TEL AVIV, January 23, 2001 (WAFA) - Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) Sunday lashed out at the Israeli Turkel commission examining the Gaza flotilla raid incident, saying “it suffers a severe flaw in the ability of moral and judicial evaluation and arbitration.”

The organization accused the commission of “legitimizing the systematic violation of human rights perpetrated by Israel against the people of Gaza.”

The commission, led by Israeli retired Supreme Court Judge Jacob Turkel, published its report on Saturday, saying that the Israeli army acted properly according to International Law, and Israeli soldiers shot Turkish activists in self-defense.

According to PHR Israel, two weeks after the publication of its report, Humanitarian Minimum, which presents grave data about food and water insecurity in Gaza, growing unemployment rates and the dependency of 80% of Gaza's residents on humanitarian aid that keeps them on the verge of hunger, the members of Turkel Commission authorized Israel to continue its policy of systematic human rights violations in the Gaza Strip. It seems that the Commission's conclusions will be used as a rubber stamp for the continuous policy of occupation.

About 61% of Gaza residents (973,600 people) suffer from food insecurity; around 80% rely on humanitarian aid from UN agencies. 90-95% of the water provided by Gaza's coastal aquifer, the Strip's main source of water, is unfit for human consumption. In the three years preceding the flotilla events, unemployment rose by 40%. As a result, levels of stunting of children (9-12 months) rose from 4.2% in 2007 to 7% in 2009, a rise of 79%. This data did not impress the members of the commission.

'Israel is holding 1.5 million human beings in conditions of imprisonment for years, without the ability of buying food or making a living independently of aid, unable to receive adequate and timely medical treatment, and in condition of continuous distraction of infrastructure – causing, among other things, the water to be unfit for human consumption. If those conditions are in correlation with human rights in the eyes of the members of the commission then they are morally and legally blind,' said Ran Yaron, director of the Occupied Palestinian Territories Department in PHR Israel.

'Their understanding twists reality, is sinful to truth, and is an immoral and inhuman analysis of the data that was presented to them by the different human rights organizations.'

The Israeli army attacked the Gaza flotilla on 31 May 2010 and seized the Turkish ships heading to break the Israeli siege on Gaza. Nine activists were killed on board by the Israeli navy.

F.J.