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Shireen Abu Akleh: Palestinians United in Memory of Journalist

Published

4 years ago

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Shireen was killed by Israeli forces in Jenin, in the north of the occupied West Bank

 

For many, Shireen Abu Akleh was the voice of Palestine – outrage at her killing has brought together Palestinians from across religions and sects.

Occupied East Jerusalem – As birds sat on the gravestone of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and chirped a cheerful morning tune, Mohammed Shennawy, a Palestinian Muslim from Nazareth walked through the cemetery gates.

The 71-year-old retired teacher, who had travelled from the northern city, greeted the guards at the cemetery entrance and then asked for the location of the veteran Al Jazeera journalist’s grave.

“I’ve come to read the Fatiha on her pure soul,” said Shennawy in reference to the opening chapter of the Quran, the recital of which is a ritual Muslims practice when grieving the death of a loved one.

“I never knew that Shireen was Christian, and it never mattered. She was a symbol of Palestinian unity in her lifetime and in her death,” he added before making his way to the gravestone, reciting verses from the holy book of Islam.

Mohammed Shennawy, A Palestinian Muslim from Nazareth says Shireen Abu Akleh was a symbol of Palestinian identity and unity.
Mohammed Shennawy, a Muslim Palestinian from Nazareth says Shireen was a symbol of Palestinian identity and unity 

Shireen was killed by Israeli forces in Jenin, in the north of the occupied West Bank, as she covered an Israeli raid on the city’s refugee camp on May 11. Al Jazeera said she was “assassinated in cold blood”.

After three days of processions that started in Jenin and passed through the occupied West Bank cities of Nablus and Ramallah, her body reached Jerusalem, where it was laid to rest.

Although a Greek Melkite herself, Shireen was buried at a Greek Orthodox cemetery on Mount Zion, just outside the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem. Her body was laid to rest next to those of her Greek Orthodox mother and grandfather, and her Greek Melkite father.

For Abu Khaled, a Palestinian Christian who has served Jerusalem’s Christian cemeteries for 40 years, Shireen’s burial was like no other he had witnessed.

“I’ve been in this business for decades. Never had I seen such a force … such sadness and strength in one go,” he told Al Jazeera.

Abu Khaled, a Palestinian Christian who has served Jerusalem’s Christian cemeteries for 40 years, says Shireen Abu Akleh’s burial was like no other he had witnessed.
Abu Khaled, a Palestinian Christian who has served Jerusalem’s Christian cemeteries for 40 years, says Shireen’s burial was like no other he had witnessed

Beyond religious divides

Ahead of the arrival of her casket to the Christian quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City, thousands of Palestinians, Christian and Muslim, gathered to receive it.

Posters of Shireen were seen paired with the cross and other Christian symbols, while others were superimposed on building tops overlooking the Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam’s third-holiest site.

Muslims and Christians stood side by side as pallbearers carried Shireen’s casket through the gates of the St Joseph Hospital, where her body was kept, before they moved towards the cemetery. They prayed together, each in their own way, to bid Shireen farewell.

“Shireen was the daughter of Jerusalem, all of it, Muslims and Christians,” said Laila Mohammed, a Muslim resident of Jerusalem, who took part in the funeral prayers that day.

“Shireen always covered news developments from Damascus Gate,” added the 55-year-old, referring to one of the main entrances to the Muslim Quarter in the Old City, and a point of ongoing confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli police.

Laila Mohamed, a 55 year-old Palestinian Muslim from Jerusalem said Abu Akleh attended Abu Akleh's funeral prayers.
Laila Mohamed, a 55-year-old Muslim Palestinian from Jerusalem, said she attended Shireen’s funeral prayers 

“In her life and in her death, she was a force that united us around the Palestinian cause. It never was, nor will be, important whether she was Muslim or Christian,” she added.

Expanding on the same point, Archbishop Atallah Hanna, head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem said: “Shireen was a Christian, but she fought for the freedom of Christian holy sites the same way she did for those of Muslims.”

“We always saw her report from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the same way we saw her report from the grounds of the Aqsa Mosque compound,” explained the archbishop.

“She was a symbol of our nation, our people, our cause and oneness as Palestinians,” he added. “We, both Muslims and Christians, will remain forever proud of her.”

