will israel get the casus belli that it works so hard for?

Turkey wants an independent inquiry into the flotilla massacre. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu called it "Turkey's September 11."

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu also said in a speech at the meeting that the Israeli strike was a “determining moment” for the region's history, calling the incident "Turkey's September 11." Davutoğlu added: “It will have a deep influence on our regional and global point of view and nothing will be the same again."

Normalized relations between the two countries depends Jerusalem accepting an international inquiry.

If Israel has nothing to hide and really wants peace, this should pose no problem.

"If Israel gives the green light to the formation of an international committee and is ready to answer questions of the committee, Turkish-Israeli relations will have a different course. Otherwise, Turkish-Israeli relations cannot be normalized," Davutoglu told a press conference in Istanbul.  "If Israel thinks it has protected its national interests and rights, it should declare that it accepts formation of an international committee. Otherwise, it means that they are hiding some facts," he added, speaking on the sidelines of a summit of a 20-member Eurasian security group, where Turkey was seeking to condemn Israel.

But Israel prefers to conduct an internal probe.

Israel therefore rejects the chance to normalize relations with Turkey.

Here you can peruse an excellent compilation of various eyewitness accounts from people on board.

• "The fighting" was deliberately instigated by the Israeli military.
• Israeli commandos, on orders by the Israeli government, committed cold-blooded murder and executions. 
• Individuals who surrendered were killed.
• Critically wounded activists were refused aid and died.
• Israel and the U.S. pressured Cyprus into preventing 30 EU parliamentarians and from boarding.

From another outstanding Michel Chossudovsky article at Global Research we learn:

• The Israeli had prior knowledge of who was on the Turkish ship including cabin layout.
• Swedish author Henning Mankell reported that "the Israeli forces attacked sleeping civilians."
  "These were targeted assassinations. Specific individuals were targeted. Journalists were targeted with a view to confiscating their audio and video recording equipment and tapes."

The same article describes coordination with the US and the use of operations to JUSTIFY military escalations. (problem - reaction - solution)

• Obama's White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was in Israel in the week prior to the launching of the raid on the Freedom Flotilla. Although on a private visit, Rahm Emanuel met Prime Minister Netanyahu in high level discussions on May 26. Rahm Emanuel also met president Shimon Peres on May 27. 
• It should be understood that the raid on the Flotilla also coincided with NATO-Israel war games directed against Iran. According to the Sunday Times "three German-built Israeli submarines equipped with nuclear cruise missiles are to be deployed in the Gulf near the Iranian coastline."
• While these naval deployments were underway in the Persian Gulf, Israel was also involved in war games in the Mediterraean. The war game codenamed "MINOAS 2010" was carried out at a Greek air base in Souda Bay, on the island of Crete.  
• Also, in the wake of the decision directed against Israel's nuclear weapons under the auspices of the NPT, the White House reaffirmed not only its support to Israel, but also to Israel's nuclear weapons capabilities. 

The idea of the raid being to trigger a response, to create conditions FAVORABLE to a confrontation, to engineer a casus belli.

The killing of unarmed civilians was part of the mandate of the Israeli naval commando. It was an integral part of the logic of Dagan's "Operation Justified Vengeance", which presents Israel as the victim rather than the perpetrator and uses civilian deaths "on both sides" to justify a process of military escalation.  
The action by the IDF has triggered a wave of indignation throughout the Middle East. It will no doubt also trigger a response by Palestinian resistance forces, including possible suicide bomb attacks inside Israel, which could then be used by Israel as a pretext and justification for the launching a broader military operation. 

Aangirfan also writes about the likelihood that the flotilla attack was a joint US-Israeli operation.

One likely US-Israeli objective is to create conditions whereby Israel can have another war in Gaza and another war in Lebanon. Israel wants to control Gaza's valuable gas fields and South Lebanon's water supplies. Iran and Syria are also likely targets for the USA and Israel.

Most of NATO can be assumed to be supporting the US-Israeli actions.

The Turkish government cannot be assumed to be supporting the US-Israeli actions.

There may be a CIA organised coup in Turkey to put pro-Israel generals back in charge? (FLOTILLA PART OF ISRAELI-PENTAGON PLAN TO TOPPLE TURKISH GOVERNMENT.)

Haaretz reports on some of the possible outcomes of the raid. The points made include:

1. The fallout from an Israel raid on a Turkish ship could bring forward elections in Turkey.
2. Erdogan's moderate Islamist AK party could deliver a landslide in the polls.
3. Secular opposition politicians have condemned the government' uncompromising response and say Erdogan has gone too far in downgrading ties with Israel.
4. Opposition lawmakers have also warned that Erdogan risks alienating its allies.

The people of Turkey are very angry with Israel, as are people throughout the world.

It seems that the mass protests in Turkey against Israel’s bloody intervention in a Gaza-bound international aid convoy will not cease unless Israel apologizes for its widely deplored violent handling of peace activists in international waters early last week. Over the weekend, thousands of people converged in Ankara and İstanbul to condemn the aggression that has also led to outrage throughout the world....The crowd was particularly angry because Israel has still not expressed any regret over the mode of intervention used to intercept the peaceful aid volunteers who set sail to bring much-needed humanitarian supplies to the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Large demonstrations in Vienna, Austria. See Kawther Salam's pics.


Erdogan may be planning to break the Gaza blockade himself.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan may personally try to break the Gaza blockade by sailing there, Lebanese newspaper Al-Mustaqbal reported on Saturday. The paper said the report was based on Turkish sources “in the know.” According to media reports, Erdogan may also consider sending Turkish Navy vessels to accompany future protest ships that head to Gaza.

A senior IOF commander said Israel would view any such attempt as an act of war and his boat will be sunk.

A senior IDF commander said Monday Israel would view an attempt by Erdogan to sail to Gaza as an act of war. "If he comes here with Turkish warships there can be no doubt that it would amount to a declaration of war," Major-Genral (Res.) Uzi Dayan told Army Radio. "We need to draw a clear line and say that whoever crosses it will not be boarded but sunk."

As if that weren't enough excitement, the Iranian Red Crescent is also sending two aid ships to Gaza this week to break the blockade.

"One ship will carry donations made by the people and the other will carry relief workers. The ships will be sent to Gaza by end of this week," Adibzadeh said....

The decision to send the two ships comes hot on the heels of a report that Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards had expressed readiness to escort aid flotillas to Gaza. "If the respected leader of the revolution (supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) gives an order in this regard, the Revolutionary Guards' naval forces will take a practical step using their capability and equipment to escort flotillas to Gaza," Khamenei's aide in the Guards' naval wing, Ali Shirazi, told the Mehr news agency on Sunday. It was unclear, however, how the Guards would escort the flotillas as their naval wing is largely made up of speed boats and light vessels.