RAMALLAH // Israel yesterday urged the UN to shelve plans for an international investigation into its navy's deadly raid last month on a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid, the first sign that Israel is beginning to seek payback for easing its blockade on Gaza.
Speaking in New York after meeting Ban Ki-moon, the UN's secretary general, Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, said he had told Mr Ban that "as long as ... new flotillas are in the preparation, it's probably better to leave it [a UN investigation] on the shelf for a certain time."
Mr Barak also said he told Mr Ban that the current five-person panel that Israel formed last week, which includes two international observers, was "clearly independent, reliable, credible and should be allowed to work".
There was no immediate response from the UN. The UN's Human Rights Council on June 2 called specifically for an international inquiry, and pressure for such a probe is unlikely to end, especially from Turkey.
Eight of the nine killed aboard the Mavi Maramara, a Turkish-flagged ship that was part of the six-boat flotilla intercepted by the Israeli navy on May 31, were Turks, while the other was an American national of Turkish origin.
That Turkey should be happy with any investigation was a point further underlined by Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, in remarks delivered at the European Parliament last Wednesday. Ms Ashton said Israel's own commission of inquiry was a "step forward", but added that the EU would wait for the findings of the committee "before drawing further conclusions".
Those seeking clarity as to the events on board the Mavi Maramara will hardly be buoyed by the news yesterday that the same commandos that rapelled onto the deck of the Marmara under cover of darkness deep in international waters last month have been tasked with intercepting a new flotilla of aid ships, these from Lebanon, due to arrive this weekend.
Moreover, an army spokesman yesterday told the Israeli Yedioth Ahronot newspaper that, "all those harmed during the incident were extremists, not innocent civilians", further undermining confidence that Israel will be able to investigate itself thoroughly. The Israeli army maintains that the interception, while failing in some key intelligence areas, was broadly successful.
The Israeli government may thus well feel that a substantial easing of the blockade on Gaza will be enough to head off significant pressure for an international inquiry. The position of Washington is in this case crucial.
The US administration on Monday welcomed the statement by the Israeli government announcing an easing of the blockade, with Robert Gibbs, a White House spokesman, saying the administration believed it "should improve life for the people of Gaza". But the US is at odds with several of its international partners on this point.
The UN, along with the US a member of the international quartet of Middle East mediators that also includes the EU and Russia, has repeatedly called for a complete end to Israel's blockade on Gaza, and a UN spokesman yesterday repeated that message. Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for UNRWA, the United Nations relief agency that looks after Palestinian refugees, told news agencies on the sidelines of a conference in Cairo yesterday: "We need to have the blockade fully lifted.
"The Israeli strategy is to make the international community talk about a bag of cement here, a project there. We need full unfettered access through all the crossings."
Turkey, too, is unlikely to be appeased by the easing of the blockade. Turkey, a Nato member, is also an important ally to the US in Iraq, more so as the date for the scheduled withdrawal of US troops draws nearer. Ankara so far shows no sign of being willing to step back from its demand for an international investigation.
Domestic pressure on the US administration to continue its unquestioned support of Israel may therefore clash in this instance with foreign US strategic considerations to ensure that the administration can stick to its timeline and leave a relatively stable Iraq, for which Turkey's assistance is crucial.
Israel is gambling that the more time that passes, the more sentiments may cool and pressure for an international investigation will ease.
But Israel may yet have to take more steps to help Washington appease Turkey, by extending, for example, and for the sake of US-sponsored indirect negotiations with the PLO, its partial freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank and including explicitly East Jerusalem, if not fully ending the Gaza blockade.
But with a government dominated by right-wing parties with deep ties to the settlement lobby, it is not clear how far Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister who has so far been forced onto the back foot by his navy's handling of the flotilla raid, can or will go towards pleasing the international community.
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Specs
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
