NAZARETH // Israel quickly reined back expectations yesterday
over its agreement to co-operate with a UN investigation into the Israeli army’s
lethal raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla two months ago.
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, had hailed Israel’s
backing of the investigation on Monday, after weeks of intense international
pressure, as an “unprecedented development”.
It is the first time Tel Aviv has agreed to take part in a UN
inquiry involving the country’s military. Last year Israel snubbed a UN
investigation led by a respected international jurist, Richard Goldstone, that
was highly critical of Israel’s attack on Gaza in 2008.
As the panel was announced on Monday, Mr Netanyahu declared:
“Israel has nothing to hide. 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 throughout the world.”
But faced with stinging rebukes yesterday from Tzipi Livni, the
leader of the opposition party Kadima, for agreeing to the inquiry, government
officials began to play down the significance of Israel’s concessions to the
international community.
Unnamed officials told Ynet, one of Israel’s most popular news
websites, that the UN panel’s powers would be limited to reviewing documents
available to Israel’s three internal inquiries and a Turkish inquiry, and no
military or civilian personnel would be investigated or issued with subpoenas.
If any officials are to be questioned directly, the sources
added, they would be senior members of the political leadership – perhaps Mr
Netanyahu and his defence minister, Ehud Barak.
That position was confirmed by a terse public statement yesterday
defending the government against charges from Ms Livni that the Israel Defence
Forces (IDF) were being exposed to a damaging UN investigation.
“If they had bothered to check,” a statement from the prime
minister’s office read, “they would have found that IDF soldiers and officers
will not be investigated by the UN or any other body.”
The details of the review panel’s mandate are to be determined in
the next few days and the committee begins work next week. It is expected to
present a progress report in the middle of next month followed by the final
report in 2011.
Israel and the US appeared to hope that the UN review panel would
sideline, or possibly lead to the cancellation of, a parallel inquiry into the
flotilla raid already set up by the UN’s Human Rights Council. The council
established the Goldstone Commission and is seen as hostile by Israel.
Last week, Mr Netanyahu told his cabinet that he was still
deliberating “how much technical material to provide them with, if at all”. Tel
Aviv is reported to fear that an inquiry led by the Human Rights Council may end
up becoming a “Goldstone Two”.
Susan Rice, the US envoy to the UN, said Israel’s participation
with the review panel would eliminate “the need for any overlapping
international inquiries”.
Other comments from Ms Rice suggested that the material to be
reviewed by the UN would consist of documents made available by the Israeli and
Turkish inquiries but not any investigations conducted by the Human Rights
Council.
Mr Netanyahu’s office said contacts with the UN over the past few
weeks had ensured that the panel would have “a balanced and fairly written
mandate”.
Israeli officials were also reported to be making their
co-operation conditional on a promise that there would be no subsequent attempts
to refer Israel to the International Criminal Court in the Hague for the
flotilla raid.
Yesterday, Israeli government ministers defended their decision
by stressing the importance of mending the country’s relations with Turkey after
weeks of diplomatic crisis between the two.
Mr Netanyahu and Mr Barak said they had “no choice” but to agree
to the inquiry. The US was reported to have pushed hard for its two main allies
in the Middle East to repair the damage.
Dan Meridor, a deputy prime minister, told Army Radio Israel that
co-operation was “primarily meant, to my knowledge, for Turkey and Israel to
find a way to bring relations back to a better place”.
Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister,
told the Anatolia news agency that the establishment of the UN panel showed
“every country can be held accountable under international law”.
But Turkish officials also hinted at continuing concerns about
how actively Israel would co-operate. A senior Turkish diplomat, speaking on
condition of anonymity, said: “We hope that Israel will be forthcoming with
providing access to the panel in gathering information.”
Tensions between Israel and Turkey continued to simmer yesterday.
Gaby Levy, Israel’s ambassador in Ankara, was summoned for what was described as
a “dressing down” over remarks made by Mr Barak about Hakan Fidan, Turkey’s new
intelligence chief.
Last week Mr Barak called Mr Fidan a “friend of Iran” who might
leak shared secrets to Tehran.
The UN’s four-person review panel will be headed by Geoffrey
Palmer, a former prime minister of New Zealand, with Alvaro Uribe, the outgoing
Colombian president, as his deputy. Israel and Turkey will each appoint a
representative.
Of Israel’s three inquiries, only the military one has issued a
report. The Eiland committee found “errors of judgment” in the planning of the
commando raid but held no one accountable. It also blamed the flotilla
organisers for instigating the violence.
The Turkel committee is due to begin investigations into the
legal ramifications of carrying out a raid in international waters. The third
inquiry, whose scope is still unclear, will be conducted by Micha Lindenstrauss,
the state comptroller.
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