 |
Israel to question premier about flotilla raid in its own inquiry
Alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's defense minister and military chief of staff will also face the commission investigating the events leading up to the deaths on May 31 of eight Turks and one Turkish-American on a ship trying to break the Gaza blockade, commission head Jacob Turkel told reporters.
Beside Turkel, 75, a retired Supreme Court justice, the commission includes a retired general, Amos Horev, 86, and Shabtai Rosen, a 93-year-old international jurist who required help from security guards to reach his seat at the table.
Under international pressure, Israel's government also included two foreign observers: David Trimble, a Nobel peace laureate from Northern Ireland and a member of the British House of Lords, and Brig. Gen. Ken Watkin, Canada's former chief military prosecutor.
The incident occurred on board the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was intercepted by helicopter-borne Israeli commandos as it sailed in international waters as part of a six-ship protest flotilla.
The flotilla had been trying to draw attention to a three-year-old Israeli blockade -- imposed with Egypt after elected Hamas overran the territory.
The deadly raid drew a furious international reaction and forced Israel and Egypt to ease the blockade. Israel says the naval blockade is necessary to prevent weapons from reaching the Hamas.
Especially harsh was the response from Turkey, where most of the activists were from.
Turkey, until recently a close ally of Israel, recalled its ambassador, and on Monday announced that some Israeli military flights would no longer be allowed in Turkish airspace.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| AMANDA PAUL |  |
||
| Ukraine: a lost country | |||
| BÜLENT KENEŞ |  |
||
| What befell Niyazi-i Misri in the past is happening to Fethullah Gülen now | |||
| MÜMTAZER TÜRKÖNE |  |
||
| The 52nd anniversary of May 27 | |||
| ABDULLAH BOZKURT |  |
||
| Turkey and Mexico: Distant yet so close | |||
| ARZU KAYA URANLI |  |
||
| On Memorial Day a few words to make your day memorable | |||
| EMRE USLU |  |
||
| Are the Kurds mentally divorced from Turkey? | |||
| CUMALİ ÖNAL |  |
||
| Critical months for Egypt | |||
| DOĞU ERGİL |  |
||
| Qualities of power | |||
| YAVUZ BAYDAR |  |
||
| Qualm | |||
| GÖKHAN BACIK |  |
||
| Erdoğan, Gül and Davutoğlu: the inner bargain on Turkish foreign policy | |||
| JOOST LAGENDIJK |  |
||
| Europe can’t have it all. Or can it? | |||
| MELİH ARAT |  |
||
| Handmade | |||
| SEYFETTİN GÜRSEL |  |
||
| Poor-friendly economic growth and the AK Party | |||
| CHARLOTTE MCPHERSON |  |
||
| Missing women, missing opportunities | |||
| BERK ÇEKTİR |  |
||
| Changes to incentives for investment in Turkey | |||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
