"Preparations for interception were flawed", findings show --- Israel army faulted over flotilla raid: Reports

Israeli troops killed 9 Turkish activists, prompting worldwide outrage (File)

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Agencies)

A military probe has found Israel's armed forces committed serious errors in preparing and carrying out the deadly boarding of a Gaza-bound aid ship in May, media reported on Monday.

The 150-page Eiland Commission report presented to Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Gaby Ashkenazi on Sunday said mistakes were committed at all levels of command, from top officers to commandos, the daily Yediot Aharonot reported.

The investigators said the navy failed to sufficiently consider the possibility the troops could encounter violent resistance during the May 31 operation.

Video footage showed the commandos being beaten as they boarded the Turkish Mavi Marmara ferry, which led a six-ship flotilla seeking to bust Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Some of the commandos, the military said at the time, were armed with paintball guns -- but also carried pistols -- in anticipation of only light resistance.

However Israeli troops killed nine Turkish activists, prompting worldwide outrage and severely straining ties with Ankara, once Israel's closest Muslim ally.

The findings, to be formally released on Monday, said the clashes occurred partly because the navy had failed to deploy enough forces on the deck of the Mavi Marmara.

They also said the military failed to coordinate sufficiently with intelligence agencies in preparing for the raid, and that some of the information used was faulty, media said.

Israel has said its commandos were enforcing a naval blockade necessary to prevent weapons from reaching the Gaza Strip's Hamas Islamist rulers.


Vowed to prevent future attempts

Israel has vowed to prevent any future attempts to breach the naval blockade, including the latest bid by a Libyan freighter, the Almathea, which currently appears to be heading to Gaza despite a flurry of diplomatic efforts to divert it to Egypt.

The ship has been chartered by the Gaddafi Foundation, a charity run by Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi’s son Seif al-Islam.

Yedioth Ahronoth and other Israeli media reported that the Eiland commission's report would not call for any military personnel to resign. But the findings raised speculation that senior officers' careers could be affected.

In response to Western criticism, including from its biggest ally, the United States, Israel has since eased a land blockade of the enclave where 1.5 million Palestinians live, allowing most civilian goods through, while continuing to enforce the naval embargo.

Eiland's report is the first to be published in the affair.
The separate civilian panel is led by a former Israeli Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel and includes two international observers.

The Turkel Commission is looking into the legality of the raid and of Israel's four-year-old blockade of the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement.

Its narrow mandate does not include an examination of the political decision-making process behind the launching of the raid, although Turkel said it would call for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to testify.

Instead, it focuses on whether the naval blockade and the flotilla's interception conformed with international law. The panel also will investigate the actions taken by the convoy's organizers and participants.

Turkey called the bloodshed Israeli "state terrorism", withdrew its ambassador and cancelled joint military exercises.

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/07/12/113686.html