Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now welcomes the Israeli
government's decision to form an independent commission to investigate
the circumstances surrounding the Israeli military raid on the flotilla
headed for Gaza on May 31.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 14, 2010
CONTACT: Ori Nir - (202) 408-9898; onir@peacenow.org
For Israel's own sake, this inquiry must be transparent, impartial and prompt, and the resulting report must be credible. Such a report should demonstrate the robustness of Israel's democracy and the seriousness with which it takes its responsibility in this matter. Israel must realize that appointing the panel of inquiry is not an end in itself. The inquiry panel and the government of Israel will be judged - both in the eyes of Israelis and in the eyes of the world - by the seriousness of the panel's mandate, by its deliberations, by its report and by the implementation and follow-up measures taken subsequent to the panel's recommendations.
Regardless of whether Israel's military or civilian inquiry panels address the efficacy of Israel's siege of the Gaza Strip, APN again urges the Israeli government to reassess the land and sea blockade, and find ways - together with its regional partners and international allies - to relieve the humanitarian distress in Gaza, while devising an effective regime to prevent the importation into Gaza of items that threaten Israel's security.
APN is America's leading Jewish organization advocating for Israeli-Palestinian peace.
CONTACT: Ori Nir - (202) 408-9898; onir@peacenow.org
For Israel's own sake, this inquiry must be transparent, impartial and prompt, and the resulting report must be credible. Such a report should demonstrate the robustness of Israel's democracy and the seriousness with which it takes its responsibility in this matter. Israel must realize that appointing the panel of inquiry is not an end in itself. The inquiry panel and the government of Israel will be judged - both in the eyes of Israelis and in the eyes of the world - by the seriousness of the panel's mandate, by its deliberations, by its report and by the implementation and follow-up measures taken subsequent to the panel's recommendations.
Regardless of whether Israel's military or civilian inquiry panels address the efficacy of Israel's siege of the Gaza Strip, APN again urges the Israeli government to reassess the land and sea blockade, and find ways - together with its regional partners and international allies - to relieve the humanitarian distress in Gaza, while devising an effective regime to prevent the importation into Gaza of items that threaten Israel's security.
APN is America's leading Jewish organization advocating for Israeli-Palestinian peace.
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I do not welcome Israel investigating its participation in the flotilla attack any more than I welcome British Petroleum investigating its own actions in the Gulf of Mexico.
What are you people thinking?
Israel has already proven its bias by indicating that the people on this flotilla were "terrorists" and by stealing their equipment, including cameras which undoubtedly had footage about this event. It is extremely doubtful that Israel has the courage to admit its real reason for committing this act and its
culpability, just as it never admitted its culpability in the crime on the SS Liberty!
This "investigation" is a sham.
No access will be granted to those who Israeli military personnel who took part in the assault.
One of the supposedly "impartial" international observers recently started a "Friends of Israel" project with neocon John Bolton to staunchy defend Israel. He is no IMPARTIAL observer. http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/jerusalem-post/mi_8048/is_20100531/aznar-trimble-launch-pro-israel/ai_n53871053/
This "investigative" panel makes a mockery of justice.
Israel has proven itself time and again to be incapable of investigating itself. Read the testimony given in the civil suit trial for the IDF killing of Rachel Corrie. Obstruction of justice and other malfeasance in the military investigation that Israel conducted instead of the "thorough, credible, independent investigation" Israel had promised www.rachelcorriefoundation.org/trial
And per PCHR, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, “law enforcement agencies will not make use of testimonies given before the Commission or before those individuals tasked with collecting information for the Commission, as evidence in legal proceedings”.
The world must hold Israel accountable to international law. We need a genuinely "impartial" international and independent investigation.
An investigative body whose terms of reference forbid it to examine the planning and decision making processes that led to this operation? That is not permitted to take testimony from IDF officers or soldiers? Whose members' average age is over 80 years old? I could continue. This investigation will not be the transparent and impartial inquiry that is needed -- because it is so clearly designed to achieve the opposite, and so it will inflict even further damage on Israel.
If this is not done in the most ethical way, Israel will lose what is left of her credibility and so will the countries that support her.
God help us all.
Our world is now, and has been for millennia, pluralistic: many cultures, many languages, many religions. There is, however, only One GOD. WHAT DOES HE FEEL, SEEING HIS CHILDREN KILL EACH OTHER??? The violence in which we are caught is the result of some attempting to make this a mono-culture, and to destroy and remove all but the one they favor. In so doing, they only bring Destruction upon themselves. Whether we speak of Islam or Judaism, the need is for tolerance and acceptance on Both Sides, of the other's point of view. I respectfully suggest that one possible solution to the difficulty is for The Holy City, Jerusalem, to become an International City, governed perhaps by the United Nations, and accessible to ALL but owned by None. Semitic peoples have been killing each other for Thousands of years. THE KILLING MUST STOP. THE KILLING MUST STOP. THE KILLING MUST STOP.