Israel messes with Tutu

According to al-Jazeera Israel is refusing to allow Reverend Tutu of South Africa to carry out a fact-finding mission in Palestine:

Desmond Tutu, a Nobel laureate, says that Israel has refused him permission to lead a fact-finding mission to investigate Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Tutu was to begin leading a six-member team over the past weekend in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun to investigate the killings of 19 civilians in an Israeli artillery barrage last month.

But Israel failed to grant them the necessary travel clearance.

"We find the lack of co-operation by the Israeli government very distressing, as well as its failure to allow the mission timely passage to Israel," Tutu said. "We have, in our view, been turned down."

Well what a surprise. You'd think if Israel was keen to deny that it's an apartheid state it would be thrilled to have an expert on apartheid come and give them a clean bill of political health. Sometimes I think Israel has something to hide.