OIC, Arab League lash out at Palmer report as 'biased'

A UN report on the killing of eight Turks and one Turkish-American in an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound ship a year ago, which has so far failed to trigger an apology from the Jewish state, has drawn a harsh reaction from leading regional organizations, which called the report “biased.” Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu on Saturday called on the international community to exert as much pressure as possible on Israel to lift the illegal blockade it imposes on the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza, while he expressed dismay at the UN report on the raid that said Israel's naval blockade of Gaza was a legal security measure. Ihsanoglu also voiced support for Turkey's reaction to the report, apparently lending support to Turkey's expulsion of Israel's ambassador and the severing of military ties with Israel. The OIC chief said he believed the UN Panel of Inquiry’s report “failed to reflect an objective and unbiased position, as it considered the Israeli blockade of Gaza legal and appropriate.” “The OIC cannot accept any report that would whitewash Israel’s attack on the humanitarian flotilla and condone Israel’s illegal blockade against the Palestinian civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip. The Israeli blockade on Gaza is an unjustified collective punishment conducted illegally by an occupying power. Israel should be compelled to lift this embargo and be held accountable for all its illegal actions,” Ihsanoglu said, calling once again for an “objective and even-handed” probe into the flotilla incident. Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Al-Arabi has, meanwhile, stated that Turkey’s reaction against Israel was appropriate and normal, the Anatolia news agency reported. “As far as I reviewed it, many facts have been ignored in the UN report which shows the blockage of Gaza as legitimate. The decision taken by Turkey is an appropriate and normal reaction. It is the decision which would be expected from Turkey,” Al-Arabi said in response to a question from Anatolia during a press conference in Cairo on Saturday