Neistat, many using blatantly sexist language. I would like to stress that this is completely out of place. Even if one disagrees with Neistat’s choice of roles, this is no reason to bully or threaten her; and sexism is out of place on this site in any context, but it’s jarring in a fresh way to see arguments for Palestinian rights being made through violent, misogynist language. The issue here is the policy of the government in Gaza and their surreal antics – not the actors.
http://972mag.com/hasbara4/
Israel, Turkey refuse UN flotilla report
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) -- A UN-sponsored report accused Israel of using force prematurely and causing "unacceptable" deaths in its assault of a Gaza-bound ship that killed nine Turks over a year ago, a Turkish source said Thursday.
Israel and Turkey failed to reach agreement, refusing to sign the report about the Israeli raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in May last year, which was due to be handed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon later Thursday, the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Non-violent options should have been used in the first instance," the Turkish source quoted the report as saying.
The dead and wounded resulting from the raid were "unacceptable," the report added.
The Mavi Marmara was leading a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory, subject to an Israeli-imposed blockade, when an intervention by Israeli security forces in international waters ended in bloodshed.
Nine Turkish passengers were killed in the assault on the ship that had been chartered by a Turkish group.
Following the May 31 raid, Turkey withdrew its ambassador in Tel Aviv, vowing that bilateral relations "would never be the same."
Israel refused to sign the report after a commission of inquiry concluded that its forces had acted in an "excessive" manner by swooping on the Mavi Marmara a long way from the Gaza Strip and without giving a final warning to the vessel.
The source said Turkey's refusal to sign off on the report stemmed from the fact that it did not say Israel's blockade of Gaza was illegal.
Over the past year, Ankara has repeatedly said it was demanding apologies and compensation from Israel for the victims' families.
Still, there have been signs in recent weeks that the two countries were trying to overcome their differences.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel and Turkey were looking to heal the breach in relations that followed the flotilla incident.
"We are seeking ways of improving our current relations," Netanyahu told journalists in Bucharest on Wednesday.
Several attempts to restore ties between the former close allies have led nowhere, but Israel was encouraged after the owners of the Turkish ferry said it would not be participating in a second attempt to reach Gaza this month.
"We are trying to make concrete steps," Netanyahu said.
"Apart from the fact that Turkey did not participate in the (latest) flotilla, there are other signs allowing us to talk of an improvement in our relations."
Key to any reconciliation is Turkey's demand that Israel apologize for its actions.
But Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman reiterated his opposition to such a step in remarks to the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
"We have no interest in a confrontation with Turkey and we are in favor of renewing our relations with Turkey; we have no territorial dispute with Turkey and we are ready to reach a compromise," he said.
"We are not prepared to be dictated to and we are not prepared to be humiliated or to abandon our troops.
"An apology is not a compromise -- in my view, it is humiliation and abandonment of our soldiers," he continued.
On Tuesday, Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said contacts with Turkey had been intensified in order to solve the crisis and "turn the page" on previous disagreements.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=403089 8 jul 2011, 16:49 , Respect -
Maria 8 juli 2011
Turkey PM: Israel must still apologize for last year's Gaza flotilla raid
Erdogan says that if Israel wants to normalize ties with Turkey it must also pay compensation to victims of the flotilla raid and lift its blockade of Gaza.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that it was "unthinkable" to normalize ties with Israel unless Israel apologized for the killing of nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists aboard the Mavi Marmara ship bound for the Gaza Strip last year.
Erdogan also said in the text of a speech to parliament seen by Reuters that two other conditions for the normilization of ties were Israel lifting its blockade of Gaza and Israel paying compensation to the victims of the flotilla raid.
On Thursday, an Israeli official said http://fwd4.me/065l that a UN report on Israel's interception of last year's flotilla would be published on July 27 after delays to enable talks between Israel and Turkey.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, declined to discuss the findings of the committee set up by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and chaired by former New Zealand premier Geoffrey Palmer, saying only they had been finalized.
But Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said earlier that previous drafts of the Palmer report indicated the panel would rule mostly in favor of Israel.
"From what we understand, the report justifies the [Gaza] blockade. It says the blockade is legitimate, that Israel took legitimate steps," he told reporters.
Steinitz said the Palmer report would include "minor" criticism of the interception of the converted cruise ship Mavi Marmara as it tried to run the Gaza blockade.
http://fwd4.me/065k
9 juli 2011
Turkish PM says apology over flotilla a condition for restoring ties with Israel
ANKARA / JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has once again refused to normalize relations with Israel before it formally apologizes for the 2010 Gaza flotilla attack and lifts the siege on the Gaza Strip.
