"No, no such agreement had been concluded behind the scenes," Ban said at a news conference.

He was allegedly questioned the credibility of the work of this panel of four people, including a Turkish and an Israeli, he was prevented from interviewing the Israeli soldiers as claimed two members of the Israeli cabinet.

The deputy prime minister responsible for Israeli intelligence Dan Meridor, stated on August 3 that the UN commission did not ask soldiers and would be content to "verify the general picture of the situation on the day of the collision and explore ways to prevent such events happening again.

He said it took weeks of negotiations "with the Secretary General of the United Nations to determine the mandate and composition of the committee, which allowed us to reach an agreement that satisfies us."

The Israeli Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Danny Ayalon, had made similar, indicating that the group of UN experts would have access to the Israeli investigation into the incident but would not be allowed to question members commandos.

He said that they had acted "very professional, very measured" and had helped to "avoid a fiasco."

Nine Turks were killed in clashes with Israeli commandos in the collision of Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara, in international waters on May 31, when the ship trying to break the Israeli blockade around the Gaza Strip controlled by the Palestinian Islamists of Hamas.

Israel says the commandos were only defending themselves against the aggression they had wiped the time of the assault.

Ban said he would meet Tuesday with members of the panel, chaired by former Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer, New Zealand, assisted by former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. The group will also include an Israeli, Joseph Ciechanover, and a Turk, Ozdem Sanberk.

The UN Secretary General had announced the formation of this group on August 2.

The Jewish state had previously opposed the creation of an international commission of inquiry into the case and had opened two internal investigations.

Turkey, which demanded the establishment of such a panel, welcomed its establishment.

"The panel has a strong mandate, which is to examine, identify the facts and circumstances and context of the incident, and recommend ways to avoid future incidents," Ban said.

He said he had "full confidence" to the panel, he said, "decide what measures it should take, in cooperation with national authorities.

Posted by Learning Foreign Exchange on 3:44 PM. Filed under world . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0