The Israeli Army Military Police do not plan to open a criminal investigation into the death of the Palestinian-American journalist, Al Jazeera Shireen Abu Akleh, caused last week during a raid in Jenin, north of the occupied West Bank.
Despite acknowledging the Army in its preliminary examination that Akleh may have been killed by Israeli firethe criminal investigation division of the Military Police will not open an internal investigation in this regard, as published this Thursday, May 19, by the Hebrew newspaper ‘Haaretz’.
Consulted by Efe, the Israeli Army has not confirmed this information, which has already provoked numerous reactions, including that of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry demanded in a statement that Israel indicate “what is the legal basis for such a decisionignoring dozens of testimonies, evidence and the results of the autopsy”.
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The veteran journalist died from the impact of a gunshot in the face while covering an Israeli Army operation on May 11 in the Jenin refugee camp, despite being perfectly identified as the press and protected with a vest and helmet.
Both witnesses to the event – most of them fellow journalists – as well as the media ‘Al Jazeera’ and the ANP immediately blamed Israeli soldiers for the shot that killed her. The Israeli government was quick to blame “armed Palestinians” who opened fire on its security forces.
In his preliminary report, submitted on the same day as Akleh’s funeral two days after his death, the Israeli Army admitted that there were “two possibilities” about the source of the lethal bullet: armed Palestinians “who fired hundreds of bullets from various places”; or an Israeli soldier returning fire at a Palestinian militiaman Akleh was close to.
“The Palestinian gunman fired multiple rounds at the Israeli soldier, and there is a possibility that Abu Akleh, who was close to the Palestinian gunman behind him, was hit by the soldier’s shots towards the Palestinians. The distance between the Army vehicle (from which the soldier fired) and Mrs. Abu Akleh was about 200 meters away,” the military report admitted.
Nevertheless, the Army pointed out that without examining the bullet it is impossible to determine who killed herfor which he offered a joint investigation to the PNA, which has refused to collaborate with the Israeli authorities by not trusting their impartiality, but has promised to undertake a “transparent” investigation and even to bring the case before the Criminal Court International.
(Keep reading: Israel comes to a standstill for two minutes in memory of Holocaust victims).
“The decision of the occupation army is not surprising and falls within the framework of the usual practices of the Israeli military establishment of burying their execution crimes on the ground without any investigation or attributing them to unidentified persons, in order to protect their criminals,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, May 19.
The death of the well-known Al Jazeera journalist has provoked a wave of condemnations from numerous governments and human rights and press freedom organizations, which demand an independent investigation..
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EFE
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