Palestinian boy's death turns media event\circus

Palestinian boy's death turns media event\circus
REUTERS

WASHINGTON, OCT 2: Shocking pictures showing the death of a Palestinian boy reverberated in global media this weekend, prompting London's Independent to write about "an image that will haunt the world as painfully and powerfully" as any of those dating to the Palestinian uprising or Intifada.

The Jerusalem Post called video from clashes in the Gaza Strip on Saturday "gruesome," and blasted Palestinian television for broadcasting the film over and over again.

In the United States, a photo still of the video ran on the front page of the Sunday New York Times, and the video footage was replayed on all major news broadcasts.

There was abundant television coverage of the bloodiest wave of violence between the two sides in four years, but one image stood out.

ABC News anchor Carol Simpson prefaced a segment on the video on Sunday's "World News Tonight" saying, "We warn you that what follows is difficult to watch."

The footage, shot by France 2 cameraman Talal Abu-Rama, showed 12-year-old Rami al-Durra as he and his father, Jamal al-Durra, cowered near a cement block as Palestinian and Israeli security forces traded fire.

Reporters watched helplessly as the boy and his father became trapped as bullets flew around them on a road near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in the Gaza Strip.

Abu-Rama, a veteran Palestinian journalist, told the National Public Radio in an interview that he was only about 15 feet (4 metres) from the two, but said a hail of bullets prevented him from running to help them.

He kept his camera trained on the weeping Rami and the father, who tried in vain to shield the boy with his arms and body, for 45 minutes, he told NPR.

At one point, the father raised his head and wagged his finger, as if to scold the Israeli troops firing on them.

Abu-Rama said he heard a loud blast and when the dust cleared the boy was slumped in his father's lap.

Rami died, while his father survived badly wounded. An ambulance driver who braved the gunfire in an attempt to rescue the boy and his father was killed.

"It is an image that will haunt the world as painfully and powerfully as any of the pictures that emerged when the children of the unborn state of Palestine took on Israel's well-armed troops during the Intifada," the Independent wrote in Monday editions.

Abu-Rama told ABC News he believed Palestinian and Israeli negotiators should have to watch the footage when they next meet "because a lot of civilians did die for nothing."

"I want them to understand one of these days maybe one day their own sons will be in the same position," he said.

Israeli officials have questioned whether the boy was killed by Israeli bullets and said he could have been hit by stray Palestinian gunfire.

The New York Times quoted one veteran Israeli journalist assaying he saw the footage for the first time as he was delivering the news on Saturday night.

"I lost my voice. I've been doing this for many years. ...But my brain went dead, and my tongue went limp. To see a little boy killed before your eyes."