On August 2, 2010, Israel yielded to calls from the US and the International community to participate in an independent investigation of the May 31 attack on the Mavi Marmara in which in which Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists on a ship attempting to deliver supplies to Gaza.  Israel claimed the right to board it on the high seas, given their official blockade of Gaza; others consider it a flagrant abuse of international law and murder. 

The Israeli military completed an internal investigation in which it found no culpability, and says a civilian investigation is in the works.

By August 11, the investigation seems to have changed direction according to Ban Ki-moon  (from Al-jazeera English):   

"The UN has begun its inquiry into Israel's deadly attack on the Gaza aid flotilla with a first session on Tuesday to determine the scope of its task.

A statement on the inaugural meeting between the four-member team and Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said the inquiry was "not designed to determine individual criminal responsibility".

Instead it would "examine and identify the facts, circumstances and the context of the incident", it added.

Led by Geoffrey Palmer, the former New Zealand prime minister, the panel which includes Israeli and Turkish representatives met to decide how to go about its task after the meeting with Ban. 

 

 

 

Other members include (Activist Col. Ann Wright's take; she was on a flotilla ship):

"Vice Chairman is the former President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, who has a terrible human rights record in his own country and with whom the US and Israeli governments have had strong military ties. In 2007, Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos admitted that Israeli advisers were working with local defense officials under a contract signed in April 2007 for $10 million.

The Turkish government appointed Ozdem Sanberk, a diplomat who held senior positions in the Turkish Foreign Ministry and the United Nations.

Israel appointed Israeli government insider and Netanyahu and Lieberman friend Joseph Ciechanover, former head of Israel's Defense Mission to the United States and Canada and a recipient of the Pentagon's Medal for Distinguished Service. He also was general counsel to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Agriculture. He is now the president of Challenge Funds, chairman of the board of Israel Discount Bank and is a member of the Bank of Israel Advisory Committee."

 According to Al Jazeera and other sources, on Monday Ban said:

"The UN said the panel's tasks will be to study the results of both Israeli and Turkish investigations of the flotilla raid, and to recommend ways to avoid similar confrontations in the future.

He denied the world body had struck a secret deal with Israel not to call Israeli soldiers to testify, saying there was "no such agreement behind the scenes".

Al Jazeera's Kristen Saloomey reporting from the UN said the credibility of the UN inquiry was already being questioned even before the panel's first meeting.

"Ban said that the panel itself will decide exactly how to proceed, how to go forward in cooperation with authorities from Israel and Turkey, and will focus on how to avoid such incidents in the future," said our correspondent.

In response to Ban's denial of a secret deal, Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman, said: "Israel will not cooperate with, and will not participate in, a panel that demands to investigate Israeli soldiers."

Regev did not say whether there had been a deal on the issue.

The UN said the panel's tasks will be to study the results of both Israeli and Turkish investigations of the flotilla raid, and to recommend ways to avoid similar confrontations in the future.

 Long-time Career Diplomat and human rights activist Ann Wright objects strongly:; writing at Truthout she says:

"We Demand an Independent Investigation

I strongly fear that no one on the panel will represent international citizens who formed the flotilla.

There were 750 citizen activists from 35 countries on board the six-ship flotilla. Nine activists, eight Turkish and one American, were murdered, with 35 bullets found in the nine bodies. Five had been shot in the head, and the 19-year-old American citizen Furkan Dogan had been shot five times. Fifty more Turkish citizens were wounded by Israeli commandos.

We demand a truly independent investigation from the United Nations, not a review panel for reports done by either the Israeli government or by the Turkish government. While eight of those murdered (one was a American citizen) and all 50 that were wounded by the commandos were Turkish citizens, and while I appreciate Turkish government assistance, in getting many international flotilla participants out of Israel, I do not want our citizens' movement coopted by governments and their agendas.

UN Must Demand That Israel Return Evidence in Passengers' Cameras, Cellphones and Computers 

So, I call for the United Nations to have a truly independent investigation of the Israeli commando attack on the six-ship flotilla to include looking at the evidence held on the cameras, cellphones and computers of the passengers on the ships.

But all of the evidence we, as passengers on the six ships, had is in the hands of the Israeli government. All cameras, cellphones and computers on board the six ships, including camera equipment from 70 international journalists, TV crews and documentarians, were taken by the commandos and are still in the possession of the Israeli government.

 (Letters to Secretary of State Clinton have apparently gone unanswered.)

UN Must Appoint Better Panelists

We call on the United Nations to appoint truly neutral, independent members of the UN Panel to have a professional investigation, not a review, of the Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla.......................................................................................................

 As you may imagine, there are many geo-political reasons, both internally and internationally and materially, for this all to be neatly swept under the rug; several of the articles speculate about them.

Israel may not have been as sanguine about international condemnation as it seemed; undoubtedly we won't know what carrots and sticks led to an agreement to an 'independent' investigation; but if these results were part of the process that led to the decision, it's a shame. 

What will be left is the yearning for justice (if there can be any) by the families of the flotilla participants, the dead activist/blockade runners, and those of us who wish fervently that the truth could be discovered, and culpability could be assigned and perhaps punished, in hopes that it wouldn't happen again.

 **This from the Christian Science Monitor talks about Israeli and Turkish relations, and some of the issues at play here, including the wider probe Israel has desired into the background of flotilla particpants and funding.

Here is a video and transcript of Ann Wright on Democracy Now! on June 3.  Ann Wright begins at 40:00.