Would Israel allow a UN independent team to conduct its own inquiry into the Gaza beach bombing?
When The Palestinian sent European and Human Rights Watch experts, they all concluded that it was an 155 mm artillery navy shell.
Israel figured that the situation in Gaza is different now a days and that they are caught between a rock and a hard place.
If they do not allow a UN team then the whole world will call their bluff that Gaza is free Palestinian land.
If they do, then it will obviously be clear that it was a navy shell that wiped the whole family.
by Jacques Pinto
2 hours, 26 minutes ago
The military conceded old Israeli ordnance could have been responsible for the death of eight Palestinians at a beach picnic in the Gaza Strip, hours after absolving itself of any blame.
As the dispute over the cause of the tragedy continued to rage, the Palestinians called on the United Nations to launch its own investigation.
Initial declarations by the chief of staff and defence minister that Israel was not behind last week's killings were greeted with scepticism by both UN chief Kofi Annan and the US-based Human Rights Watch, whose own on-site probe concluded an Israeli shell was the probable cause of the tragedy.
But the officer leading the army's inquiry acknowledged in an interview with public radio that the investigation was still not complete and unexploded Israeli ordnance, or another device, could have been the cause of the blast.
General Meir Klifi said an examination of shrapnel removed from one of the casualties proved that it did not come from a 155mm shell which was being fired by the army last Friday when the tragedy occurred.
"This shrapnel was not from a 155mm... there is no doubt on this point," he said.
"It could be from another kind of munition that we have used in the past... or a non-Israeli device, but we have not finished the work of the inquiry," he added.
Klifi's comments came after he appeared at a news conference late Tuesday along with chief of staff General Dan Halutz who declared "we do not bear responsibility" for the deaths on the beach in northern Gaza.
Defence Minister Amir Peretz also declared that "we have enough evidence" that "the attempt to present this as an Israeli incident is simply untrue."
However their claims were immediately disputed by the New York-based Human Rights Watch which carried out its own investigation at the scene of the blast, unlike Israel.
"It is my contention that the most likely scenario is that Israeli shelling hit the area," said Human Rights Watch's military analyst Marc Garlasco.
Israeli military sources have suggested that the blast was the result of a Palestinian mine but Garlasco, a former Pentagon advisor, said "this is patently not the case."
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was equally sceptical about such claims, describing them as "odd."
Garlasco said Human Rights Watch was hopeful of being able to exchange evidence with Israel but dismissed Klifi's claim that it was not a 155mm shell after examining shrapnel he found at the scene and studying victims' wounds and the x-rays of shrapnel lodged in victims.
"We are very certain that it is a 155mm shell," Garlasco told AFP.
"The Israelis stated that the shrapnel removed from victims in Israel was not artillery shrapnel but they offered up no alternative explanation of what it is.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat urged the United Nations to launch its own investigation.
"I urge Mr Annan to launch an international investigation into the crime on the Gaza beach," he told AFP.
"The Israeli escalation in Gaza and the large number of martyrs should force the United Nations and international community to increase their efforts to protect the civilian Palestinian population."
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who has described the beach deaths as a "bloody massacre", said he had spoken with Annan and urged him to rein in the Israeli military.
"We want peace while they are determined to randomly kill the innocents and the civilians," he told Palestinian radio.
Asked whether an international inquiry was in order to ascertain the facts, Annan replied: "We would need both the Israelis and Palestinian authorities to cooperate with such an investigation."
A senior official in the Israeli foreign ministry said no request had been received from the United Nations to conduct an inquiry.
"We don't rule anything out and would seek to cooperate if such a request was forthcoming. We have nothing to hide," Yigal Palmor said.
Nine other civilians were killed in an Israeli air strike on Tuesday in Gaza which targeted a vehicle carrying members of the hardline Islamic Jihad movement who were on their way to fire missiles across the border.
