By Hiyam Noir

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Regarding Israeli right to imposed blockade on Gaza

"...Turkey does not recognize what is claimed to be, Israeli rights to impose the embargo on Gaza..."

On Friday noon Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador to Ankara, at the same time Turkey announced that all military agreements were suspended. The much anticipated statement was delivered after that details emerged of a United Nations report, into last year's deadly attack on international water on, the Turkish aid ship Mavi Marmara.

Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister stated on Friday in a press conference that his government is reducing its diplomatic presence in Israel to the level of "second secretary". The decision become officially known, one day after the New York Times leaked the long-awaited U.N. report online regarding the Israelis attack on the Gaza bound International humanitarian aid Flotilla.

The ship Mavi Marmara, where nine Turkish nationals was brutally killed, was the largest of six vessels in a Gaza-bound International flotilla carrying humanitarian aid for the incarcerated Palestinians, suffering from a four year long blockade, led by the Israelis, armed by the US, who acted as an authority, imposing laws, recklessly without caution putting the inhabitants of Gaza at risk of serious health problems, starvation, injury and death.

Regardless, according to the posted version, the four member U.N. panel concluded that the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip is legal, yet the report is granting consent that the Israelis used "excessive and unreasonable" force in preventing the Turkish aid ship attempting to break the blockade. The panel said: the flotilla organizers "acted recklessly" by trying to breach the Israeli blockade, yet it accused Israel of "significant mistreatment" of flotilla passengers, after Israeli heavy armed commando squads entered the vessels by naval boats and from helicopters, on international waters in Mediterranean Sea, off Gaza coast.

The report criticized the loss of life resulting from the Israeli raid as "unacceptable." It said Israel has not provided a "satisfactory explanation" for the killings of the nine Turkish citizens, most of whom the report says: were "shot multiple times, including in the back and head, at close range." The U.N. panel also argue, that: the Israeli commandos who boarded the Turkish ship used force to protect themselves, in response to what it called "significant, organized and violent résistance “from "some of the passengers".

Legal assessment’s of the Gaza flotilla raid:

“The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the National Lawyers Guild's International Committee, Istanbul Bilgi University's Law Department Dean Turgut Tarhanlı and other experts have concluded that the blockade was itself illegal, or agreed with University of Dundee international law professor Robin Churchill that the boarding on the high seas was illegal even if the blockade were lawful, or agreed with international law professor Said Mahmoudi that the use of force was disproportionate and the raid was therefore illegal even if the blockade and the boarding in international waters were lawful.

An investigation by a panel of legal experts convened by the UN determined that the use of force by the Israeli military was disproportionate, that the Israeli military violated international law, and found clear evidence sufficient for war crimes prosecutions under the Fourth Geneva Convention - which defines humanitarian protections for civilians in a war zone and prohibits total war.

The issue of possible violation of international law was discussed at the UN Security Council. The United States blocked criticism of Israel for violating international law, as proposed by Turkey, the Palestinians, and Arab nations.

A deputy spokesman of the U.N. media office, said on Thursday that he expected the report to be officially released in the "next few days." The world body of United Nations had no immediate comment on the leak.

Taken by the surprise of an unexpected release of the report, Zionist state officials, whom had requested anonymity pending the release of the U.N. report, expressed approval of it, -  for: reportedly finding that the Israeli actions did not violate international law.  But another one, also anonymous Israeli speaking to the French news agency, said the Israelis also would voice what he called, "specific reservations" about the findings.

The report commissioned by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon, was headed by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and Colombia’s former president Alvaro Uribe, the four-member panel also included representatives of the Turkish government and the Israelis. The report was formally completed in July – however,  U.N. officials have repeatedly delayed its release - as it is said: "to give Turkey and - the Israelis an opportunity to resolve the dispute" about the Mavi Marmara incident [terror attack], which obviously, easily understood, severely has strained the diplomatic relations. 

Turkey immediate after the Israeli terror attack which had killed its citizens and wounded many on board the Mavi Marmara, demanded: a preliminary examination and apology for the raid - compensation for the families of those who was killed - and the end of the Gaza blockade.

"For us, the deadline for an Israeli apology is the day the U.N. report gets released, or we will resort to Plan B," the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoolu  told Turkish journalists earlier this week. Davutoolu  also warned that Turkey would challenge the final exposure of the Palmer report, and would oppose any further delay in its release. He didn’t express in details the nature of a “Plan B”, but Turkish media have extensively reported that it would:  include the further lower the status of previous reduced political and military ties - as well as pending lawsuits against Israeli officials in International courts. 

According to Turkish media, Ahmet Davutoolu considered five measures to be performed against the Israelis, as actions to be taken for its failure to fulfill Turkey's demands to overcome the crisis, which erupted after Israeli commandos stormed the flagship of the aid flotilla and killed nine Turkish citizens.

"Second, all our military agreements between Israel and Turkey are suspended," he said.

"Third, as the country with the longest coastline on the Mediterranean, Turkey will take every precaution it considers necessary for the safety of maritime navigation to East Mediterranean”.

Finally, he concluded: that: "Turkey does not recognize what is claimed to be the Israelis right to impose the embargo on Gaza, and that the intentions of Turkey in this regard, is to take its formal statement  to the International Court of Justice in The Hague".

 "For this aim: we are starting initiatives at UN Security Council," the Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoolu  added.