After three days of nationwide processions that started in Jenin and passed through the occupied West Bank cities of Nablus and Ramallah, Shireen Abu Akleh's body reached Jerusalem, where the revered journalist was born and then laid to rest.
After three days of processions that started in Jenin and passed through the occupied West Bank cities of Nablus and Ramallah, the revered journalist’s body reached Jerusalem, where she was laid to rest

Uniting Palestinian Christians

As Shireen’s casket made its way out of the hospital, Israeli police attacked the mourners and pallbearers, causing them to nearly drop the coffin on the ground.

But while Israeli forces attacked the procession, the sound of bells from the churches of Jerusalem’s various Christian sects rose in unison.

“All the churches in Jerusalem, from across the various Christian sects, united in their decision to ring their bells together in her memory,” said Garo Sandrouni, a shop owner in the Old City in Jerusalem and a member of the Armenian Orthodox community.

He explained that the Christian community in Jerusalem was deeply divided, making it unheard of for Jerusalem’s churches to come together in any event. Yet they did, for Shireen.

A reflection of intra-Christian division in Jerusalem shows in one of Christianity’s holiest sites, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre – the place where Christ is believed to have died, been buried, and was resurrected.

The church is shared by six Christian claimant communities that have defended their rights over various parts of the complex and continue to challenge one another.

Garo Sandrouni, a shop owner in the Old City in Jerusalem and member of the Armenian Orthodox community, says Shireen Abu Akleh's funeral saw Jerusalem's various churches come together to bid her farewell.
Garo Sandrouni, a shop owner in the Old City in Jerusalem and a member of the Armenian Orthodox community, says Shireen’s funeral saw Jerusalem’s various churches come together to bid her farewell 

“Everyone knows that the Christian sects can’t stand each other. We have a lot of divisions and differences amongst us,” said Sandrouni.

“The fact that they [the churches] all united so quickly to celebrate her legacy and bid her farewell, shows how big of a symbol and meaning Shireen was for all Palestinian Christians,” he added.

Abd Shaheen, a guard at the graveyard where Shireen’s body was laid to rest, and a member of the Greek Orthodox community, agreed.

“As Palestinian Christians, we never celebrated nor grieved together,” said Shaheen as he lit a cigarette and sat on a bench near Shireen’s grave.

“Even Jesus couldn’t unite us the way Shireen did,” said Shaheen. “And so, despite the sadness, there was beauty amid this devastating event.”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
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Foreign

Israel’s War On Gaza: List of Key Events, Day 101

Published

3 years ago

on

15th January 2024

By

Israel's war on Gaza: List of key events, day 101 | Israel War on Gaza News | Al Jazeera

Dozens of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes in central and south Gaza as Red Sea tensions rise.

Here’s how things stand on Monday, January 15, 2024:

Latest updates and human impact

  • Israeli attacks continue unabated overnight killing and wounding dozens of civilians in central and southern Gaza. At least 22 people were killed and a large number injured as a result of Israeli forces targeting al-Thalatheni Street in the central Gaza Strip.
  • Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired an antiship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea, which was shot down by a US fighter jet, announced US Central Command (CENTCOM) on X.
  • This was the first US-acknowledged Houthi attack since the US strikes on Yemen on Friday.
  • Hamas released a 37-second video showing three Israeli captives held in Gaza on Sunday, saying they would reveal the fate of the captives on Monday and urging the Israeli government to stop the offensive.
  • The Israeli military says it has shifted to a new phase of the war focused on the southern end of Gaza, where almost 2 million internally displaced Palestinians are running out of safe spaces to shelter.
  • The Gaza Ministry of Health has said almost 24,000 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive. More than 60,000 people have been wounded in 100 days of war.

Diplomacy

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that his country will pursue its war against Hamas until victory and will not be stopped by anyone, including the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
  • The White House said on Sunday that “it’s the right time” for Israel to scale back its military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
  • Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS) said in a statement on Sunday that one of the biggest obstacles to the timely delivery of sufficient aid to Gaza was Israeli inspection of the aid. The statement came after Israel blamed Cairo for the delay in aid delivery to Gaza during its defence at the ICJ.
  • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken posted on X on Monday, calling for the release of the remaining captives held in Gaza on the 100th day since they were taken by Hamas. He did not mention the Palestinian casualties.
  • Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who described herself as a “friend of Israel” to the press, will travel to Jordan, Israel, the occupied Palestinian Territories and the United Arab Emirates this week, her office said on Monday.

