In his Death, a Truth was Told

One week ago, in yet another Israeli offensive into the
Gaza Strip which claimed 21 Palestinians in a day,
Reuters photographer Fadel Shana lost his life.
According to media reports, the 23-year old cameraman was
filming invading Israeli tanks in Gaza City when he stepped
out of his van, clearly marked with the word “press”, and was
hit by the same tank’s fire. Later photos showed Shana’s
blood-soaked flack jacket and his burning van as fellow
Palestinians hovered over the young man’s lifeless body.

Given that Shana worked with an international media
organization, it is no surprise that Reuters has demanded
an investigation into the death. Reuters Editor-in-chief
David Schlesinger fell short of explicitly chiding Israel but
got his message across all the same. “This tragic incident
shows the risks journalists take every day to report news,”
he said. “All governments and organizations have the
responsibility to take the utmost care to protect professionals
trying to do their jobs.” Later, he continued, “The markings
on Fadel Shana’s vehicle showed clearly and unambiguously
that he was a professional journalist doing his duty.”

The fact is, this is hardly the first journalist to be killed by
Israeli fire while covering events in the occupied Palestinian
territories. At least 10 journalists have been killed since the
start of the Intifada in September, 2000, including two
Europeans. According to a December 2006 report by
Reporters Without Borders, the Israeli army attacked or
threatened 16 journalists in that year alone along with
destroying three news media offices. Since the Intifada,
journalists have been harassed, beaten, denied entry and
killed or wounded by the Israeli army without any so-called
investigation resulting in holding the army accountable for
the death. When confronted with this fact by Reporters
Without Borders, head of the foreign press section of the
Israeli army Avital Leibovich replied, “The investigations
have not resulted in charges because the evidence proved
insufficient for prosecuting any particular officer.”

This is even true when the journalist is not Palestinian. In May
2003, British journalist James Miller was killed in the Gaza
Strip by Israeli gunfire. While a British court concluded that
Miller was “deliberately” shot and killed by an Israeli soldier
given that he was wearing a vest marked TV, the Israeli army
brushed aside the case, saying the bullet retrieved from the
journalist’s body was too damaged to irrefutably determine
that it was shot from the gun of the Israeli soldier in question,
who was freed of all charges.

This will more than likely be the outcome of any bogus
investigation the Israeli army claims it will open in the case of
Fadel Shana. Following his death, an Israeli army spokesperson
churned out the empty rhetoric all too familiar in such cases.
“We wish to express sorrow for the death of the Palestinian
cameraman…It should be emphasized that the area in which
the cameraman was hurt is an area in which ongoing fighting
against armed, extreme and dangerous terrorist organizations
occurs on a daily basis.” The spokesperson did not even bother
to mention his name or the fact that Shana and his crew were
in the center of a residential area in Gaza City when they
were fired at.

Neither has the Israeli army shown any remorse for the fact
that, in the autopsy, flechettes were found in Shana’s body,
a weapon not strictly prohibited by international law but one
that is highly controversial given its lethalness. Flechettes are
designed to hit as many enemy targets as possible in one shell
shot, which releases thousands of the conical shaped darts.
Given this fact, their use in the Gaza Strip, which has a limited
area and dense civilian population, has been deemed illegal by
many international and even Israeli human rights organizations.
Several flechettes were found in Shana’s body.

While the worst possible outcome for journalists anywhere is
obviously death, Palestinian journalists face less noxious but
extremely hindering hassles imposed by the Israeli army on a
daily basis. Palestinian journalists working for local media are
often banned from moving from one place to another due to the
numerous checkpoints and the separation wall, which divides
Palestinians into separate cantons according to their ID cards.
Freedom of movement, which is restricted to Palestinians across
the board does not exclude journalists, even if this means that as
a result of these restrictions, they are unable to perform their
duties properly.

The death of Fadel Shana, like those before him, brings to the
fore a perilous premise on which Israel basis its entire attitude
towards the Palestinians, government, civil population and
journalists alike. This premise is cemented in a sense of
superiority and racism. Palestinians, whether they are so-called
“terrorists”, journalists, students or negotiators, are never on
equal moral standing with Israelis. In a nutshell, the value of
Palestinian life is less than an Israeli one. And for this reason,
when a Palestinian civilian is killed –journalist or not - Israel is
willing to feign minimal regret, especially when the killing is
particularly heinous, like that of a child, but not enough that it
may result in even a minor erosion of this façade.

Israelis aren’t even coy in their sentiments either. When Israel
killed 21 Palestinians in the course of one day in Gaza, Defense
Minister Ehud Barak minced no words. “We see the suffering of
the Gazans…but the suffering of Israeli citizens is more
important to us.”

Hence, no high hopes should be pinned on this “investigation”
Israel says it has opened into Shana’s death. This is nothing
more than a face-saving tactic with a western organization. If
Shana worked for the Palestinian media rather than with Reuters,
we wouldn’t even have gotten this far.

And since we cannot count on the Israeli army to protect the lives
of those who wish to reveal the story on the ground, it is up to the
Palestinians to raise their voices elsewhere. Israel has gone on long
enough believing – and for good reason – that it can act with
impunity where the Palestinians are concerned. When innocent
children die because Israel drops a bomb on an apartment building,
the world suffices with Israel’s feeble apology for the death of civilians.
And when a cameraman trying to bring the reality of Gaza to the
world is cut down for this very reason, Israel turns the blame on him.
He knew it was dangerous, there were “terrorists” operating in the
area. He should not have been there.

Perhaps it is for this very reason that Shana made the ultimate
sacrifice. Israel carries out daily atrocities in the Palestinian
territories, the Gaza Strip in particular, which often border on
war crimes. When there is no one there to document it, Israel
can spin the story as it wishes. It has sold its propaganda for
years to the world in exactly this fashion. So, when a pesky
journalist – Palestinian or otherwise – comes along and ruins
this intricate plan, they must be stopped in their tracks, even
if that means Israel’s spokespeople will have to do a little more
explaining.

For Fadel Shana, this goal of getting the real story out was
epitomized in his death. As the curtain fell on his own life, it
was ironically lifted on the truth, which all good journalists
hope to achieve.

Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information
Programme at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion
of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be
contacted at mip@miftah.org.