Gaza flotilla ship: Mavi Marmara
By Danna Harman, Haaretz – 22 Oct 2010
www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/british-passengers-of-gaza-flotilla-seek-to-testify-in-israeli-probe-1.320512
PARIS – Most of the 33 British passengers on May’s aid flotilla to Gaza have asked to give oral testimony to Turkel committee investigating the botched IDF raid on the ships, a lawyer acting on their behalf said yesterday. The group say they are resisting what they see as efforts by the commission to belittle their evidence by having them submit only very basic information about their experiences.
According to Daniel Machover, who is representing 29 of the passengers, the Foreign Ministry approached the British Foreign Office last Thursday and gave them a four day deadline, over the weekend, to gather very basic information on the passengers to be passed on to the commission.
Machover said the passengers see the rushed request as a “calculated snub … not a genuine effort to welcome their evidence.”
The passengers requested to give oral evidence to the commission – but only on several conditions that they laid out in a letter to the commission this week.
The conditions include that all those who wish to testify are able to do so, and that their testimony is public and, if done in Israel, that their travel, living and legal expenses are paid by Israel in full, among other demands.
If the commission refuses these conditions, Machover says “it will be clear that [they] have no real interest in receiving the evidence of the passengers and the sooner the International Criminal Court begins its investigations and considers bringing criminal charges … the better.”
A source close to the Turkel panel said yesterday that the commission is conducting an investigation with a clear mandate, and it will call on those it deems to have testimony useful to achieve its goals. The commission does not work on the basis that whomever wants to testify can, he stressed.
“We are not interested in simply providing the stage for people to sit on and say ‘We have come to release Gaza.’ This does not further our mission,” he said.
According to the source, the commission received a letter from then-British ambassador to Israel Tom Phillips in July, saying that several of the British passengers wanted to give evidence and offering a list of those making the request.
This letter was filed, and the commission turned to the British Foreign Office to help it track down those passengers once the panel was ready to deal with them.
There was no deadline and no timetable set, the source said – the commission is simply gathering preliminary information.
IOA Editor: The full set of requirements is important and was omitted from the Haaretz article. It follows, below:
PUBLIC STATEMENT – Human Rights Legal Aid Fund
Thursday 21 October 2010
For Immediate Release
British passengers on Gaza Freedom Flotilla agree to give oral war crimes evidence to Israeli Commission of Inquiry British passengers on board three of the six vessels that were intercepted and attacked by Israeli military forces in May have agreed to give oral war crimes evidence to an Israeli Commission of Inquiry.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry (MFA) approached the British Foreign Office (FCO) on Thursday 14 October asking them to find out by Monday 18 October if the 33 British passengers would supply very basic information to be passed on to the inquiry, known as the Turkel Commission.
The passengers’ will give oral evidence to the Commission, either in Israel or another country, if it meets basic requirements. [1]
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu established the Turkel Commission in June 2010, stating that this inquiry will show that Israel took, “appropriate defensive actions in accordance with the highest international standards”.
Such comments and other failings, such as the refusal to empower the Israeli judiciary to nominate the members of the Inquiry, make it clear that the Turkel Commission is neither independent nor impartial. Further, its terms of reference are so limited that it will not be an effective inquiry so far as the passengers are concerned.
Indeed, until this month neither the Israeli Government nor the Turkel Commission seemed remotely interested in the experiences of the several hundred civilian passengers on the six vessels who were illegally attacked and confined by Israeli forces, with nine civilians killed, several being shot at point blank range and dozens injured by various weapons. This approach to passengers only occurred after a UN Fact Finding Mission report was published last month, which found, among other things, that ‘no one was safe’ once Israeli soldiers began using live ammunition.
Mary Nazzal-Batayneh, human rights lawyer and chairperson of the Human Rights Legal Aid Fund, says, “The efforts of the Israeli Government and its Commission this past week do not inspire confidence that the Commission is genuinely interested in hearing the passengers’ evidence. Nonetheless, the passengers do want the commission to hear it. They have nothing to hide.”
The passengers will cooperate with the inquiry by providing oral evidence that can be tested by questions from the Commission. They can give evidence of war crimes, including wilful killing, torture and unlawful confinement.
The passengers demand the public disclosure of all of the audio and video evidence that remains under Israeli control, months after the raid, and the return of all their illegally seized property.
British witnesses will testify on the basis that the Israeli armed forces and other relevant Israeli officials also give evidence in public; and that the Commission must agree to address not only the nature and illegality of the interception itself, but also their mistreatment at Ashdod airport, in detentionand at Ben Gurion airport in the days following the raid.
Daniel Machover, solicitor at Hickman and Rose who is advising 29 of the British passengers, says, “If the Commission is seriously interested in putting the passengers at the centre of its inquiry, then it will agree to
the passengers reasonable requests. That will enable them to give oral evidence to the Commission in the next few weeks. Otherwise, it will be clear that the Commission has no real interest in receiving the evidence of the passengers. The sooner the International Criminal Court begins its investigations and considers bringing criminal charges against officials where there is evidence of war crimes, the better.”
The British passengers are planning to make submissions to the International Criminal Court, supporting an application made by Turkish passengers on 14 October.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Daniel Machover, solicitor
Tel: +44(0)7773 341096
eMail:
Rochelle Harris
Tel: +44(0)7785 116672
eMail:
www.humanrightsfund.org
NOTES
[1] British Passengers’ requirements with regard to the provision of their oral evidence to the Israeli Commission of Inquiry
1. All those passengers who wish to give oral evidence are able to do so.
2. Oral evidence is provided in public, either in Israel without restrictions placed on freedom of speech and expression (i.e. not in a secret session), or, if it is not possible for this to happen in Israel, then arrangements are put in place for the Commission to receive oral evidence in a mutually acceptable third country, for example in London, where a public session can be held.
3. As the war crimes and other crimes that the passengers can give evidence of were allegedly perpetrated by members of the Israeli armed forces and other Israeli officials, the passengers seek confirmation that members of the Israeli forces and other officials who participated in the incidents connected to the interception of the Flotilla and the subsequent events (i.e.. at Ashdod port, in detention facilities and at Ben Gurion airport) will also be required to give evidence in public.
4. That any misconduct identified on the part of members of the Israeli armed forces is subsequently investigated and prosecuted to a standard that is consistent with the provisions set out in international law.
5. That the Commission of Inquiry does not restrict itself to the nature and legality of the interception of the Flotilla on 31 May 2010, but investigates and reaches conclusions as to the violence used on all the
intercepted vessels and the treatment of passengers once they came under Israeli control i.e. on the Flotilla ships, at Ashdod port, in detention facilities and at Ben Gurion airport.
6. If witnesses travel to Israel to participate in the Commission, then they would have their expenses paid for in full by the Israeli State and are given access to Israeli legal advice and to a lawyer of their choosing, paid for by the Israeli state.
7. All property confiscated by the Israeli Authorities is to be returned to passengers or accounted for and for compensation to be paid for all unreturned items.
Human Rights Legal Aid Fund www.humanrightsfund.org
