Saithan
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Six folders of documents, which include testimonies from witnesses and forensic medicine reports annexed to Turkey's interim report concerning the naval raid on a Gaza aid flotilla, reveal that some of the nine victims were killed by Israeli forces even before the military boarded one of the flotilla's six vessels, named the Mavi Marmara and owned by a Turkish charity. The testimonies also show that the 600 passengers were subjected to ill-treatment when they arrived in an Israeli port following a 10-hour-long ordeal onboard the ships.
Israel cannot provoke a volatile situation, where it is foreseeable that resistance is likely to occur and later rely on it as a legal justification to kill and injure civilians. The conduct of the Israeli soldiers was excessive, brutal and premeditated, not aimed at de-escalating the heightened atmosphere of fear, panic and resistance. Based on their training and experience, the Israeli soldiers should have abided by different and higher standards of conduct than those they applied to the civilians onboard the Mavi Marmara. The Israeli forces cannot impute their own unlawful conduct upon the passengers who were justifiably and genuinely fearful and panicked at the attack, read Turkey's interim report, already submitted to the United Nations and obtained by Today's Zaman.
Israeli commandos killed a Turkish-American teenager and eight Turks on May 31 on the Mavi Marmara. Israel has said the soldiers acted in self-defense after being attacked as they boarded the Mavi Marmara in international waters off the eastern Mediterranean coast. Turkey, on the other hand, has demanded an apology from Israel and compensation for the families of the victims.
The UN announced its probe into the deadly raid in August. The investigation was led by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and included an Israeli and a Turkish representative on the panel. Turkey presented its own report on the flotilla raid to the UN in September, while Israel delayed submitting its interim report a few times. Eight months after the raid and five months after the UN probe was launched, the first part of the interim report prepared by a committee led by retired Israeli Supreme Court judge Jacob Turkel was released on Sunday and submitted to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
People pay tribute to the Mavi Marmara victims, walking among the belongings of the ships passengers when the boat was brought to İstanbul following the lethal Israeli raid.
According to eyewitness accounts, the first two killings of passengers took place on the upper deck by shots fired from helicopters before the first soldier had descended. There was melee and confusion on deck followed intensified live fire by the Israelis against the passengers. From this point, the facts show that the Israeli soldiers go on a shooting spree indiscriminate and targeted at the same time. Visuals shows how laser beams used on precision rifles were employed. Medical reports prove that some of the passengers who were killed were shot either from close range or from above. There is no evidence to show that these people who were killed posed a threat justifying an act of murder. For example, Cevdet Kılıçlar was taking a photo when he was shot point-blank in the forehead. Furthermore, there is no evidence that any of the victims killed had any weapons on them, the Turkish report elaborates.
After 10 hours of sailing under these deplorable and inhumane conditions, the agony of 600 passengers continued in Israel in the Port of Ashdod. Most of the passengers were kept handcuffed, stripped and searched; women were subjected to sexually humiliating treatment by male Israeli officials. There is no legal or moral justification to strip a female journalist multiple times and place a detector between her legs. This is completely unacceptable, the report adds.
Witnesses report countless incidents of mistreatment. All passengers were forced to sign documents in Hebrew that apparently contained incriminatory statements. They were not allowed access to legal assistance to consular officials; they were not provided with proper and timely medical care, adequate food; they were placed in a restricted space at extreme temperatures; one woman was put in a small metal box, it also explains.
The report also says the Israelis also deliberately destroyed, tampered with or spoiled potential evidence important for shedding light [on the May 31 incident]. The bodies of the killed were completely washed, the gunshot residues were removed and there were no accompanying medical and autopsy reports with the repatriated bodies. The Mavi Marmara itself, when returned after being held for 66 days in Ashdod, had been scrubbed down thoroughly, blood stains completely washed off, bullet holes painted over; ship records, the captains log, computer hardware, ship documents seized, CCTV cameras smashed, all photographic footage seized and presumably destroyed or withheld, the report added.
The rapporteurs made clear that the use of lethal force by the Israeli military forces against the passengers on the Mavi Marmara was not justified by any legitimate need to enforce the naval blockade. The Israeli forces had a number of options that they could have used to stop the vessel -- shooting across its bow, using high-powered water cannons, maneuvering in front of the vessel to stop it, and disabling its rudder or sternpost -- and it had sufficient time to reassess its strategy and develop other options. Israel only pursued aggression, intimidation and provocation, and not peaceful means. Its failure to utilize these other options makes its use of lethal force excessive and disproportionate and a violation of international law, the report reads.
