Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas yesterday accused Israel of “state terrorism” over Monday’s deadly commando raid on activist aid boats bound for the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Abbas’ comments came as Israel came under renewed pressure at an urgent session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, as countries lined up to condemn its interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla and urge an impartial probe.
“This is a direct challenge to the will of the international community and the UN charter,” an Iraqi envoy told the council on the second day of the special session called to debate Israel’s raid. “We call for an investigation under the auspices of the UN.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
A Libyan diplomat warned that “silence vis-a-vis these crimes can be interpreted as consensus,” as he urged the 47 member state council to condemn Israel “for this crime.”
Countries ranging from Laos to Peru to Iceland all spoke out against Israel’s pre-dawn commando raid that left nine passengers dead and dozens of others injured.
The EU condemned the raid on Tuesday, while the US said it was “deeply disturbed.”
Pakistan, Sudan and the Palestinian delegation have tabled a draft resolution for the debate seeking condemnation of the raid and aiming to set up an international inquiry. A final version was expected to be submitted for adoption later yesterday.
Meanwhile, Israel stepped up the pace of expulsion of detained activists from the Gaza-bound flotilla yesterday. By mid-morning, some 130 Turkish nationals were already at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, with another 74 en route, immigration police spokeswoman Sabine Hadad said.
Turkey said it was sending three planes to bring home around 350 activists detained after the raid, while the Turkish Red Crescent said it would fly home another 17 passengers who were wounded.
Another 126 activists crossed into Jordan, the kingdom’s state-run Petra news agency said, which included 30 Jordanians as well as nationals from 12 other countries.
There was very little official information about the condition of the injured passengers being treated in Israeli hospitals, with Physicians for Human Rights putting the number at 52 and saying they had not been given access to any of them.
Several of the activists deported to Jordan yesterday said they were deprived of food, water, sleep and access to toilets in Israeli detention.
“The Israelis roughed up and humiliated all of us — women, men and children,” said Kuwaiti lawmaker Walid al-Tabtabai, who was on board one of the ships with other activists from Muslim countries. “They were brutal and arrogant, but our message reached every corner of the world that the blockade on Gaza is unfair and should be lifted immediately.”
There “was not a single weapon with the passengers aboard all the ships,” he said.
Video released by the Israeli military, however, showed commandos attacked by angry activists with metal rods and firebombs during the raid. One soldier was thrown off one deck onto another below, and Israel said its troops were attacked by knives, clubs and live fire from the two pistols wrested from soldiers.
The decision to speed up the deportation of the 682 activists was taken by Israel’s security Cabinet, which voted to have them all out within 48 hours. The Cabinet was scheduled to to reconvene yesterday for more discussion on the flotilla issue.
In other news, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Israel yesterday that it risks losing its only friend in the region.
“Israel is faced with the danger of losing its sole friend in the region and the greatest contributor so far to regional peace,” he said in a telephone conversation with US President Barack Obama, a statement of which was released by his office.
“The steps that it [Israel] will undertake in the coming days will be determining for its position in the region,” he said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Dayutogu, however, said Ankara was ready to normalize ties with Israel if it lifts a blockade on Gaza.
“It was time calm replaces anger” in the wake of the raid on the Turkish-backed flotilla, he said.
He also told a news conference that the future of Turkish-Israeli ties depended on Israel’s attitude.
Israel yesterday ordered families of its diplomats out of Turkey. Israeli media said the diplomatic mission itself would remain.
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