The Arab League secretary general has urged Arab states to support Turkey in bringing Israel's attack on the Freedom Flotilla last summer and the country's blockade of Gaza before international authorities.
In a press conference on Sunday, Secretary General Nabil al-Araby said he contacted Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to consider the plan to go to the United Nations General Assembly to request an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the two issues.
"Arab countries have collective responsibility to support this move not only in their capacity as Arab states, but also as signatories of Geneva Conventions," Araby said.
He urged Arab countries to participate in the move, meant to examine the legal nature of the issues.
On 31 May last year, Israeli marines stormed a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza, killing nine pro-Palestinian activists.
European nations, as well as the UN and Turkey, voiced shock and outrage at the bloody end to the attempt to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israel's most powerful friend, the US, was more cautious, disappointing Turkey.
The UN's Palmer report issued Thursday on the raid justified Israel's blockade of the strip but accused the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) of using "excessive and unreasonable" force to stop the vessel.
The UN panel noted that the Israeli forces who boarded the flotilla to prevent it from breaching the blockade faced “organized and violent resistance from a group of passengers,” and this required the IDF to use force.
