Israeli police condemned for attacks on mourners

THE death of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh sparked an outpouring of grief and condemnation as footage of the funeral showed how Israeli police charged at a crowd of Palestinian mourners carrying her coffin through Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday.

Cape Town activists and officials added their voices to the growing international condemnation of the incident.

Packed around Abu Akleh’s coffin, dozens of Palestinians, some waving Palestinian flags and chanting, “With our soul and blood we will redeem you Shireen”, began walking toward the gates of St Joseph’s Hospital.

Israeli police officers, in an apparent bid to stop them from proceeding by foot rather than taking the coffin by car, burst through the courtyard gates and charged at the crowd, some beating pallbearers with batons and kicking them.

At one point the group carrying her coffin backed against a wall and almost dropped the casket, recovering it just before one end hit the ground as stun grenades detonated.

The violence added to Palestinian outrage over Abu Akleh’s killing, which has threatened to fuel tensions that have escalated since March.

Palestinian authorities have described the death of Abu Akleh, who was covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank, as an assassination by Israeli forces.

Israel initially tried to suggest Palestinian fire might have been to blame, but officials have since said they could not rule out it was Israeli gunfire that killed her.

The UN Security Council has strongly condemned the killing and called for an “immediate, thorough, transparent, and fair and impartial investigation”.

Hussein al Sheikh, a senior Palestinian Authority official, said on Twitter the authority would welcome the participation of all international bodies in its inquiry.

The authority has rejected an offer from Israel, which has voiced regret over Abu Akleh’s death, to co-operate in the investigation.

Former Western Cape High Court judge and activist Siraj Desai said he found the killing of Abu Akleh, most appalling.

“I reject the savagery of her death. More than that, it gives me cause to rededicate what remains of my life to the struggle of the Palestinian people,” he said.

Regarding the disruption at the funeral, he said it is “sheer buggerism”.

“This is conduct that is unsuitable to contemporary modern society. It reflects what apartheid Israel has become today,” he said.

He added: “The murder of Shireen Abu Akleh was a savage attack on all

Palestinians. It was meant to intimidate and frighten the people of Palestine.”

“The struggle against Israel was meant to suffer a blow at the hands of her death. The opposite will happen. I think that her death will strengthen us and all people over the world to continue and intensify the struggle for the freedom of Palestine.”

Palestinian ambassador to South Africa Hanan Jarrar said Israeli forces’ attack on mourners at the funeral procession was a “disheartening spectacle of brutality”.

“It was a total disregard for human dignity, with impunity, while the world watches,” she said.

She added: “Her senseless assassination is a culmination of Israel’s 74-year long inhumane occupation of Palestine, the Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948, commemorated annually on May 15 by Palestinians.”

Jarrar said Abu Akleh’s murder was the latest in a long line of reporters and other members of the media killed by the Israeli occupation forces.

“This was a systematic attempt to silence the voice of truth in the occupation,” she said.

“Suppressing press freedom to cover up their crimes and those of their settlers against our people, whose lives, land, and property are destroyed,” she added.

Member of Parliament Mandla Mandela said her murder and the attack at her funeral was a “flagrant violation of international law”.

“However, it is not surprising for the apartheid Israel regime that kills innocent Palestinians every day.”

“We express our indignation at the impunity with which apartheid Israel carries out its programme of extermination without any fear of consequences.”

“We demand that this matter be referred to the International Criminal Court so that the perpetrators can be held accountable for their heinous crimes.”

While the video clearly showed mourners marching in a procession, Israel’s police said yesterday it had tried “to facilitate a calm and dignified funeral ... and had co-ordinated the funeral arrangements with her family. Unfortunately, hundreds of rioters tried to sabotage the ceremony and harm the police”.

“As with any operational incident, and certainly an incident in which police officers were exposed to violence by rioters and in which force was subsequently used by the police, the Israel Police will be looking into the events that ensued during the funeral,” a statement said. |