TEL AVIV - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday told an inquiry into the Israeli naval raid on a Gaza aid flotilla that Turkey had ignored warnings and appeals "at the highest level" many days before the fatal clash. Netanyahu was the first witness to testify to the state-appointed inquiry into the lethal raid at sea on May 31, in which Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists, after boarding their vessel from a helicopter. The clash took place before dawn in international waters off Israel, after the flotilla ignored repeated Israeli warnings not to continue to Gaza. The enclave is ruled by the Hamas Islamist movement and sealed off by a tight Israeli naval blockade. "Beginning on May 14, my office held contacts with the highest levels of the Turkish government," Netanyahu said. "These contacts ... were intended to prevent a confrontation with the Marmara flotilla, and they continued until the eve of the flotilla's arrival off Gaza's shores," he said. "Despite our continuous diplomatic efforts, ultimately the Turkish government did not prevent the attempt by the Marmara to violate the naval blockade... It appears that (Turkey) did not see in the prospect of a clash between Turkish activists and Israel something that clashed with its interests..." It was Netanyahu's most explicit public account of behind-the-scenes diplomacy that in the end failed to avert the clash. Nine Turks were shot dead when Israeli commandos stormed the lead ship, Mavi Marmara. Israel says its commandos used live fire during the raid only after being attacked with clubs, knives and guns by activists who it says were clearly prepared for violence. Israel made video recordings of fighting on deck. The raid sparked a world outcry and almost ruptured Israel's relations with once-close Muslim ally Turkey. It also pushed Israel to ease restrictions of its Gaza blockade, which is aimed at preventing the territory's rulers Hamas from increasing their arsenal but also aggravates the privations of 1.5 million mostly aid-dependant Palestinians.