West Bank raids and violence

  • Israeli forces arrested 25 students staging a sit-in in protest against high tuition fees at An-Najah University in Nablus. Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut reported that the protesting students received a text message from Israeli forces telling them to “surrender now”.
  • Israeli forces have reportedly raided the family home of Nael al-Barghouti, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, in the village of Kobar, in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
  • The Israeli army said on Friday that it killed three Palestinian men who infiltrated a West Bank settlement and fired upon soldiers.
  • The Israeli military killed two Palestinians after accusing them of ramming their car through a checkpoint near Hebron.
  • Local sources reported that Israeli forces bulldozed two Palestinian-owned houses during a Sunday midnight raid in the city of Qalqilya, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
  • Armed Israeli settlers broke into the village of Burin, south of Nablus, and attacked Palestinian residents’ houses and properties after midnight on Sunday, Wafa reported.
  • “Violent raids and arrests have become part of the fabric of daily life in the occupied West Bank,” Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said. At least 347 Palestinians have been killed and thousands have been arrested since October 7.

 

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
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Hamas Says Will Kill Hostages if Israeli Attacks On Gaza Civilians Continue

Published

3 years ago

on

10th October 2023

By

Flames and smoke billow during Israeli attacks against Gaza on October 9, 2023

Human Rights Watch terms Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s call for a ‘complete siege’ on Gaza a ‘war crime’.

The Hamas movement has threatened to kill an Israeli hostage every time Israel bombs a Palestinian home without warning as Israel mobilised some 300,000 reservists and imposed a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, denying the enclave’s millions of residents access to food, water and fuel.

The warning from Hamas came on Monday as the death toll from the armed group’s surprise weekend attack climbed to 900 in Israel and revenge attacks by Israeli forces on the besieged Gaza Strip killed more than 700 people and left some 3,700 others wounded.

Residential apartment blocks, hospitals, schools and a mosque have been among the sites attacked by Israeli fighter jets, artillery and drones, according to media reports and witnesses.

Hamas spokesperson Abu Ubaida issued the threat to kill Israelis from the dozens held captive by the armed group. He said an Israeli hostage would be killed for every Israeli bombing of a civilian house without warning.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said more than 100 people were taken captive by Hamas during the deadly cross-border incursion over the weekend.

As Israeli forces conducted intense retaliatory attacks on Gaza on Monday, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant drew international condemnation by announcing a total blockade of the densely populated and besieged enclave, which is home to 2.3 million people.

Gallant said Israel would impose a “complete siege” on Gaza. “No electricity, no food, no water, no gas – it’s all closed.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply distressed” by the siege announcement and warned that Gaza’s already dire humanitarian situation will now “only deteriorate exponentially”.

A mourner carries the body of Palestinian boy Saad Lubbad, who health officials said was killed in Israeli strikes, during his funeral in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 9, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
A mourner carries the body of Palestinian boy Saad Lubbad, who health officials said was killed in an Israeli attack, during his funeral in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 9, 2023 [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

Guterres also said some 137,000 people were taking shelter with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) at schools across Gaza.

UNRWA said on Tuesday that almost 190,000 people have been displaced in Gaza amid the Israeli attacks and the figure is expected to grow further as the violence intensifies.

Nearly half a million people have also not received food rations this week in Gaza as UN food distribution centres have been forced to remain closed amid the Israeli onslaught, UNRWA said.

Human Rights Watch said Israel’s total blockade on the necessities of life for everyday people in Gaza was a war crime.

“Defense Minister Gallant’s statements are abhorrent,” Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

“Depriving the population in an occupied territory of food and electricity is collective punishment, which is a war crime, as is using starvation as a weapon of war. The International Criminal Court should take note of this call to commit a war crime,” he said.

Shakir also condemned the threat by Hamas to kill hostages, warning that such action was also a war crime.

“All hostages should be safely released to their families,” he said.

On the diplomatic front, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Hamas and Israel to immediately end violence and protect civilians, the Egyptian presidency said.

