Israel to deport all 19 people on board intercepted ship

Israel today began deporting all 19 people onboard the Rachel Corrie aid ship intercepted by its Navy while trying to breach its blockade of the Gaza Strip, even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu defended the Monday's botched raid on a flotilla that killed nine people.

The aid ship, named after a US activist killed in 2003 as she tried to prevent an Israeli bulldozer from razing a Palestinian home, was intercepted by the Israeli Navy yesterday.

Six Malaysians and a Cuban were deported to Jordan, while 11 others will be deported from the country within the next 24 hours.

"They (the activists and crew) will be all deported from Israel within the next 24 hours. The Malaysian nationals have been transferred to Jordan from where they will go back to their country while the rest will be flying from the Ben-Gurion International Airport," Israel Police Spokesman Micky Resonfeld told PTI here.

Out of the 19 people onboard the ship, 11 are pro-Palestinian activists and the rest crew members.

The remaining 11 activists -- five Irish nationals, including Nobel Peace laureate Mairead Maguire and six Filipinos were due to be deported.

Government sources said Israeli government will pay for the deportation of activists and crew members apprehended on the aid ship.

The 19 people -- all citizens of Ireland, Britain, Malaysia, the Philippines and Cuba -- were sent to an Immigration Authority Facility in Holon city after the Israel
Navy intercepted the ship yesterday.

The seizure came just days after Israeli Naval commandos in a predawn raid stormed a civilian flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to blockaded Gaza Strip, killing nine people.

Netanyahu told the weekly cabinet meeting said the violence aboard the Gaza bound aid ship last Monday was "intentional".

He said the Israeli troops came under attack by a group of people, separate from the peace activists, who had boarded the ship "in a way that allowed them to avoid a security check".

"According to the information we now hold, the group which attacked the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers boarded the ship separately, in a different city and underwent completely different security checks," he told the Cabinet meeting.

The Israeli premier, who is under pressure for an independent inquiry in the incident that left nine people dead, argued that "their clear intention was to violently hurt the IDF's soldiers".

Although Netanyahu did not specifically mention Al-Qaeda, as other Israeli officials have done in recent days, but he did direct his accusations at radical Islamic organisations.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that UN chief Ban Ki-moon is moving ahead with plans for an international commission to investigate the deadly Monday raid.

Ban wants former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer, a maritime law expert, to head the panel, which would include Israeli, Turkish and US representatives, it quoted an unnamed Foreign Ministry official as saying.

The international community was closely following the developments and Israeli response after the deadly incident last Monday when the flotilla was stormed.

Despite international outcry, Israel had reiterated its resolve to stop the Rachel Corrie ship from reaching Gaza.

The 11 activists had earlier said that they will not resort to violence if the Israeli army intercepts the ship but would try to reach Gaza if left unhindered.

Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that the country's military and political leadership are at loggerheads blaming each other for the bungled operation against the Gaza aid flotilla.

Insufficient intelligence available for the operation, which was carried out by elite Naval commandos, also raised eyebrows on Israel's spy agency Mossad's role for failing to properly judge the situation.

Though Israel has been putting up a brave front outwardly justifying its raid on the ship on the grounds of preserving its autonomy, but political leadership and military suspects the other of trying to blame it for the fiasco and consequent crisis, daily 'Ha'aretz' reported today.

The politicos are pointing finger on the operation's inadequate planning in the Navy and faulty intelligence due to which the commandos lacked a proper understanding of the kind of confrontation awaiting them.

The General Staff, however, has reportedly said that it was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak who were complacent about the flotilla and assessed that the raid would not raise such world reactions.