UN rights body begins questioning Turkish Gaza flotilla witnesses
Israel has refused to cooperate with the panel, set up by the UN's Human Rights Council, saying it is made redundant by a panel set up by the UN chief.
By Reuters Tags: UN Gaza flotilla Ban Ki-moon TurkeyInvestigators from the United Nations Human Rights Council have begun questioning witnesses on Israel's May 31 raid aboard a Gaza-bound boat, which resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish activists, the UN said on Monday.
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A session of the Human Rights Council at the UN European headquarters in Geneva, May 31, 2010. |
| Photo by: AP |
An official statement said the 3-person investigative team was now in Turkey, under whose flag the vessel was registered, after hearing other witnesses in London and Geneva. The panel plans to continue its investigation in Amman, Jordan.
The team - judges from Britain and Trinidad and a Malaysian human rights campaigner - has been refused entry by Israel which says the pro-Palestinian activists aboard the Turkish Mavi Marmara were killed when they attacked Israeli navy commandos with clubs and knives.
The trio are due to present their report to the 47-nation council on September 27, according to a schedule for the body's 3-week autumn session which starts on September 13.
The council, where members of the 57-country Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and its developing country allies as well as Russia, Cuba and China have an inbuilt majority, set up the probe in June, despite strong Western reservations.
The council's decision on the investigation, on a resolution tabled by Pakistan for the OIC, was taken despite the announcement by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that he was setting up a separate, international probe into the same incident.
Diplomats said Ban was unhappy at the council move, which fit a pattern of overt and indirect challenges from the majority in the body to the authority of the UN chief and of High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.
Israel itself is conducting its own investigations behind closed doors. Last week its defence forces chief told the Isareli panel, headed by retired justice Jacob Turkel, that the commandos, who rapelled onto the boat from helicopters, were not prepared for the violent resistance they met.
A former Foreign Ministry official had said last month that "the Israeli probe, conducted with transparency, makes the organization's probe completely unnecessary."
The boat was part of a flotilla whose organizers said it was taking aid supplies to Islamist Hamas-controlled Gaza, which is under blockade by both Israel and Egypt. OIC-member Egypt itself backed the establishment of the council probe.
Israel had warned it would not let the flotilla through, arguing that it could be carrying materiel likely to help Hamas militants whom it accuses of threatening Israeli security. But it has since eased its Gaza blockade.
The incident sparked a serious deterioration of already strained relations between Israel and Turkey after many years of a close relationship which included military cooperation.
Earlier this month, current rights council president and Thai ambassador Sihasak Phuanketkeow said the team - whose members he chose - would not overlap with Ban's probe but rather complement it.
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The IDF kills a lotta' people, and the UN thinks to ask the survivors for their version of events. What A Radical Idea! Who would have thought to do that? Certainly not in Israel, where you conduct inquiries where you don't even ask the SOLDIERS why they opened fire, much less think to ask the people who were being shot at.......
It is not that complicated. Where there is murder, there is a crime and where there is crime, there are criminals. Israel should stop decorating its criminals and hand them over to UN. Milo's cell is available I hear.
If you read the report you find the same mindset at work that caused the nine deaths on the ship. If Israel doesn't co operate no one should be surprised. The Israeli will never admit responsibility for these or any other murders they commit..Realize that the murder of non-jews is not looked upon as a crime.
The Muslim/left backers of the flotillas have suffered a serious loss of credibility in the minds of rational people. The rational people in Lebanon and Cyprus realize the flotilla movement may be found in violation of international law by the upcoming UN Mavi Marmara probe, thus, they are pulling back support. This is a very important development that threatens future flotillas. Someone ought to suggest to the activists to get a life and move on with a respectable job. or maybe they are un-skilled the only skill they have is being angry at the world
Israeli government planning at its best. Let the other side tell its story. Offer spin, not eyewitness testimony in return. Then scream prejudice. Maybe Israel should consider letting it's eyewitnesses tell their side?
is questioning the legality of UN body. That is so funny. I mean If I don't trust UN why should I trust the state terrorist Israel?
An absolute murderer that’s what i call Israel terrorism. Where are the human rights?
to avoid comparisons with communist style investigations.You can bet that they won't take into consideration videos like those two bellow. .....http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/video?id=142 ......http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/video?id=143
But this is a first, I think, going against the Secretary of the UN by another UN group!
This is another distraction invented by the UN to cause people to ignore the legitimate Issues the world faces.
It lends balance in the face of Israeli propaganda and spin.
It lends balance in the face of Israeli propaganda and spin.
I would have thought that by now they would have declared Israel completely innocent of all charges and accused the victims of being the aggressors. Enough of this charade already, please.
guilty and get a clue
Not that anyone can possibly be surprised--Israelis commited the murders, after all...
Israeli government is isolating the country from the rest of the world by refusing international investigations on the humanitarian issues. In short term some political gains are possible for the government but in the long run Israel will need higher or multiple “walls” or tighter naval blockades because everyone else in the world is an “alien” and a potential threat according to the current Israeli policies. Turkey has been sentenced several times by EU and International Courts for the bad record of human rights violations and pays compensations to the victims. Yes it is a shame but it has a big impact on government so that the human rights are getting better and better protected for “anybody” in Turkey and it will be even much better within a couple of years because the justice system is being improved. Israel should not be afraid of the fine. It causes some upgrades.
.."terrorists" why they spared the lives of the few elite commandos they held captive, after beating them black and blue and leaving them with chronic colic.
when the 'activists' were only passively resisting? Mind you, this was before shots were fired and soldiers were repelling, but not before iron bars were being cut off the boat and prepared for usage.