Erdogan urged Israel against “indiscriminately” attacking civilians and delivered measured criticism of Hamas, urging both sides to respect the “ethics” of war.

The United Kingdom, French, German, Italian and US governments issued a joint statement on Monday recognising the “legitimate aspirations” of the Palestinian people and supporting equal measures of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

INTERACTIVE_DEATH_TOLL_INJURED_ISRAEL_PALESTINE_OCT10_2023_0415
They said they would remain “united and coordinated” to ensure Israel can defend itself.

But the prospect that fighting could spread also alarmed the region and the world.

Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel in response to at least three of its members being killed in Israeli shelling of Lebanon.

Israel said one of its deputy commanders was also killed in an earlier cross-border raid from Lebanon.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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Western Leaders Accused of Hypocrisy Over Response To Palestine, Ukraine

Published

3 years ago

on

10th October 2023

By

US President Joe Biden holds a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly in New York City, the US, September 20, 2023

Social media users, including journalists and observers, are calling out what they call a ‘double standard’.

After Saturday’s surprise attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to the social media platform X to offer “condolences go out to everyone who lost relatives or close ones in the terrorist attack”.

He also stated, “Israel’s right to self-defence is unquestionable.”

Many world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, shared similar sentiments.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated, “Israel has the right to defend itself – today and in the days to come. The European Union stands with Israel.”

Accusations of Western ‘double standards’

Some social media users have criticised these statements, saying they highlight a double standard.

Ukraine’s right to defend itself is praised by most international leaders while Russia’s invasion is condemned, but commentators said the same cannot be said about Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

Aaron Bastani, a leftist British journalist, said on X that there’s a “clear double standard in endorsing terrorism against civilian targets in Ukraine … and condemning it by Palestinians”.

Many users said Western diplomats and media support the Ukrainians who defend their land, but label the Palestinians fighting against Israel as “terrorists”.

https://twitter.com/KhaledBeydoun/status/1710787817415082349?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710787817415082349%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine

An illustration of a woman’s face, in which one eye is closed beside a Palestinian flag, and one eye open beside a Ukrainian flag, has been regularly shared as a symbol of the West’s alleged double standards in how the two conflicts are viewed.

https://twitter.com/OnlinePalEng/status/1710994682883273172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710994682883273172%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine

Clips also emerged on social media from a CNN interview with Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, in which he posed the rhetorical question, “Why does the United States support Ukraine in fighting occupation – while here they support the occupier, who continues to occupy us?”

It is not the first time Western nations have been accused of double standards in their stance on the Ukraine war.

Earlier in the year, Amnesty International published a report highlighting the West’s “double standards” on global human rights.

Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary-general, told Al Jazeera at the time that the occupation of Palestinian territory was a “particularly important one”.

“Without making any comparison between Russia’s aggression and Israel … it is clear the Palestinian people are under a regime of oppression – a regime of occupation and a regime of apartheid,” Callamard told Al Jazeera.

Over the last three days, X users recirculated earlier statements calling out what they called Western hypocrisy, sharing video by the Irish lawmaker Richard Boyd Barrett from March 2022 in which he berated the Irish government’s double standards regarding Ukraine and Palestine:

“You’re happy to use the most strong and robust language to describe the crimes against humanity of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, but you will not use the same strength of language when it comes to describing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.”

Barrett on Sunday again called out what he described as “shocking double standards of Western leaders supporting Ukraine resistance but condemning Palestinian[s].”

Meanwhile, others warned against comparing conflicts.

https://twitter.com/denfordauthor/status/1710993737738768607?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710993737738768607%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine

And some cautioned that Hamas and the Palestinians should not be seen as one and the same.

Ukrainian footballer Oleksandr Zinchenko, who plays for Arsenal, posted on Instagram, stating he “stands with Israel”.

Zinchenko has been a vocal supporter of his home country in its ongoing defence against Russia, and he participated in a Game4Ukraine charity match in London earlier this year to raise money for Ukraine.

After online backlash, with some questioning an alleged double standard in his support of Israel, the footballer removed the post and switched his social media account to private.

Several people claimed that Zinchenko’s football club, in not responding to his comments, was guilty of hypocrisy after they had distanced themselves from former player Mesut Ozil’s comments in 2019 over alleged human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in China.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
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