<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[The Truth about Mavi&nbsp;Marmara]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><span style="font-size:16px;line-height:15pt;font-family:Georgia;"><strong>Friday, 28 January 2011</strong></p>
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<p><span style="font-size:16px;line-height:15pt;font-family:Georgia;">In  recent months, I have been preoccupied with efforts to resolve a very  thorny international dispute, the killing of nine Turkish nationals (one  o them also an American citizen) on their way to bring aid to children  of Gaza. Following the Israeli attack to the Gaza Humanitarian Convoy,  the UN Security Council adopted a Presidential Statement, calling for a  “prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation, conforming  to international standards.”</p>
<p>To this end the UN Secretary –  General established the UN Panel of Inquiry with the participation of  Israel and Turkey. The Panel is chaired by former Prime Minister of New  Zealand, Sir Geoffrey Palmer and the Vice-Chair is the former President  of Colombia, Mr. Alvaro Uribe.</p>
<p>The Panel was required to receive  both interim and final reports from Turkey and Israel about the outcome  of their national investigations in order to examine and identify the  facts, circumstances and context of the incident.</p>
<p>In accordance  with this requirement, Turkey submitted its interim report to the Panel  on 1 September. The Israeli side insisted on confidentiality and we  honored this principle, did not want to humiliate Israel right away with  multiple eye-witness accounts of brutality and needless violence.</p>
<p>However,  the Israelis delayed their report and officially submitted it to the  Panel only on 22 January but when doing so they made it public through  an aggressive PR campaign.</p>
<p>It asserts that  Israel was entirely  within its rights, under international law, when it sent Israeli  warships in the dead of night to attack unarmed civilian vessels laden  with crayons and medicine, 72 nautical miles out at sea.</p>
<p>Needless  to say, also Turkish National report which is solely based on the  forensic evidence and the first hand witness accounts also gives an  entirely different picture from the Israeli one.</p>
<p>For there are  deep flaws in the Israeli report. The first error is the claim that the  Gaza blockade is legal. This claim is supported in the world by no  country but Israel. The reason is simple: The Gaza blockade inflicts  disproportionate damage on the civilian population   and is a form of  collective punishment. It is enforced in and arbitrary, selective  manner, with no clear principles or a specific time frame, and effective  Israeli control of Gaza continues. The UN Security Council in its  Resolution 1860, makes it clear that the “blockade on Gaza” is neither  acceptable nor legal.</p>
<p>If the blockade is illegal, then all  ensuing claims and arguments are meaningless. Peace time sea law and the  principle of freedom of the high seas must apply.<br />
Israel claims  that it is in an international armed conflict with Hamas. This is  surprising. Then Israel must treat all Gazan prisoners not as terrorists  but as prisoners of war entitled to the protection of the Geneva  Conventions.</p>
<p>The Israeli report more or less ignores the loss of  nine lives&#8211;the main reason why the investigation is happening.  However, we know how the nine died. Nine bodies received more than 30  bullets, mostly in the head. Autopsy reports show that several of them  were executed.</p>
<p>The Israeli side cannot validly invoke  self-defense. The humanitarian aid convoy sailing to Gaza did not attack  the Israeli warships; Law clearly states that if an individual or a  party provokes an attack in order to use force and then claims  self-defense, the claim will be dismissed.</p>
<p>In any case  international law stipulates that self-defense must only be exercised in  a way proportionate to the degree of danger to the person.</p>
<p>The  weakest link of all is the evidence. Israel’s report relies on anonymous  statements from soldiers who were not even cross-examined.</p>
<p>The  Israeli navy committed an illegal act when it attacked the convoy. The  manner of the attack and the number of the people killed and wounded  exacerbate this illegality which continued until the last flotilla  passengers left Israel.</p>
<p>International law is clear. Israel  should apologize and pay compensation. This is still our expectation. We  hope that Israel will display vision and do so.</p>
<p>An opportunity  for peace in the Middle East is slipping away. Reviving Turkish-Israeli  relations will be even harder. The problem behind the Mavi Marmara  confrontation, the appalling suffering of the people of Gaza continues  unabated. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:12px;font-weight:bold;font-family:Georgia;">Friday, 28 January 2011</span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.turkishweekly.net/columnist/3416/the-truth-about-mavi-marmara.html">The Truth about Mavi Marmara</a>.</p>
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