Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu today told an inquiry into the Israeli naval raid on a Gaza aid flotilla that Turkey had ignored warnings and appeals "at the highest level" many days before the fatal clash.
Mr Netanyahu was the first witness to testify to the state-appointed inquiry into the lethal raid at sea on May 31st, in which Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists after boarding their vessel from a helicopter.
The clash took place before dawn in international waters off Israel, after the flotilla ignored repeated Israeli warnings not to continue to Gaza. The enclave is ruled by Hamas and is sealed off by an Israeli naval blockade.
The UN formed its own committee to investigate the Israeli raid, which will meet for the first time tomorrow.
"Beginning on May 14th, my office held contacts with the highest levels of the Turkish government," Mr Netanyahu said. "These contacts ... were intended to prevent a confrontation with the Marmara flotilla, and they continued until the eve of the flotilla's arrival off Gaza's shores," he said.
"Despite our continuous diplomatic efforts, ultimately the Turkish government did not prevent the attempt by the Marmara to violate the naval blockade... It appears that (Turkey) did not see in the prospect of a clash between Turkish activists and Israel something that clashed with its interests..."
It was Mr Netanyahu's most explicit public account of behind-the-scenes diplomacy that in the end failed to avert the clash.
Nine Turks were shot dead when Israeli commandos stormed the lead ship, Mavi Marmara. Israel says its commandos used live fire only after being attacked with clubs, knives and gunfire by activists who it says were clearly prepared for violence.
Israel made video recordings of fighting on deck.
The raid sparked a world outcry and almost ruptured Israel's relations with once-close Muslim ally Turkey.
It also pushed Israel to ease restrictions of its Gaza blockade, which is aimed at preventing the territory's rulers Hamas from increasing their arsenal but also aggravates the privations of 1.5 million mostly aid-dependant Palestinians.
The Jerusalem-based inquiry is led by retired Supreme Court judge Jacob Turkel and includes two foreign observers. With a limited mandate, the panel's findings will likely have little effect on the stability of Mr Netanyahu's government.
It is investigating the circumstances surrounding Israel's handling of the encounter with the six-vessel, Turkish-owned aid flotilla that was trying to bring aid to Gaza, and cast a spotlight on its blockade in a direct challenge.
A separate, internal probe by Israel's military, which included interviews with the commandos who stormed the ship, found intelligence and operational errors in planning but defended the soldiers' use of force.
Mr Netanyahu said Israel could not have allowed the ships to breach its cordon, which it insists is necessary to keep weapons including long-range rockets out of the hands of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement backed by Iran which runs Gaza.
"The state of Israel and the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) operated according to international law," he said. "As prime minister I can't ignore Hamas as a threat to Israel's existence."
Mr Netanyahu's spokesman Nir Hefetz told reporters that this inquiry was not an "anti-Israel body", unlike the UN Human Rights Commission under judge Richard Goldstone into Israel's devastating Gaza Strip offensive in January 2009.
Israel has refused to co-operate with the Goldstone probe.
Mr Hefetz said the Turkel commission "attests to the way in which the state of Israel, at the highest of international standards, is prepared to show its cards and say 'we have nothing to hide'".
Reuters