Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh on Sunday demanded that Israel hand over to the Palestinian Authority a rifle suspected of being involved in the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
“We demand that they hand over the gun that was used to murder Shireen Abu Akleh,” Shtayyeh said at a ceremony marking the 40-day anniversary of the journalist’s death in disputed circumstances in Jenin.
While both Israel and the Palestinian Authority are conducting separate investigations into Abu Akleh’s death, ballistics analysis, which brings bullet and gun together, is probably the only definitive way to prove whether an Israeli soldier killed Abu Akleh.
Israeli military officials have said they identified a weapon that may have fired the shot that killed Abu Akleh, but that confirmation would require ballistics analysis to match the weapon to the bullet. Ramallah has rejected Israeli calls to conduct a joint investigation or hand over the bullet to Israel.
“We have refused a joint investigation because those who have invented the history of a people, who have stolen land and homeland, can invent a narrative. We don’t trust them,” Shtayyeh said.
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American officials have urged both sides to complete the investigation into Abu Akleh’s death. In a comment to the Times of Israel, a White House official said Washington hopes Ramallah will share the findings of its investigation with Israel.
Yellow tape marks bullet holes in a tree and a portrait and flowers create a makeshift memorial at the site where Al Jazeera Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead May 19, 2022 in the West Bank city of Jenin. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Abu Akleh, 51, was shot dead while covering an Israeli military attack in Jenin with a team of other journalists in mid-May. During the raid, a firefight broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen. At one point, Abu Akleh was shot in the head.
The video from the crime scene did not show any Palestinian gunmen near the Palestinian journalists. Just before that, the Palestinian journalists can be seen casually joking and chatting before the bullets ring out and kill Abu Akleh.
The veteran Al Jazeera journalist was a familiar face to millions of viewers across the Arab world. As an American citizen who held an East Jerusalem ID card issued by Israel, Abu Akleh was widely considered a pioneering correspondent for both women and Palestinians. Her death shocked the Palestinians and sparked an international outcry.
The Palestinian Authority, conducting its own investigation, immediately blamed Israeli soldiers for the killing. According to PA Attorney General Akram Khatib, forensic evidence and testimonies proved that Abu Akleh was on the run when she was targeted and killed by Israeli forces.
The Israeli authorities have dismissed the PA’s findings as false and have continued their own investigation into the incident.
“Any allegation that the IDF is intentionally targeting journalists or bystanders [in terror] is a blatant and outright lie,” Secretary of Defense Benny Gantz said in a statement at the time.
Israel initially blamed Palestinian gunmen for the shooting, but later admitted that Abu Akleh could also have been killed by Israeli soldiers. The army has not yet launched a criminal investigation into the shooting.
“Given that Abu Akleh was killed in the middle of an active combat zone, there can be no immediate suspicion of criminal activity without further evidence,” the Israeli army’s chief prosecutor, Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, said in a statement.
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