General Yoav Galant, head of the army's southern command, has expressed regret over the death of the civilians.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2006061...r7Xr1ybOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-
When The Palestinian sent European and Human Rights Watch experts, they all concluded that it was an 155 mm artillery navy shell.
Israel figured that the situation in Gaza is different now a days and that they are caught between a rock and a hard place.
If they do not allow a UN team then the whole world will call their bluff that Gaza is free Palestinian land.
If they do, then it will obviously be clear that it was a navy shell that wiped the whole family.
by Jacques Pinto
2 hours, 26 minutes ago
The military conceded old Israeli ordnance could have been responsible for the death of eight Palestinians at a beach picnic in the Gaza Strip, hours after absolving itself of any blame.
As the dispute over the cause of the tragedy continued to rage, the Palestinians called on the United Nations to launch its own investigation.
Initial declarations by the chief of staff and defence minister that Israel was not behind last week's killings were greeted with scepticism by both UN chief Kofi Annan and the US-based Human Rights Watch, whose own on-site probe concluded an Israeli shell was the probable cause of the tragedy.
But the officer leading the army's inquiry acknowledged in an interview with public radio that the investigation was still not complete and unexploded Israeli ordnance, or another device, could have been the cause of the blast.
General Meir Klifi said an examination of shrapnel removed from one of the casualties proved that it did not come from a 155mm shell which was being fired by the army last Friday when the tragedy occurred.
"This shrapnel was not from a 155mm... there is no doubt on this point," he said.
"It could be from another kind of munition that we have used in the past... or a non-Israeli device, but we have not finished the work of the inquiry," he added.
Klifi's comments came after he appeared at a news conference late Tuesday along with chief of staff General Dan Halutz who declared "we do not bear responsibility" for the deaths on the beach in northern Gaza.
Defence Minister Amir Peretz also declared that "we have enough evidence" that "the attempt to present this as an Israeli incident is simply untrue."
However their claims were immediately disputed by the New York-based Human Rights Watch which carried out its own investigation at the scene of the blast, unlike Israel.
"It is my contention that the most likely scenario is that Israeli shelling hit the area," said Human Rights Watch's military analyst Marc Garlasco.
Israeli military sources have suggested that the blast was the result of a Palestinian mine but Garlasco, a former Pentagon advisor, said "this is patently not the case."
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was equally sceptical about such claims, describing them as "odd."
Garlasco said Human Rights Watch was hopeful of being able to exchange evidence with Israel but dismissed Klifi's claim that it was not a 155mm shell after examining shrapnel he found at the scene and studying victims' wounds and the x-rays of shrapnel lodged in victims.
"We are very certain that it is a 155mm shell," Garlasco told AFP.
"The Israelis stated that the shrapnel removed from victims in Israel was not artillery shrapnel but they offered up no alternative explanation of what it is.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat urged the United Nations to launch its own investigation.
"I urge Mr Annan to launch an international investigation into the crime on the Gaza beach," he told AFP.
"The Israeli escalation in Gaza and the large number of martyrs should force the United Nations and international community to increase their efforts to protect the civilian Palestinian population."
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who has described the beach deaths as a "bloody massacre", said he had spoken with Annan and urged him to rein in the Israeli military.
"We want peace while they are determined to randomly kill the innocents and the civilians," he told Palestinian radio.
Asked whether an international inquiry was in order to ascertain the facts, Annan replied: "We would need both the Israelis and Palestinian authorities to cooperate with such an investigation."
A senior official in the Israeli foreign ministry said no request had been received from the United Nations to conduct an inquiry.
"We don't rule anything out and would seek to cooperate if such a request was forthcoming. We have nothing to hide," Yigal Palmor said.
Nine other civilians were killed in an Israeli air strike on Tuesday in Gaza which targeted a vehicle carrying members of the hardline Islamic Jihad movement who were on their way to fire missiles across the border.
General Yoav Galant, head of the army's southern command, has expressed regret over the death of the civilians.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2006061...r7Xr1ybOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-