Two Arab activists to testify before flotilla probe panel

Author: 
AGENCIES
Publication Date: 
Sun, 2010-10-24 21:22

They will be the first and perhaps only activists who were aboard the ship to testify before the so-called Tirkel Commission, established to probe the legality of the raid in which nine Turkish activists were shot dead.
The two men, Mohammed Zedan and Sheikh Hamad Abu Daabis, who were on the deck of the lead ferry Mavi Marmara when it was seized in international waters with five other ships, had initially refused to testify.
“The Tirkel Commission invited me at the start of the testimony but I refused and I sent a letter clarifying my refusal,” Zedan said.
“I clarified that I do not want to cooperate with this committee because it was appointed by the government, which is a party (to the dispute)... I view it as empty of meaning and its recommendations as unacceptable.” Both he and Abu Daabis changed their minds after being warned by Israeli authorities that they were required by law to attend, they said.
The four-man Israeli commission headed by former Supreme Court judge Yaacov Tirkel and joined by two foreign observers has heard testimony from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak but has not been allowed to question any of the troops involved in the raid.
Israel has said the commandos fired 308 live bullets only after they were attacked by scores of knife and club-wielding activists, while the activists accused the troops of opening fire from the moment they landed on deck.
In a sometimes testy second round of testimony before a state-appointed inquest, Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi insisted the navy's killing of nine pro-Palestinian Turks on the converted cruise ship Mavi Marmara had been unavoidable.
Marine commandos were equipped with riot-dispersal gear but quickly switched to live fire to confront armed passengers because "if they had not done this, there would have been more casualties," Ashkenazi told the six-member Turkel Commission. Ankara, which wants compensation and an apology from Israel, has dismissed the Turkel panel as too lacking in scope.
The deadly raid sparked international outrage and strained once-close ties between Israel and Turkey, which has demanded an apology and an international investigation into the incident.
The UN secretary general is carrying out a separate investigation into the raid, and the UN Human Rights Council earlier released a report accusing Israel of violating international humanitarian and human rights law.

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