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| The body of Fadel Shana lying down close to a Palestinian child after being hit by Israeli tank shell |
Palestinian journalists carrying the body of Fadel who was killed by Israeli tank missile |
Israel kills Gaza Journalist
Fadel Shana just had to go to the scene of the Israeli bombing. As a Reuters cameraman, that was his job. He
wasn't the only one killed, but through his pursuit of attacks as they happen, he was always more at risk than most others.
Fadel Shana was killed Wednesday because he was in the firing line, but also because, eyewitnesses said, he
had begun to film the tanks that were firing. A barrage of metal shrapnel pierced his body as a tank missile landed close to him.
Fadel Shana, 23, had been injured in August 2006 in the north of the Gaza Strip in an Israeli missile attack. This time he wasn't lucky enough to survive.
After the first missile that killed Fadel, a second tank missile directly hit the Reuters vehicle in which Fadel had been travelling, killing two children and another civilian close by, and injuring 12 others, including five children. Wafa Abu Mezyed, 25, a
Reuters sound man, was injured.
The Reuters silver coloured Mitsubishi SUV carried 'TV' and 'Press' stickers in English and Arabic prominently across its doors, hood, and roof. And yet it was attacked more than once. Agency-France Press photographer Mohammed Abed who was driving behind Abed said the vehicle burst into flames after the second missile struck it. "I saw the body and head of my
friend and colleague torn to pieces," he said, visibly shattered by the loss.
Fadel Shana was among many journalists and photographers who had come to film the children and civilians injured by earlier Israeli air strikes and tank shelling. At least 20 Palestinians have been killed since dawn on Wednesday, among them Fadel and eight children.
Abu Mezyed said that after filming some children, Fadel turned to film Israeli tanks. That was when a tank immediately fired a missile in his direction, killing him.
Journalists have long been targeted in the region. Since September 2000, Israeli forces have killed nine journalists, and have wounded at least 170 others.
Reuters has 70 journalists and other members of the media in Palestinian and Israeli areas, 15 of them in Gaza. Last October, a Reuters photographer was injured by Israeli occupation forces close to the Erez crossing.
The killing of Fadel Shana has raised new concern among Gaza's journalists. The Fatah party which runs the administration in the West Bank has called the killing of journalists "assassinating the truth." Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum said "the Israeli occupation targets journalists in order to kill the truth."
The Palestinian Journalists Union announced a strike on Thursday in protest against the killing of journalists. Reuters editor-in-chief David Schlesinger called for an investigation. "This tragic incident shows the risks journalists take every day to report
the news. All governments and organisations have a responsibility to take the utmost care to protect professionals trying to do their jobs," he said in a comment posted on the agency website.
"Our thoughts are with his family. We request an immediate investigation into the incident by the Israeli defence forces." The group Reporters Without Borders also called on Israeli authorities "to quickly investigate the circumstances that led to the Reuters cameraman's death."
Israel apologised for the killing of Fadel Shana, and pledged to investigate the circumstances of his killing.
Thousands attended the funeral of Fadel Shana Thursday. With his body was carried another stretcher bearing his camera.
But the attacks continue, for others to suffer, and still others to film. The attacks on Juhor al-Dik village, east of Bureij refugee camp have injured 35 people, at least eight of them critically. The injured include 17 children and a woman, according to the
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR).
And there is not enough fuel for ambulances to get to the injured. Some of the injured have been brought to hospital on donkey carts.
The latest Israeli assault follows what the Ezz al-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, an armed wing of Hamas, called a "sophisticated ambush" in which three Israeli soldiers were killed.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday: "We are aware of the suffering of the people of Gaza,
but in our eyes, the suffering of the residents of communities that border on that area, and those of the Israeli army count more."
MIDEAST: Israel Strengthens Hamas Leadership
GAZA CITY - The one political result of Israel's attacks and sanctions on Gaza has been that the Hamas leadership, and particularly Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, have emerged greatly strengthened.
Over the last three months, support for Haniyeh has overtaken that for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah party. Fatah rules the West Bank, and Hamas Gaza, the two main Palestinian territories.
A poll conducted in March by the independent Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research shows that Abbas has lost a 19 percent advantage over Haniyeh over the past three months. Now, the poll suggests Haniyeh would get 47 percent of the Palestinian vote, and Abbas 46 percent.
