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Israeli Inquiry Clears Military in Raid on Gaza-bound Aid Flotilla

   VOA News  23 January 2011
   Former   Israeli  Supreme  Court  Justice  Jacob  Turkel  at  a  press
   conference  of the Turkel commission, an inquiry set up by the Israeli
   government  to  investigate  last  year's  controversial Gaza flotilla
   raid, Jerusalem, 23 Jan 2011

Photo: AP

   Former   Israeli  Supreme  Court  Justice  Jacob  Turkel  at  a  press
   conference  of the Turkel commission, an inquiry set up by the Israeli
   government  to  investigate  last  year's  controversial Gaza flotilla
   raid, Jerusalem, 23 Jan 2011

   An  Israeli  inquiry has cleared the country's military and government
   of  wrongdoing  in  last  year's  deadly Gaza flotilla raid -- despite
   international condemnation of the raid.
   The  Turkel  Commission  said in findings released Sunday that Israeli
   troops acted in self-defense after they were mobbed by pro-Palestinian
   activists  while  boarding  a  ship  that was trying to break Israel's
   blockade  on Gaza. The violence killed eight Turkish activists and one
   Turkish-American.
   Relations  between  Turkey  and  Israel soured after the incident, and
   Israel  eased  its blockade in the face of widespread criticism of the
   raid.
   The commission also said Israel's more than three-year blockade on the
   Gaza  Strip  does  not break international law. But it urged Israel to
   examine  ways to focus its sanctions on the Palestinian militant group
   Hamas rather than the Gaza population as a whole.
   The  commission  was  headed  by  a  retired  Supreme  Court judge and
   included  two  international  observers,  one from Canada and one from
   Ireland, who signed off on the findings.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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