JERUSALEM: Israel said on Sunday it
would set up its own investigation into a deadly raid on a convoy of Gaza-bound
aid ships, and that its panel would include two foreign
observers.
The internal inquiry into the March 31 raid, which falls
short of a UN proposal for an international investigation, was decided on after
consultations with the United States.
The White House welcomed the
move as an important step and said Israel was capable of conducting a fair
investigation.
"But we will not prejudge the process or its outcome,
and will await the conduct and findings of the investigation before drawing
further conclusions," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a
statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in
a statement the government would give its final approval on Monday to forming an
"independent public commission" into whether or not Israel had conformed to
international law in imposing a naval blockade on the Hamas-ruled Gaza
Strip.
Israel said its commandos killed nine pro-Palestinian Turkish
activists when they boarded a Turkish-flagged aid vessel and were attacked by
passengers wielding metal rods and knives. The committee will examine the
flotilla members, as well.
Amid an international outcry over the
bloodshed, Israel has faced mounting pressure to investigate the events
surrounding the flotilla raid and to ease or lift its blockade.
Hamas
Islamists, who refuse to recognise Israel and renounce violence, seized control
of the Gaza Strip in 2007.
and what will the point be?
this is a case of stupidity on both sides... when told there is a rabid dog in the compound, the idiots chose to walk into the compound and got bitten...
whose fault?
strangely, the israelis told them to unload the stuff in another port, but the idiots went ahead and ran the blockade anyway...
whose fault?
the Jews investigating themselves ????
LOL........
it's like getting a fox to guard the chickens !!!