The Israeli army affirmed, Monday May 23, that if one of its soldiers had fired the bullet which killed, mid-May, the Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the occupied West Bank, it did not seem, according to her , guilty of a crime.
After the preliminary investigation, the general counsel of the army, Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, estimated that“Since M.me Abu Akleh was killed in the middle of an area of intense fighting, one cannot immediately suspect criminal activity, in the absence of additional evidence”. The opening of a criminal investigation depends on the availability of other elements from « from the investigation of the army and other sources »she added.
Israel initially claimed that the Al-Jazeera journalist – who wore a bulletproof vest with the inscription « press » and a reporting helmet during an Israeli raid on the Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin – had » most likely « succumbed to Palestinian fire. The country later announced that it was not ruling out the possibility that the bullet was fired by its soldiers.
Investigation of the “circumstances of the incident”
Last week, she claimed that during the exchange of gunfire between soldiers and Palestinian gunmen “a soldier fired a few bullets from a vehicle [de l’armée] using a telescopic sight on a Palestinian who was shooting at the aforementioned vehicle”.
“The Palestinian gunman fired numerous times at the soldier [israélien] and it is possible that Mme Abu Akleh, who was close to the Palestinian gunman, behind, was hit by the soldier’s gunfire »she had specified.
The army assured, on Monday, to do « every effort to examine the circumstances of the incident in order to understand how Mme Abu Akleh was killed” and again criticized the Palestinian Authority’s decision to retain the lethal bullet. « The inability to inspect the ball (…) continues to cast doubts on the circumstances” of the incident, the army said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he wanted the Israeli authorities to « fully responsible » of the journalist’s death and refused a joint investigation with Israel: “The Israeli authorities committed this crime and we do not trust them”, he said. Al-Jazeera also accused Israeli forces of killing « deliberately » and of » cold blood « his star journalist.
The Palestinian Authority writes to the ICC
On Monday, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry announced in a statement that it had sent a missive to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the« execution by the occupier [israélien] » of Shireen Abu Akleh, urging him to “accelerate investigations and bring criminals and murderers to international justice”.
The death of this reporter, icon of Palestinian journalism, has aroused a wave of emotion in the Palestinian territories, in the Arab world, where her reports have been followed for more than two decades, in Europe and in the United States. Thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank paid tribute to him at his funeral, upset by violence by the Israeli police.
According to RSF, 35 journalists have been killed doing their job in Israel and the Palestinian territories occupied since 2000. The Israeli army has never admitted any responsibility.