After insisting that Israel has nothing to hide from the UN secretary-general's panel of inquiry into its 31 May bloody attack on a Turkish ship carrying pro-Palestinian peace activists, Israel is now trying to arm-twist the international body in the hope of eviscerating the investigation of substance, reports Khaled Amayreh The four-member panel is due to meet for the first time in New York on Tuesday. UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-Moon hailed the formation of the panel calling it, "an unprecedented step". "I am grateful for the spirit of constructive engagement that has made this unprecedented panel possible. I am confident that this initiative will contribute to regional stability." Earlier, as UN officials vowed to conduct a "credible and honest" probe into Israel's murderous assault on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, Israeli officials vowed to prevent the UN body from questioning Israeli soldiers or officers involved in the bloody operation which took place in international waters. However, in a sign denoting confusion or malfeasance on Israel's part, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu pointed out that, "It is in Israel's national interest to ensure that the factual truth about the entire flotilla incident will be brought to light." Netanyahu later warned that Israel would quit the probe altogether if it insisted on questioning members of the Israeli armed forces. Israel views such a prospect as violating a jealously guarded taboo whereby Israeli soldiers implicated in war crimes must never be subjected to interrogation by foreign bodies under any circumstances. The Israeli media has quoted Netanyahu as making it "absolutely clear that Israel will not cooperate with and will not take part in any panel that seeks to interrogate soldiers." Israeli sources said Israel's agreement to join the probe represented a certain change in policy. However, the same sources admitted that the world outcry against the 31 May raid, which left nine Turkish activists dead, and the spotlight it turned on Israel's harsh four-year blockade on the Gaza Strip, left Israel no choice but to cooperate. More to the point, Israeli officials hinted that Israel gained the impression that the UN probe would content itself with relying on the outcome of Israel's own military inquiry, without having to hear testimonies from soldiers. Meanwhile, Netanyahu told the Israeli investigative commission looking into the maritime assault that details regarding the "incident" were left for Defence Minister Ehud Barak to decide. Netanyahu's remarks were interpreted by the Israeli media as a cynical attempt to evade responsibility. The blame casting eventually prompted Barak to declare before the commission that, "I take full responsibility," saying the government had seen the potential for bloodshed when it decided to carry out the operation. "I carry overall responsibility for everything that took place in the systems under my command. I carry responsibility for the orders given on the political level," he told the panel headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Yaakov Turkel. Nonetheless, Barak refused to admit guilt, arguing that, "the decision-making process at the political level was not the reason for the reality that emerged at the end of the operation," insisting that intercepting the ship was a reasoned decision made by a group of senior cabinet ministers. In addition to Israel, which is represented by Joseph Ciechanover, the UN probe panel includes Ozdem Sanberk, representing Turkey. The panel will be chaired by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and co-chaired by former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. Although representing a certain departure from past UN behaviour of surrendering to Israel, due to mostly massive US pressure, the present panel is not being well received by the human rights community. In a letter to Secretary-General Ban, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) expressed "serious concerns" regarding the panel's composition. "As of now, the panel's mandate has not been clearly defined and seems to be limited to simply assessing national investigation reports. This would clearly be not sufficient to bring to light the circumstances of this tragedy and bring those responsible to account, in an independent and impartial manner." Objecting to the inclusion of the former Colombian president on the panel, FIDH pointed out that "thousands of extrajudicial and summary executions, massacres, enforced disappearances, internally displaced persons and other grave international crimes have been documented by the United Nations itself in Colombia under Uribe's presidency." Further, it has been suggested that Uribe had extensive relations with the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, especially in pursuing political opponents abroad. The FIDH letter also pointed out that Uribe "has publicly sought to enforce Colombia's military relations with Israel and promoted security cooperation with Israel during his mandate." Uribe's perceived bias in Israel's favour enforces the impression that his inclusion on the UN panel of inquiry may have been instrumental in getting Israel to accept the UN probe.