The statement came as the Turkish premier presented the government's new program before the parliament. He asserted that Israel's flotilla attack last year breached international law, and he reinstated demands that Israel compensate the Turks killed and injured on board the flotilla's ships.
PM Erdogan also said that ending the siege on the Gaza Strip would be a fundamental prerequisite for resuming natural relations with Israel.
Erdogan pledged that his government would follow the UN investigations into the flotilla incident.
Israeli war minister Ehud Barak said he was displeased over Erdogan's position on the flotilla, emphasizing Israel's major strategic interest in settling the diplomatic crisis with Turkey.
On the UN report that followed an investigation into the flotilla attack, Barak said the report, to be released soon, would confirm the legitimacy of Israel's siege on Gaza and that Israel acted according to international law when intercepting the Gaza flotilla.
Israel's relations with Turkey have spiraled since Israel's bloody aggression on the Gaza Strip in 2008-9. Relations hit lows after Israel's naval forces attacked the Freedom Flotilla in May 2010 killing nine Turkish activists aboard the Mavi Marmara ship and injuring many.
http://fwd4.me/06CL
Israel, Turkey lock horns over flotilla
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has once again rejected Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's conditions for the normalization of diplomatic relations.
"Israel did not commit any crime,” he said in an interview with Israel's Channel 1 television on Friday night, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
He made the remarks after Erdogan said earlier on Friday that Israel must apologize for the killing of nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists last year.
On May 31, 2010, Israeli commandos attacked the first Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea, killing nine Turkish citizens on board the Turkish-flagged M.V. Mavi Marmara and injuring about 50 other people who were part of the team on the six-ship convoy.
Israeli troops also forced the ships to dock at an Israeli port and detained all those on board.
During a speech to the Turkish parliament, Erdogan also said Tel Aviv should lift its four-year blockade of Gaza and pay compensation to the victims of the flotilla attack.
However, the Israeli defense minister said he expected the UN inquiry to vindicate Israel's actions.
"The Palmer commission will say that Israel acted according to international law. The blockade is legal, stopping the ships is legal, the use of force in these circumstances is justified," Barak said.
On Thursday, an Israeli official said that a UN report on Israel's flotilla attack would be published on July 27.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/188219.html 12 jul 2011, 23:29 , Respect -
Maria 11 juli 2011
Lieberman: Erdogan wants to humiliate Israel and is uninterested in rapprochement
Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, has said that the Turkish government headed by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is completely uninterested in a diplomatic rapprochement between Ankara and Tel Aviv.
In a statement to Radio Israel following the Turkish government's insistence on its demand that Israel apologize for last year's Freedom Flotilla incident as a pre-condition to the normalization of Turkish-Israeli relations, Lieberman said, "It is clear that this person [Erdogan] is not looking for accommodation, peace or normalisation, but wants to humiliate the State of Israel; reduce its international standing, and harm our status in the region,"
Israel has completely refused to apologize for storming the Gaza-bound Turkish ship; the Mavi Marmara last May.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry had approached Ankara with a request that it demonstrates more flexibility toward ending the flotilla crisis through a 'redeeming formula' which aims at improving the level of bilateral relations between the two states.
http://fwd4.me/06L9 23 jul 2011, 20:08 , Respect -
Maria 21 juli 2011
Israeli minister rules out flotilla apology to Turkey
JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel will not "take responsibility" for the deaths of nine Turkish nationals by apologizing to Ankara over its botched 2010 raid on a ferry heading for Gaza, a senior cabinet minister said on Thursday.
"We are not ready to apologize, as apologizing is taking responsibility," Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon told reporters in Jerusalem.
"There is no room in my mind for any kind of apology that means taking responsibility," he said of the pre-dawn raid on a six-vessel flotilla that attempted to sail to Gaza in May 2010 in a bid to break Israel's naval embargo.
Yaalon's comments come after several failed attempts by Israel and Turkey to patch up ties that frayed almost to breaking point after commandos stormed the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara ferry that was leading the flotilla.
He said Turkish representatives continued to insist that relations could only be restored if Israel apologized for the raid, compensated the families of those killed and the injured, and lifted its blockade on the Gaza Strip.
"We tried very hard to bridge the gap ... (but) as long as they insist on this position I can't see any agreement between the two sides," he said.
"We are ready to regret the loss of lives, we are ready to create a kind of humanitarian voluntary fund," he said, explaining that if such a fund were set up by Ankara, Israel would be prepared to pay money into it.
But he said there would be no official apology nor direct compensation offered to the families of those killed and the injured.
"A voluntary fund is acceptable, but compensation ... means that you are responsible."
