In defense of a slain Palestinian journalist
Yasir Murtaja was a professional photographer. On one of his last Facebook posts, the 30-year-old mentions his dream of being able to one day film from the sky. He also says he has never left Gaza. Murtaja took his photography job seriously. He trained properly and wore his war gear to work, even though there is no war in Gaza. His mother said he ate quickly the morning of Friday, April 6, because he wanted to do what he does best: take photographs. Before reaching the site of a protest along the Gaza-Israel fence, Murtaja put on his work-provided blue helmet and bulletproof vest, clearly marked “PRESS.”
Murtaja never returned home. Israeli snipers shot him. He died from his wounds a day later. At least four other Palestinian journalists were injured during the protest.
The Israeli Army spokesman later stated on Twitter: “Yesterday we saw 30,000 people; we arrived prepared and with precise reinforcements. Nothing was carried out uncontrolled; everything was accurate and measured, and we know where every bullet landed.”
Under pressure, Israel says it will investigate how Murtaja was killed, but judging from previous investigations, this one will be little more than a whitewash. In late May 2016, B’Tselem, a Jerusalem-based human rights organization, published a report entitled The Occupation’s Fig Leaf: Israel’s Military Law Enforcement System as a Whitewash Mechanism. It concluded the Israeli army investigation’s “main concern is creating the false appearance of a functioning system which allegedly strives to get at the truth, while in fact, the investigations are perfunctory examinations of isolated, decontextualized incidents, while the people who are truly responsible for the violation are never investigated.”
This was not a two-sided armed conflict, but simply a case of an unarmed population holding popular protests and never coming close to endangering the lives of Israeli soldiers. Not a single Israeli soldier or civilian has been reported hurt since this campaign began on Land Day, March 30.
Shooting at unarmed civilians violates Israel’s own standing orders. It is also a violation of international humanitarian law. Human Rights Watch has said that Israeli snipers carried out what it called calculated and unlawful attacks against unarmed civilians and that the world must hold them accountable.
Yasir Murtaja, a Palestinian from Gaza, was not involved in the popular nonviolent protests held under the title “Great Return March.” He was a journalist doing his job to convey in pictures what we all are unable to see with our own eyes. Israeli attempts to justify the killing have failed to persuade anyone. Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s claim that Murtaja had received a salary since 2011 and held a rank similar to captain in Hamas’ armed wing was immediately debunked by his colleagues, family and friends. They note that the company he was the co-director of — Ain Media — was vetted by USAID, according to the Washington Post. The French News Agency also reports having reviewed a case file from the International Federation of Journalists documenting how Murtaja was beaten by Hamas security forces in 2015 while carrying out his filming profession.
Israel doesn’t recognize Palestinian journalists as a profession and doesn’t make any distinction between demonstrators and photographers. I know this first-hand after 38 years as a Palestinian journalist.
But I also know this directly as a member of an investigative committee of the Viennabased International Press Institute. IPI is the world’s oldest press freedom organization with prominent members on almost every continent. An IPI three-person delegation visited Gaza, Israel and the West Bank in February 2013 after the 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense Israeli war on Gaza, in which Palestinian journalists were killed by the Israeli army.
We carried out a thorough investigation of the situation of Palestinian journalists. Among other things, our report concluded that “Gaza-based journalists are cut off from Israel, East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and have a difficult time traveling anywhere.”
The IPI general assembly meeting later in 2013 in Amman reviewed our report and resolved unanimously that the “Israeli government should take steps to formally recognize the existence of Palestinian media organizations.” Nothing of the sort has happened. Instead, we still live in a period where Israel, as the occupying power, doesn’t recognize or deal with or give any special status to journalists working for Palestinian media outlets. The few Palestinians given Israeli press cards work for international news agencies.