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Israel tells UN to shelve flotilla raid probe plan
Speaking to reporters after he met with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he told Ban the United Nations should suspend plans to set up an inquiry into Israel’s May 31 interception of a six-ship convoy heading to the Gaza Strip. “We expressed our view that for the time being, as long as ... new flotillas are in the preparation, it’s probably better to leave it [a UN investigation] on the shelf for a certain time,” Barak said.
He said the five-person panel Israel has established, which includes two foreign observers, would be sufficient for now. “We are moving ahead with our independent investigation, which we believe is clearly independent, reliable, credible and should be allowed to work,” Barak said. It was not clear if Barak meant Israel might accept Ban’s proposal at a later date. He declined to take questions.
Turkey, which says ties with Israel could be reviewed if, among other things, Israel does not allow an international probe into the raid, has backed the UN’s inquiry plans. Turkish officials have dismissed the Israeli probe, saying there would be little credibility in an inquiry conducted by Israel into the actions of its own troops.
Ban said on Friday he would press ahead with the establishment of an independent inquiry, which would include both Turkish and Israeli participation. “I’ve been telling them [Israel] that my proposal is not incompatible with Israel’s national investigation,” Ban said.
Lebanon said earlier on Monday it would allow an aid ship bound for the Gaza Strip to sail despite warnings from Israel that it had the right to use all necessary means to stop ships that try to sail from Lebanon to Gaza.
Barak said it was “a bit irresponsible” for anyone to grant permission for more aid ships to sail for Gaza.
“It’s well known that we asked all of them, as we asked the previous flotilla, to join us and go through [the Israeli port of] Ashdod,” he said. “We cannot accept someone who will just try to sail directly to Gaza,” Barak said about the Lebanese ship. “There could be friction which could lead to violence, which is totally unnecessary.”
Barak added he briefed Ban on Israel’s decision to ease its embargo of Gaza, which came under renewed international criticism after the May 31 raid. In remarks elsewhere, Barak dismissed the idea that there is a “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza and said any ships sent to Gaza to break the embargo were “pure provocation.”
The UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees, however, said the Israeli decision to ease the embargo was not enough, insisting that nothing short of the full lifting of the blockade on Gaza would allow the territory to be rebuilt.
“The Israeli strategy is to make the international community talk about a bag of cement here, a project there. We need full unfettered access through all the crossings,” spokesman Christopher Gunness of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said.
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