"Mistakes were made in the various decisions taken, including within relatively senior ranks, which contributed to the result not being as we would have wished," retired general Giora Eiland told journalists in Tel Aviv, presenting the results of the military probe.

"In this inquiry we found that there were some professional mistakes regarding both the intelligence and the decision-making process," said Eiland, who chaired the panel tasked with examining how the operation unfolded.

The Eiland Committee began its work on June 7, exactly a week after Israeli commandos launched a pre-dawn raid on a Turkish ferry carrying more than 600 activists.

In the resulting fracas, nine Turks, including a US national, were shot dead and dozens of other people injured, including nine Israeli commandos.

The raid, conducted in international waters, provoked a global backlash against Israel and prompted widespread calls for an international probe.

The Israeli government rejected the demands and instead ordered the military to launch an internal investigation, and it set up a separate panel to look into the legality of the raid.

Chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi said the military report had found no evidence of "negligence."

"Neither I nor the investigating team detected any omission or negligence, but certainly, in an investigation as thorough as this, errors were found which must be corrected for the future," Ashkenazi said in a statement.

Details in the 150-page report also concluded the use of live fire was "justified" and that troops who boarded the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara had behaved in a "very professional and courageous way."

"The report ... determines that the use of live fire was justified and that the entire operation is estimable," a military statement said.

"They only used force when they were under immediate danger to their lives," Eiland said.

Video footage showed the commandos being beaten with sticks as they boarded the Mavi Marmara ferry and Israel says its commandos only used force after they were attacked.

Eiland said the committee had found evidence at least one firearm was on the ship and that guns were taken off some of the troops.

He said it appeared that the first shot fired targeted the second soldier to rappel onto the ship from a helicopter.

"There were at least four events when people who were on the ship shot at our soldiers."

The activists on board the Mavi Marmara insist that the troops opened fire as soon as they landed.

Investigators also found flaws in intelligence gathering and said the navy failed to sufficiently consider the possibility the troops could encounter violent resistance during the operation.

"The team concluded that not all possible intelligence gathering methods were fully implemented and that the coordination between navy intelligence and the Israel defence intelligence was insufficient," the military said.

The anticipated level of violence used "was underestimated," it said, noting that the troops had not prepared any alternative course of action.

The retired general presented the team's conclusions to Ashkenazi and other military top brass involved in the preparations and the actual boarding of the flotilla, including Defence Minister Ehud Barak.

Israel has consistently argued in favour of its right to stop vessels travelling to Gaza since they could be carrying weapons for Hamas, an Islamist movement which controls that Palestinian territory.

It has vowed to prevent any future attempts to breach the naval blockade, including the latest bid by a Libyan-chartered freighter, which currently appears to be heading to Gaza despite a flurry of diplomatic efforts to divert it to Egypt.

The team "on the vessel has said morale on board is high and that they are preparing to enter Gaza on Wednesday," according to the organisers, the Kadhafi Foundation charity run by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam.

earlier related report
Israel to probe killing of West Bank activist: rights group
Jerusalem (AFP) July 12, 2010 - Israel's military has launched an investigation into the killing of a Palestinian activist during a West Bank protest more than a year ago, the Israeli rights group B'Tselem said on Monday.

The group said the army had performed a U-turn after initially refusing to look into the killing of Bassem Abu Rahmeh, 30, who was struck in the chest by a tear-gas canister on April 17, 2009 at a protest in the village of Bilin.

The decision to investigate follows a B'Tselem probe into the incident, spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli said.

The military would not immediately confirm if it had opened an investigation.

"This is such a clear-cut case, it was so blatant, that the refusal to investigate was just wrong," Michaeli said, adding that the incident was captured by three separate video cameras.

She added, however, that it was "extremely rare" for Israeli soldiers to be held accountable for killing Palestinian civilians. "The track record is not good," she said.

B'Tselem said the decision was announced in a letter to Abu Rahmeh's lawyer Michael Sfard, who had threatened to petition the supreme court after an international forensics team found that troops had fired the canister at him in violation of firing regulations.

The high-velocity projectiles are designed to disperse crowds but can be lethal if fired directly at individuals.

The canister which struck Abu Rahmeh was similar to one that hit US activist Tristan Anderson in the head in March 2009 at a protest in the nearby village of Nilin, causing serious brain damage.

Residents of the two West Bank villages, along with foreign and Israeli supporters, hold weekly protests against the construction of Israel's controversial separation barrier.

The demonstrations are billed as non-violent but clashes frequently erupt, with Palestinian youths slinging stones and Israeli troops firing tear-gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets.

In a video of the incident released by B'Tselem, Abu Rahmeh can be seen shouting at the soldiers from the village side of the fence for several minutes before the tear-gas canister hits him in the chest.

He then stumbles a few (metres) yards before falling to the ground, as a bloodstain expands across the front of his bright yellow shirt. The three graphic videos can be viewed at www.situstudio.com/bil-in/.

At the time of the incident, the military concluded that the canister had accidentally ricocheted off a wire, B'Tselem said. Its conclusion, which was based on statements by soldiers, was rejected by the forensics team.

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