A long-awaited U.N. report on a May 2010 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound ship that killed nine Turks says that Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip was legal, the New York Times reported on Thursday, according to Reuters. The report by a panel of investigators, which was due to be released on Friday but was leaked in full to the Times, also said that Israeli commandos faced "organized and violent resistance from a group of passengers." It also had some criticism of Israel. It said the amount of force used by the Israelis on board the Mavi Marmara, the largest in a flotilla of six ships that the crew said were delivering aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, was "excessive and unreasonable." The release of the so-called Palmer report was delayed repeatedly to allow for Israeli-Turkish rapprochement talks. Washington has been concerned at the rift between two countries that had been strategic partners in an increasingly stormy Middle East. The report, prepared by a U.N. panel headed by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer, was originally expected to be completed in February. But the Turks and Israelis were never able to reach an agreement on what happened and what the conclusions of the report should be, diplomats and U.N. officials said. As a result, one U.N. official said, the report is not a "consensus document." Israel, however, expressed some satisfaction. -- SPA
