Thousands of Palestinians attended a state funeral procession for slain Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by Israeli forces on Wednesday as she was covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank.
The procession took place in the West Bank city of Ramallah, and was attended by a number of Palestinian Authority officials including President Mahmoud Abbas, along with Abu Akleh’s colleagues from Al Jazeera, family, friends, and thousands of Palestinian mourners.
Abu Akleh’s coffin, draped in a Palestinian flag, was carried by the Palestinian honor guard after making its way from the Istishari hospital to the presidential complex in the city.
In his eulogy for the veteran journalist, President Abbas described her as “a hero who sacrificed her life in defense of her cause and her people. She was an honest and patriotic voice who conveyed the suffering of the mothers of martyrs and prisoners, the suffering of Jerusalem, the camps, the protests and the incursions into towns and villages.”
He went on to say “We hold the Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for the murder, and they will not be able with this crime to hide the truth, and this crime must not go unpunished.”
Abbas declared that the PA had refused calls for a joint investigation with Israel into Abu Akleh’s killing, “because it is they who committed the crime and because we do not trust them,” adding that his government would be taking Abu Akleh’s case to the International Criminal Court .
Abu Akleh, an icon of journalism in Palestine, was shot in the head on Wednesday by Israeli forces as they were raiding the Jenin Refugee Camp, an area where Abu Akleh had been reporting from for decades, since the Second Intifada.
She was wearing a protective helmet and a flak jacket marked with the words PRESS when she, and a group of other journalists came under fire. Abu Akleh’s fellow Al Jazeera journalist Ali al-Samoudi was shot in the back.
According to the journalists who witnessed the attack, the group came under fire from a group of Israeli snipers stationed around 150 meters away from them. The journalists, who were all marked as PRESS, said they made their presence known to the soldiers before moving through the area.
Despite the eyewitness accounts, along with video footage and geographic data collected from the scene that corroborates the journalists’ testimony, Israel has continued to deny responsibility, casting blame on Palestinian gunfire in the area.
Israeli police intercept Abu Akleh’s body in Jerusalem
Following the state procession in Ramallah, Abu Akleh’s body was transported in a convoy to her hometown of Beit Hanina in occupied East Jerusalem, where she will be buried on Friday.
Crowds of Palestinians were filmed running after the ambulance carrying Abu Abkleh’s body as it drove to Jerusalem.
According to Palestinian media reports, Israeli police reportedly intercepted the convoy after it passed through the Qalandia military checkpoint that sits between Ramallah and Jerusalem.
Wafa News Agency said that police detained Palestinian activist Shadi Mansour, and “briefly held” Walid al-Omari, Al Jazeera’s Bureau chief and Abu Akleh’s longtime colleague.
“Police inspected the ambulance carrying Abu Akleh’s body and seized her scarf which had traces of her blood and was decorated with the Palestine flag,” before allowing the convoy to proceed, Wafa reported.
Local press also reported that Israeli police summoned Abu Akleh’s brother to a station in Jerusalem for questioning.
On Wednesday Israeli police raided Abu Akleh’s family home and removed Palestinian flags that had been placed at the home’s entrance. Police also dispersed a protest in Jerusalem over her killing, with video footage on social media beating and violently detaining protesters.
Vigils and protests over Abu Akleh’s killing were held in cities across Palestine on Wednesday and Thursday, including in Bethlehem, Jenin, Haifa, and Beer al-Sabe.
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Israeli Snipers Murder Prominent American Journalist in Cold Blood, attempt to Kill her Camera Crew, as US Press Equivocates (juancole.com)
“Israeli Snipers Murder Prominent American Journalist in Cold Blood, attempt to Kill her” By Juan Cole, May 12/2, Informed CommentEXCERPT:
“Israeli snipers murdered prominent American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on Wednesday in an attempt to prevent the veteran Al Jazeera correspondent & her camera crew from filming an Israeli military attack on the Jenin refugee camp in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank.
“The Israeli army has killed 50 Palestinian journalists in the past two decades. During the Great March of Return protests in Gaza, Israeli snipers routinely shot unarmed protesters, as well as journalists & medics. In 2018 alone they killed 180 and wounded 6,000 innocent civilian protesters.
“Ms. Abu Akleh, 51, covered the Palestinians for millions of viewers at the Al Jazeera satellite television channel for some 20 years & was certainly seen as a threat to Israel’s ability to oppress the Occupied Palestinians with impunity. Israeli Army spokesman Ron Kohav said that the journalists were ‘armed with cameras.’ When you are carrying out evil Apartheid policies, you see cameras as deadly weapons.
