Sir Geoffrey Palmer to chair UN enquiry into Gaza flotilla deaths

PHRC welcomes the appointment of Sir Geoffrey Palmer to chair the UN investigation into Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that resulted in the deaths of nine unarmed civilians.

Spokeperson Leslie Bravery says " Israel's decision to join the enquiry after previously rejecting calls for an international independent investigation is possibly linked to the fact that the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council investigation into the international law implications of the flotilla raid is due to report in September."

It is significant that the review panel will not have the authority to subpoena witnesses, especially members of the Israeli military. Instead the committee will review the reports handed in by investigative panels in both Turkey and Israel who dealt with the flotilla incident.

This morning, NZ Foreign Affairs Minister, Murray McCully said that he understood that the enquiry was not about apportioning blame for the attack but with finding ways of avoiding such incidents in future.

PHRC responds that the matter of blame for the attack is a matter of historical fact. It is not disputed that the Israeli military boarded civilian shipping in international waters and attacked unarmed civilians. Israel's claim that it is at war carries no weight because the rules of war and the Geneva Conventions prohibit attacks on civilians and civilian shipping.

The best way to avoid such incidents in future is for the world community to require and constrain Israel to observe international humanitarian law.

PHRC calls for an immediate and complete end to Israel's punitive blockade of Gaza, the only territory in the world that does not have freedom of access to its own coastal waters. Israel's blockade of Gaza, now in its fourth year, is collective punishment against the civilian population. It is a man-made humanitarian crisis that the international community has the power and the moral obligation to alleviate immediately.

ENDS

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