The poll was carried out among 1,270 adults, 830 in the West Bank and 440 in the Gaza Strip, at 127 randomly selected locations.
Popularity for Haniyeh increased after the breaching of the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt, said Dr Khalil Shikaki, head of the survey centre. The breach is believed to have been the work of Hamas, and it helped Palestinians bring in badly needed provisions denied earlier by an Israeli blockade.
The continuing Israeli attacks that brought a large number of casualties in recent weeks has also brought increased sympathy and support for Haniyeh, Shikaki told IPS.
The Hamas movement has been swiftly labelled 'terrorist' by Western governments. Israel has said it cannot deal with Haniyeh because he refuses to recognise Israel. He has been accused of failure to honour the Oslo accords of 1993. These accords were signed between Mahmoud Abbas for the Palestinians and Israel's President, Shimon Peres. The accords brought the first acknowledgement from Palestinians of Israel's right to exist, and agreement on the creation of a Palestinian state.
Haniyeh's position on these issues too has brought him increased support among Palestinians. "The Oslo agreements said that a Palestinian state would be established by 1999," Haniyeh said in an interview to IPS. "Where is this Palestinian state? Has Oslo given the right to Israel to reoccupy the West Bank, to build the wall and expand the settlements, and to Judaize Jerusalem and make it totally Jewish?
"Has Israel been given the right to disrupt work on the port and airport in Gaza? Has Oslo given it the right to besiege Gaza, and to stop all tax refunds to the Palestinians?"
Haniyeh is dismissive of the conditions imposed on Hamas. Israel and much of the international community, with backing from Abbas, have said they will deal with a Hamas government only if it recognises Israel, honours existing agreements, and renounces violence.
"We are surprised that such conditions are imposed on us," said Haniyeh. "Why don't they direct such conditions and questions to Israel? Has Israel respected its agreements? Israel has bypassed practically all agreements. We say, let Israel recognise the legitimate right of Palestinians first, and then we will have a position regarding this. Which Israel should we recognise?
Hamas won the elections held in Gaza Jan. 25, 2006, taking 76 seats in the assembly to Fatah's 43. But Fatah refused to hand over full control to Hamas, and Hamas then seized control of the Gaza administration by force in June 2007.
This has brought a strange situation. Former political prisoners from Hamas, jailed by Fatah on Western prompting, now occupy power, sometimes alongside men who were their jailors.
And among them too, Haniyeh is winning increased respect by the day. Unlike Fatah leaders, Haniyeh moves without escort, and mixes freely with people on the streets. He has turned down the offer of 4,000 dollars a month as salary, and accepts only 1,500 dollars, which is what he needs, he says, for his family that includes 13 children. And he still lives in his old house in Shati Camp, one of the poorest refugee camps in the east of Gaza City.
Ismail Haniyeh was born in 1963 to a family of refugees originally from al-Jouar village now in Israel. He graduated from the Islamic University in Gaza City in Arabic. As a student he was a member of the Islamic Bloc, the student wing of Muslim Brotherhood that would later become Hamas. Even through his student days in the 1980s, he was often at odds with Fatah members. Haniyeh later became an administrator at Islamic University.
Israeli troops jailed him four times, and sent him into exile (in Lebanon) in December 1992 along with about 400 other Hamas and Islamic Jihad members. He returned to his job as administrator in 1994, but was branded a terrorist. He worked closely with then Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. He took a prominent public role only after an Israeli missile killed the wheelchair-bound Sheikh Yassin on Mar. 21, 2004.
Haniyeh has since proven himself a forceful speaker – and a patient listener. That, along with the many social activities in which he leads Hamas, such as support for orphans and hospitals, has put Hamas in good standing. He makes it a point to visit Gaza's Christians and their churches, and his supporters say he is no Taleban leader.
But he has drawn new opposition too. "He has brought no development of the area, but only more problems," said a Gaza resident who did not wish to be named. "He has made it easy for Israel and America to carry out their plans against Palestinian people. He is a preacher, not a politician; if he was a politician, conditions today would not be so unbearable."
Haniyeh narrowly escaped an Israeli attack in December 2003. And many Gazans worry what might happen now if the Israelis assassinate him and other Hamas political leaders as they move around openly. "Then who will look after the 1.5 million Palestinians of Gaza," said a resident. Israel has said it will keep up its policy of political assassinations.
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