A Palestine-American journalist killed in the West Bank

Palestine-American journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh was shot in the head while covering a Palestinian refugee camp on Wednesday, and the relationship between Israel and Palestine has quickly become tensed up. With the possibility of the shooter being an Israeli soldier, anti-Israel protests are likely to break out across the Arab world if this confirm‎s to be true. U.S. President Joe Biden called for a swift and thorough investigation into the killing of the journalist against the Israeli government.

The Associate Press reported that the veteran Al Jazeera journalist was shot while covering Jenin Camp in the west of the Jordan river. She was wearing a protective helmet and press jacket at the time of the attack.

Another Al Jazeera journalist, Abu’s colleague, was shot and injured in the back. “The Israeli army began shooting without asking to stop filming,” he said. Some witnesses alleged that the Israeli army did not stop shooting even after Abu Aqleh was gunned down, raising suspicions of intentional targeting.

Abu Aqleh’s funeral, which was held on the day of her death, was attended by thousands of mourners, and the coffin was covered with the Palestinian flag. Born from Palestinian Christian family in Jerusalem, Abu Aqleh emigrated to the United States when she was a child and became a U.S. citizen. State Department spokesperson Ned Price condemned the killing of Abu Aqleh, calling for full accountability of those who were involved in the incident and that her death is an “affront to media freedom everywhere.”


Seong-Ho Hwang hsh0330@donga.com