Who will sit in judgment?
The politics and diplomacy of the inquiry into last week’s deaths of nine Turkish activists
Jun 10th 2010 | JERUSALEM
Jun 10th 2010 | JERUSALEM
THE Israeli government is haggling with the United States and Europe over the terms and composition of a commission of inquiry that it proposes to set up to investigate its lethal storming on May 31st of a Turkish ship bringing aid to Gaza. At the same time, in close co-ordination with Egypt, Israel is offering to ease the blockade of Gaza, drastically reducing the list of goods it refuses to let into the territory.
These measures, the Israeli government believes, may stem the wave of international opprobrium that swept over the Jewish state following the ship incident, in which nine Turkish civilians died. The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has told his ministers and senior officials to refrain from any public response to the blistering verbal attacks being made by Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and members of his government. The two countries, close allies for many years, still have important defence ties that Israel hopes to preserve despite the present crisis.
The Israeli army has already commissioned its own internal inquiry, headed by a retired general, Giora Eiland. Although public opinion at home largely rallied behind the armed forces, many Israelis have criticised the failure to anticipate violent resistance aboard the Mavi Marmara, the largest vessel in a six-ship flotilla carrying peace campaigners and pro-Palestinian activists. Israeli commandos dropped from helicopters, firing paintballs, and were apparently set upon by activists wielding clubs and knives. According to the Israelis, this forced the commandos to open fire.
Mr Netanyahu has suggested that an inquiry commission comprising Israeli experts in international law could be joined by American and European observers. The prime minister and his minister of defence, Ehud Barak, would appear before this commission and answer its questions.
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