UN forum names team to probe Israel ship raid
Rights council names team of three independent experts
The U.N. Human Rights Council appointed former U.N. war crimes prosecutor Desmond de Silva and two other people on Friday to investigate Israel's May 31 forcible boarding of a boat bringing aid to the Gaza Strip.
A statement said the British lawyer will be joined by Trinidadian judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips and Malaysian women's rights advocate Mary Shanthi Dairiam in examining whether Israel violated international law.
"The expertise, independence and impartiality of the members of the mission will be devoted to clarifying the events which took place that day and their legality," said Thailand's ambassador Sihasak Phuangketkeow, current Council president.
"We call upon all parties to fully cooperate with the mission and hope that this mission will contribute to peace in the region and justice for the victims," he said.
The Israeli navy stormed the flotilla on May 31, killing eight Turks and a Turkish-American on board a Turkish ship.
Israel said its commandos acted in self-defense and has rejected calls for an international inquiry into the raid.
But Pakistan and Sudan led a move by Muslim countries at the U.N. human rights body, where they hold an effective majority, to condemn the raid as outrageous and demand "full accountability and credible independent inquiries."
We call upon all parties to fully cooperate with the mission and hope that this mission will contribute to peace in the region and justice for the victimsUN Rights Council President Sihasak Phuangketkeow
The U.N. team is expected to travel to Israel, Turkey and Gaza in August to interview witnesses and gather information before reporting back to the Council in September. The Council opens a three-week session in Geneva on Sept. 12.
It was not yet clear whether Israel -- which has a long history of rejecting U.N. probes as one-sided -- would cooperate and allow the team to visit, according to U.N. sources.
A separate Israeli military inquiry released on July 12 found intelligence and operational errors in the raid but defended the use of force.
De Silva is a former chief war crimes prosecutor at the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone. Hudson-Phillips is a former judge at the International Criminal Court who also served as attorney-general of Trinidad and Tobago.
Shanthi Dairiam is a Malaysian women's rights activist working in U.N. and Asian regional forums.