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has repeatedly said the Jewish state will not apologize for the raid, although privately officials acknowledge that upgrading relations with Ankara would be desirable.
Media reports suggest there is increasing pressure on both sides for a final agreement that would restore once-strong ties between the two countries.
In an interview with Israel's Haaretz newspaper, a senior adviser to Turkish premier Recep Erdogan reportedly said Ankara was looking for a full restoration of ties and was "sorry about what happened."
"We greatly value our relations with Israel and are not thrilled with their deterioration," Ibrahim Kalin told the newspaper.
"Friends apologize for mistakes. We are sorry about what happened; we didn't intend to sever relations with Israel, which were excellent."
However, Kalin later said Haaretz had misquoted him.
"What we are saying in short is this: there will be no improvement in Turkish-Israeli ties as long as Turkey's well-known demands are not met," Kalin said.
"The improvement of ties depends on meeting Turkey's demands but the Haaretz newspaper has presented this in a different manner. They have carried their own statements as quotes by me," he said.
In a separate article published on its website, Haaretz said Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein had advised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to apologize to Turkey in a bid to head off lawsuits against the soldiers who raided the Mavi Marmara.
According to the website, Weinstein proposed Israel apologize for operational mistakes and misuse of force, rather than for attacking the flotilla and that in return, Turkey would agree to block any lawsuits against Israeli soldiers.
But Yaalon said such an agreement with Turkey would not prevent activists in other countries from filing similar suits and said he did not believe Ankara was looking to restore ties with Israel.
"The Turkish government initiated this deterioration as part of a new policy to look to the East rather than to the West," he said.
"I'm not sure that even an agreement between us and Turkey is going to change the Turkish policy towards Israel."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=407367
AG to Netanyahu: Apologize to Turkey or face indictments for IDF troops
Sources say Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein believes apology would convince Turkey not to file lawsuits against IDF officers who took over the Mavi Marmara in 2010.
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has advised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel should apologize for the deadly takeover of the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara ship last year, in which nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists were killed, sources in Jerusalem said Thursday.
According to the sources, Weinstein believes the UN investigation into the 2010 flotilla incident might prompt lawsuits against IDF soldiers. Therefore, he recommends reaching an understanding with Turkey, even if that means issuing an apology. The Justice Department declined to comment on these details.
The sources added that Weinstein believes that if Turkey promises not to file lawsuits against IDF soldiers and officers that took part in the Marmara interception, Israel should consider apologizing for operational mistakes and misuse of force. The suggested apology would be a general one, and would not apply to stopping the flotilla or the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Although the UN investigation is expected to find the naval blockade legal, it is likely to determine that the Israeli commando soldiers used excessive force while intercepting the ship. The investigation mentions autopsy reports which claim that the activists killed were shot several times.
The UN report is expected to be published on July 27 in New York. The report's release has been delayed several times due to pressure from the United States, who is worried that the ongoing crisis between Israel and Turkey will harm its interests in the Middle East.
Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon, who has led negotiations with Turkey over the last few weeks, adamantly opposes any kind of apology to Turkey, a view shared by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Ya'alon believes that even if Israel apologizes, citizens from Turkey or other countries could still file lawsuits against IDF soldiers and officers.
http://fwd4.me/07CD
23 juli 2011
Erdogan: No normalization unless Israel apologizes
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday it was "unthinkable" for Ankara to normalize relations with Israel until it apologized over its bloody raid on a Turkish ship heading for Gaza.
"As long as Israel does not apologize to Turkey, pay compensation to the families of the victims and lift its blockage on the Gaza strip, a normalization of relations is unthinkable," he said at the opening of a meeting of Palestinian ambassadors in the presence of President Mahmoud Abbas.
Erdogan accused Israel of perpetrating a "barbaric massacre" and "shooting in the back" the nine unarmed Turkish activists killed when Israeli commandos stormed a Turkish ferry leading a flotilla which was attempting to break Israeli's naval embargo on Gaza in May 2010.
After the raid, which was carried out in international waters, Turkey recalled its ambassador in Tel Aviv and warned bilateral relations would "never be the same again."
On Thursday Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon insisted that Israel would not "take responsibility" for the deaths.
"We are not ready to apologize, as apologizing is taking responsibility," he told reporters in Jerusalem.
"We are ready to regret the loss of lives, we are ready to create a kind of humanitarian voluntary fund," he said, explaining that if such a fund were set up by Ankara, Israel would be prepared to pay money into it.
But he said there would be no official apology nor direct compensation offered to the families of those killed or injured.
"A voluntary fund is acceptable, but compensation... means that you are responsible," he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=407804