Israel’s surprise decision to back a UN probe into its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla was taken as a bid to patch up its ties with Turkey, a senior official said yesterday.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday announced the creation of a four-member panel, which will include Israeli and Turkish participants, to probe the May 31 raid which left nine Turkish activists dead, and in a surprising change, Israel gave its blessing to the inquiry.
“We have nothing to be afraid of — the facts are on our side,” a senior government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We also hope that this panel will help us to improve our relations with Turkey ... that it will be a turning point in our relations with Turkey,” he said.
However, with the mandate described, it remained an open question whether the panel would conduct its own investigation or simply review what is produced by the opposing sides.
Martin Nesirky, the spokesman for the secretary-general, said the four-member panel was not a criminal inquiry examining the deaths of nine people.
Rather, the initial focus of the panel will be “looking into existing national inquiries that are under way already, then, if necessary, to ask for further clarification,” he said, referring to the separate investigations by Israel and Turkey.
Over the past two months, Israel has consistently rejected diplomatic pressure for an independent probe into the raid, with the Jewish state setting up two internal panels to look into various aspects of the chaotic pre-dawn raid in international waters.
However, on Monday, the government of Israel made a strategic about-turn and agreed, for the first time ever, to cooperate with a UN inquiry into an Israeli military operation.
“Israel has nothing to hide,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. “The opposite is true. It is in the national interest of the state of Israel to ensure that the factual truth of the overall flotilla events comes to light.”
Media reports suggested Israel had come under heavy pressure from the US to comply with the UN probe.
However, the Israeli official denied reports that Israel had caved in to pressure.
Ankara denounced the May 31 raid as a violation of international law, immediately recalled its ambassador and canceled three planned joint military exercises with the Jewish state.
Turkey says Israel must apologize over the raid, pay compensation for the victims and lift the blockade of Gaza for the recovery of bilateral ties.
Turkish diplomats withheld judgment as to just how effective the panel might prove. “We have to see how the commission would function or whether Israel would cooperate in providing the facts vital to the investigation,” a Turkish diplomat said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
The panel will be led by a former New Zealand prime minister, Geoffrey Palmer, with the departing president of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, as his deputy. Israel and Turkey are expected to nominate one member each within the coming days.
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