Israel’s Cabinet on Monday backed the creation of an internal committee to probe its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, in a move swiftly dismissed by both Turkey and the Palestinians.
The committee, which will include two foreign observers, will look into the legal aspects of the operation in which Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish activists.
But Ankara swiftly dismissed the move, saying that Israel was incapable of being “impartial,” and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas said setting up an internal committee did not comply with UN demands.
“The proposition made today for the inquiry committee does not correspond to the request of the Security Council,” Mr Abbas said in Paris after meeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Turkey had also demanded a UN-led probe, and threatened to review its ties with Israel if it did not heed calls for an independent inquiry.
“We have no trust at all that Israel... will conduct an impartial investigation,” foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara.
Israel formally announced the formation of the three-man committee late on Sunday in a move ratified by the Cabinet early on Monday.
The panel will be chaired by retired supreme court judge Yaakov Tirkel, 75, who will work alongside retired major-general Amos Horev, 86, and Shabtai Rosen, 93, a professor of international law.
It will also include two international observers: Irish Nobel Peace Prize winner David Trimble, 65, and Ken Watkin, 55, former judge advocate-general of the Canadian military.
But it was not clear what powers Mr Trimble and Mr Watkin would have, and a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said they would not be able “to vote in relation to the proceedings and conclusions of the commission.”
The two could also be denied access to information that could “cause substantial harm to national security or to the state’s foreign relations.”