“Ali al-Samoudi, who was shot in the back by an Israeli sniper, explained what happened. ‘We went in to film the Israeli operation. Then they opened fire at us. They made no demand that we leave, or cease. They opened fire at us. One bullet hit me & another hit Shireen, and they killed her in cold blood because they are killers. Look, they specialize in killing Palestinians.’
“A journalist says, ‘They are alleging that Palestinians shot her.’
“Al-Samoudi replies, ‘There were no resistance fighters around us.’
“Another of Ms. Abu Akleh’s colleagues, Mujahed Al-Saadi, also spoke on camera. He said that it was very clear that Ms. Abu Akleh had been targeted by the Israeli snipers, who shot her just beneath the ear. He continued, ‘What happened was that we were waiting for our colleagues to enter the refugee camp. From the first moment when we entered the camp, at that point the army was already there.”(cont’d)
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We chose a position where there were no confrontations, either with youth or with resistance fighters. We got to that point & we waited while Shireen put on her safety gear, & she arrived among us & we moved a few meters. We revealed ourselves to the army & to passers-by as TV press. We arrived & within seconds the first shot rang out.’
“I told them, we are being targeted, we are being shot at. I turned & found Shireen on the ground. I found Shatha shielding herself behind a tree and screaming. I turned and found Shireen on the ground in the first few seconds. With the firing, & we were telling each other we were being shot at. The shooting continued for more than three minutes on the team members present. Ali was injured, but he was able to cross the street to a position of safety, but even so the shooting at us continued. I took refuge under a staircase in the cement factory & the shooting continued. Shatha– the shooting was targeted at the person the sniper saw was taking cover behind the tree –our colleague Shatha Hanaysheh, & the shooting toward her continued, while she was standing under the tree & we could not provide first aid to Shireen. The youth came to us, the ones that were in the street, who were trying to pull Shireen — they were also shot at, whenever anyone moved forward, they were shot at.”
“It seems clear that the Israeli snipers viewed the camera crew as dangerous to their raid on Jenin. They likely intended to do things to the Palestinians there that they did not want filmed. They therefore attempted to kill the entire team. They murdered Shireen Abu Akleh & shot Ali al-Samoudi, & were trying to shoot Shatha Hanayesh as she sheltered behind a tree. They continued firing for three minutes & seemed to have wanted to make sure Ms. Abu Akleh bled out & could not receive any first aid by pinning down anyone who approached her. They treated these journalists as high value targets marked for removal with extreme prejudice.
“Marc Owen Jones, an information specialist who has blown the whistle on large numbers of trolling operations, made fun of the attempt of the Israeli army to muddy the waters with a misleading video, in a brazen & ridiculous attempt to blame Palestinians for the death….”
For years it has seemed plausible death by sniper explained the one or two periodic deaths. Possibly ordered up for the purpose, or expectation, of creating rage which could be relied upon to produce revenge. Violence by the oppressed has long been useful currency for further oppression.The death of Abu Akleh, likely by sniper, may have doubled as revenge for spilling innocent Israeli blood. The following less precise shots may have been cover.
Apparently the IDF thugs assaulted mourners at one point, has banned Palestinian flags being carried/shown, is being provocative, and is making even this funeral a hardship for the Palestinian people. Evil personified.
This evil nation is furious that the world is shocked, has condemned this senseless assassination, and shown sympathy for this poor lady, and the Palestinians. It looks like their lies, justifications, blame, and arrogance, are not working this time, thanks to BT’selem, and first hand witnesses.
Israel deserves world condemnation and it is time they faced the consequences of their crimes.
They have killed nearly 50 journalists for documenting and reporting their crimes, and they bombed an entire Media building. Those who send them aid and weapons, keep enabling them.
The world can see for themselves who the victims of this brutal occupation really are. They should realize by now that this is what the Palestinian people have been going through for decades. The pain and suffering inflicted by an occupying power, constantly playing the victim, while killing and injuring unarmed civilians. They have killed with snipers, journalists, medics, and unarmed children.
What kind of “democracy” is this? Israel is a racist, vindictive, evil, apartheid nation, that is supported, armed, and protected, by the US, UK, Canada, and the Western world.
As for the calls for investigations by our very own government, and that of the UK, let us not get fooled – they make a lot of noise, but will quietly allow the criminals to get away with murder again.
Shame on them all. They are complicit in this assassination too.
Still no evidence that the IDF “murdered” this Muslim Brotherhood operative or that the bullet was fired from the IDF at all.