Palestinians remember slain journalist

Journalist

One year after the death of Al-Jazeera reporter, Shireen Abu Akleh, a well-known figure in the Arab world, several memorial services were planned in the West Bank.

The journalist was shot dead during an Israeli military operation in Jenin in the northern West Bank on 11 May 2022.

To mark the anniversary, the Ramallah municipality plans to lay the foundation stone for a museum dedicated to her at 3.30 p.m (1230 GMT).

In addition, Bir Zeit University near Ramallah will announce three winners of a media award named after Abu Akleh.

The death of the Palestinian reporter, who was also a U.S. citizen, caused an international outcry.

An Israeli military investigation concluded that the shooting could not be clearly attributed, but was “very likely’’ accidentally fired by an Israeli soldier.

There was also a firefight with Palestinian militants during the operation. No criminal investigation was launched.

Al-Jazeera television took the case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague in December.

It accused Israel of directly firing on the journalist and her colleagues.

The perpetrators would have to be held accountable and brought to justice, the broadcaster said.

The United States also investigated the case and was unable to reach a definitive conclusion about the origin of the bullet that killed Abu Akleh.

However, a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) describes routine obfuscation and failure to properly investigate by the Israeli military.

It says the journalists’ deaths and insufficient responses constitute a “grave threat to press freedom’’.

It comes ahead of the first anniversary of the killing of Shireen Abu Aqla.

The vast majority of the journalists killed in the last two decades were Palestinians.

Since 2001, 18 Palestinians and two European foreign journalists, one Italian and one British had been killed by Israeli military fire and no-one has ever been charged or held to account, a report says.

(dpa/NAN)