UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has proposed a multinational investigation of Israel's raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship in which nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed, an Israeli official said yesterday.
Ban has suggested establishing a panel that would be headed by former New Zealand prime minister Geoffrey Palmer and include representatives from Turkey -- under whose flag the ship sailed -- Israel and the United States, said the official from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.
UK AID FOR GAZA
Meanwhile, Britain announced yesterday it was giving 19 million pounds (27 million dollars, 23 million euros) for refugees in Gaza and repeated calls for Israel to lift its blockade of the territory.
"The humanitarian situation in Gaza is both unacceptable and unsustainable," International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said announcing the funds, which will help support schools and health clinics for Gazan refugees.
The money is part of a five-year, 100-million-pound agreement signed with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in 2006.
Confirmation of this year's contribution comes amid renewed concern about Israel's blockade of Gaza following a deadly raid by Israeli commandos on an aid ship bound for the Palestinian territory earlier this week.
ACTIVISTS EXPELLED
Seven of 19 activists from the Rachel Corrie aid ship which tried to run the Gaza siege were expelled from Israel as calls grew for an end to the crippling blockade of the Hamas-ruled enclave.
The remaining 12 would be deported later yesterday, an Israeli official said, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, defending an earlier botched raid which left nine dead, insisted Israel would never allow a situation in which arms could be sent to Gaza's Islamist rulers.
"Everyone on board the boat will be expelled on Sunday after they signed a waiver renouncing their right to appeal to an Israeli judge," Israeli immigration official Sabine Haddad told AFP.
Six Malaysians and a Cuban national from the boat were deported to Jordan early afternoon, leaving Israel via the Allenby Bridge, an AFP correspondent at the crossing said. An Indonesian journalist, who was injured in last Monday's deadly commando raid, also crossed with the group.
The remaining 11 activists from the Rachel Corrie -- five Irish nationals, including Nobel Peace laureate Mairead Maguire and six Filipinos -- as well as the ship's Scottish captain, were to fly out of Ben Gurion international airport later in the afternoon and overnight, Haddad said.
The Israeli leader discussed the proposal with Ban on Saturday and planned to convene senior cabinet ministers on Sunday to decide whether Israel would take part, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Israeli leaders have spoken publicly about setting up an Israeli investigation with foreign observers into the interception of the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara last Monday.
Ban also discussed with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erodogan "options for moving forward with the investigation called for by the Security Council," the UN said on its website, referring to the Council's call for an impartial inquiry.
Israel's navy boarded another ship carrying aid to Gaza on Saturday. Its interception of the MV Rachel Corrie ended without violence following diplomatic efforts to avoid bloodshed.
Turkey's relations with Israel, once a close ally, have soured badly since the deadly raid on Monday. The Israeli official said there was hope that ties could be mended if Israel and Turkey cooperated in a committee investigating the incident.
The official said Israel also wanted to establish whether the Turkish government sponsored the Mavi Marmara, where activists used clubs and a knife to attack the marines -- resistance that appeared to catch Israeli military planners off guard. Israel has said seven of its troops were wounded.
Netanyahu said at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting that a smaller group of "violent extremists" had boarded the ship separately with the intention of clashing with Israeli troops.
