Flotilla survivors to move court despite apology

Flotilla survivors to move court despite apology

ISTANBUL Israel’s apology to Turkey over the 2010 killing of nine Turks aboard a Gaza-bound aid ship did not go far enough and Israeli soldiers will be pursued in court, survivors of the incident said on Monday.

In a rapprochement brokered by US President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologised to his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan on March 22 for the killings, pledged compensation to the bereaved or hurt and agreed to ease a six-year blockade on Gaza. Erdogan said these gestures met his conditions for normalising relations with its erstwhile ally.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said while visiting Istanbul on Sunday that restoring full ties between Turkey and Israel was vital to regional stability.

With the apology, Israel aimed to end a three-year diplomatic crisis with Turkey, once its closest regional ally, that erupted when Israeli soldiers stormed an international flotilla carrying relief aid to challenge the Gaza blockade.

As part of the agreement on compensation, Israel wants lawsuits against its soldiers to be dropped.

“We will continue with the criminal lawsuits we have opened against the Israeli soldiers and commanders, and we won’t accept dropping this suit if compensation is paid,” said Musa Cogas, who was wounded by Israeli gunfire on board the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara, part of a flotilla carrying aid to Palestinians.

An Istanbul court is hearing charges that have been filed against four of Israel’s most senior retired commanders, including the ex-army chief, in absentia and could carry life sentences. Israel has called this a politically motivated “show trial”. Ahmet Varol, a journalist who was on the Mavi Marmara, said one “formula for a resolution” would be for Israel to provide a timetable for ending the blockade of Gaza, ruled by the Hamas movement, and make Turkey a monitor of that process.

“Our efforts are for the full lifting of the blockade. Nobody wants compensation, and while an apology may have diplomatic meaning, it means nothing to the victims,” he said.

The apology nonetheless showed Israel had accepted its wrongdoing in the incident, Varol added.

Separately, hundreds of Palestinians rallied outside a UN office in Gaza City on Monday, protesting against its decision to suspend aid to refugees in the besieged enclave, witnesses said.

Protesters held banners that read “We want bread, we don’t want games,” and chanted “O Muslims and Arabs, see the downtrodden,” according to witnesses.

Separately, Israel’s army closed a goods crossing into the Gaza Strip on Monday a day after a rocket was fired from the besieged enclave, a spokeswoman said, says a report from Occupied Jerusalem. The rocket crashed into southern Israel on Sunday. “The Kerem Shalom crossing is closed until further notice, except for humanitarian purposes, after the firing of the rocket,” the army spokeswoman said.

Separately, Israeli authorities barred two Moroccan MPs accompanying EU parliamentarians from crossing into the West Bank to meet Palestinian officials, one of the lawmakers said, says a report from Amman.

“The Israel authorities prevented me and my colleague Ali Salem Chekkaf from crossing into the West Bank without giving us any reason,” Mehdi Bensaid said. “I do not understand this Israeli action, which was an insult to the Moroccan parliament and people. I denounce it.”

Agencies

via Oman Tribune – the edge of knowledge.