Local mass honours Al Jazeera journalist

Well-known reporter shot, killed in West Bank

A memorial mass in Edmonton for a journalist killed in the occupied West Bank celebrated the life of a woman whose coverage cast a light on the Palestinian people.

On Sunday, the Canada Palestine Cultural Association organized a service for Shireen Abu Akleh, a dual Palestinian-american national and Al Jazeera reporter who died May 11 while on assignment in Jenin, a northern city in the occupied West Bank.

Joe Hak, founder and former president of the World Lebanon Cultural Union, was one of the organizers of the mass at Our Lady of Good Help, a Maronite Catholic church in Edmonton's Ritchie neighbourhood. While it was a sombre affair, he said, there was also a deep sense of pride for Abu Akleh and her work.

“She was a household name all over the world,” Hak said, “and particularly in the Arab world — carrying on her role as a journalist to report about the kinds of suffering, brutalities and atrocities committed against the Palestinians.”

Citing witnesses and the Palestinian health ministry, Al Jazeera reported that Abu Akleh, 51, was covering Israeli military raids in Jenin when she was shot dead by Israeli forces despite wearing a clearly marked “press” vest and standing among other journalists garbed in the same.

Israel's government initially suggested Palestinian fire might have been to blame, but officials have also said they could not rule out it was Israeli gunfire that killed her. Witnesses told Al Jazeera there had been no confrontations between Palestinian fighters and the Israeli army at the time.

Abu Akleh covered Palestinian affairs and the Middle East for more than 20 years, Al Jazeera wrote, and colleagues and acquaintances described her as a “real journalist,” as well as a voice for Palestinians.

“We wanted people to know who she was,” Hak added, “and we wanted to give her the honour she deserves.”