Investigators from a UN human rights inquiry on the May 31 aid flotilla attack, in which nine activists died, began interviewing witnesses in the Jordanian capital of Amman on Monday. So far, Israeli Knesset member Hanin Zoabi and six others have been interviewed.
“It was evident from the beginning that the commandoes viewed us as terrorists,” Zoabi told The Associated Press after her testimony before a three-member UN team headed by Karl Hudson-Phillips, former judge of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. “Israel’s use of a large number of elite troops with sophisticated weaponry showed it intended to kill the passengers,” added the lawmaker, who was aboard the Mavi Marmara, where the killings took place.
“We were very peaceful activists, but the commandoes came to kill,” she said. Israel has refused to cooperate with this probe, accusing the UN Human Rights Council of bias. But it is working with a separate UN group led by New Zealand’s ex-Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and Colombia’s ex-President Alvaro Uribe to examine the legal ramifications of the incident.
The flotilla raid drew international criticism and forced Israel to somewhat ease its blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza. Israel, along with Egypt, imposed the blockade in June 2007 after Hamas militants took control of the marginal and impoverished coastal territory.
Israel’s military has already conducted an investigation, finding failures in intelligence gathering and implementation, but maintains that its troops acted properly under the circumstances.