Calling the Mavi Marmara case a critical litmus test for the international community in upholding the rule of law, Turkeys report warned that no state should be allowed to act above the law. Impunity must give way to accountability. Israel must acknowledge its responsibility and express a public apology and provide compensation for all damages and losses resulting from its unlawful attack accordingly, it concludes.
Israel cannot provoke a volatile situation, where it is foreseeable that resistance is likely to occur and later rely on it as a legal justification to kill and injure civilians. The conduct of the Israeli soldiers was excessive, brutal and premeditated, not aimed at de-escalating the heightened atmosphere of fear, panic and resistance. Based on their training and experience, the Israeli soldiers should have abided by different and higher standards of conduct than those they applied to the civilians onboard the Mavi Marmara. The Israeli forces cannot impute their own unlawful conduct upon the passengers who were justifiably and genuinely fearful and panicked at the attack, read Turkey's interim report, already submitted to the United Nations and obtained by Today's Zaman.
Israeli commandos killed a Turkish-American teenager and eight Turks on May 31 on the Mavi Marmara. Israel has said the soldiers acted in self-defense after being attacked as they boarded the Mavi Marmara in international waters off the eastern Mediterranean coast. Turkey, on the other hand, has demanded an apology from Israel and compensation for the families of the victims.
The UN announced its probe into the deadly raid in August. The investigation was led by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and included an Israeli and a Turkish representative on the panel. Turkey presented its own report on the flotilla raid to the UN in September, while Israel delayed submitting its interim report a few times. Eight months after the raid and five months after the UN probe was launched, the first part of the interim report prepared by a committee led by retired Israeli Supreme Court judge Jacob Turkel was released on Sunday and submitted to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
People pay tribute to the Mavi Marmara victims, walking among the belongings of the ships passengers when the boat was brought to İstanbul following the lethal Israeli raid.
According to eyewitness accounts, the first two killings of passengers took place on the upper deck by shots fired from helicopters before the first soldier had descended. There was melee and confusion on deck followed intensified live fire by the Israelis against the passengers. From this point, the facts show that the Israeli soldiers go on a shooting spree indiscriminate and targeted at the same time. Visuals shows how laser beams used on precision rifles were employed. Medical reports prove that some of the passengers who were killed were shot either from close range or from above. There is no evidence to show that these people who were killed posed a threat justifying an act of murder. For example, Cevdet Kılıçlar was taking a photo when he was shot point-blank in the forehead. Furthermore, there is no evidence that any of the victims killed had any weapons on them, the Turkish report elaborates.
After 10 hours of sailing under these deplorable and inhumane conditions, the agony of 600 passengers continued in Israel in the Port of Ashdod. Most of the passengers were kept handcuffed, stripped and searched; women were subjected to sexually humiliating treatment by male Israeli officials. There is no legal or moral justification to strip a female journalist multiple times and place a detector between her legs. This is completely unacceptable, the report adds.
Witnesses report countless incidents of mistreatment. All passengers were forced to sign documents in Hebrew that apparently contained incriminatory statements. They were not allowed access to legal assistance to consular officials; they were not provided with proper and timely medical care, adequate food; they were placed in a restricted space at extreme temperatures; one woman was put in a small metal box, it also explains.
The report also says the Israelis also deliberately destroyed, tampered with or spoiled potential evidence important for shedding light [on the May 31 incident]. The bodies of the killed were completely washed, the gunshot residues were removed and there were no accompanying medical and autopsy reports with the repatriated bodies. The Mavi Marmara itself, when returned after being held for 66 days in Ashdod, had been scrubbed down thoroughly, blood stains completely washed off, bullet holes painted over; ship records, the captains log, computer hardware, ship documents seized, CCTV cameras smashed, all photographic footage seized and presumably destroyed or withheld, the report added.
The rapporteurs made clear that the use of lethal force by the Israeli military forces against the passengers on the Mavi Marmara was not justified by any legitimate need to enforce the naval blockade. The Israeli forces had a number of options that they could have used to stop the vessel -- shooting across its bow, using high-powered water cannons, maneuvering in front of the vessel to stop it, and disabling its rudder or sternpost -- and it had sufficient time to reassess its strategy and develop other options. Israel only pursued aggression, intimidation and provocation, and not peaceful means. Its failure to utilize these other options makes its use of lethal force excessive and disproportionate and a violation of international law, the report reads.
Calling the Mavi Marmara case a critical litmus test for the international community in upholding the rule of law, Turkeys report warned that no state should be allowed to act above the law. Impunity must give way to accountability. Israel must acknowledge its responsibility and express a public apology and provide compensation for all damages and losses resulting from its unlawful attack accordingly, it concludes.