Effort To Block Christian Funeral Precipitated Melee Over Body of Al-Jazeera Journalist

The melee that erupted as the body of the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was being transported to her funeral was precipitated by Palestinian Arabs who wanted to avoid a funeral “as if a Christian woman died.” That is the conclusion of a review by Palestinian Media Watch of the events of May 13, when myriad media reported that Israeli riot police had, as the New York Times put it, attacked mourners carrying Ms. Abu Akleh’s coffin during the funeral procession.It turns out to have been “the exact opposite,” Palestinian Media Watch reported this morning. “It was a Palestinian mob that had hijacked the funeral and Israeli Police who were forced to intervene and have the funeral return to be held as the family planned.” The plan was for a Christian funeral in a Christian church in Jerusalem. According to the brother of Ms. Abu Akleh, the family had agreed ahead of time with Israeli security forces for Abu Akleh to be taken to the burial site in a hearse. In an interview with Al-Jazeera, the brother of Abu Akleh said, “At 2 p.m., Allah willing, the body will set out from the French Hospital on Highway 1 by hearse to the Greek Catholic Church next to the Jaffa Gate.”However, as the hearse approached the hospital to take the coffin of Abu Akleh, the situation deteriorated, according to Palestinian Media Watch. After media analysis of the events that transpired, Palestinian Media Watch reported, “Unauthorized people in the crowd tried to hijack the funeral and carry her body out of the hospital. Israeli Police stop them and demand the body be returned.”It was after the hijacking of the funeral procession that Israeli security forces stepped in and used force to ensure the recovery of Abu Akleh’s body, Palestinian Media Watch reported. According to the record of the events, “The confrontation lasts about 3 minutes and the coffin is quickly returned to the hospital,” Palestinian Media Watch says. It is in these three minutes that the videos that surfaced on social media showed Israeli forces intervening in the crowd with batons to ensure the recovery of Abu Akleh’s body. With a police escort, the hearse made it to the Greek Christian Church for burial 20 minutes later. While the family had made clear that it wanted Abu Akleh to be transferred to this church via hearse, some in the crowd had wanted her to be transferred by Palestinian Islamic tradition, which typically involves the coffin being carried the entire way by foot. According to one Palestinian Authority official, Ahmed-Al-Safedi, “The Arab residents of Jerusalem want Ms. Abu Akleh to be carried out of respect, as she was carried in Jenin, Nablus, and Ramallah.” According to the Palestinian Media Watch, this demand by Arab residents of Jerusalem went against what the family had agreed with the Israeli security forces. In the conclusion of its report, the Palestinian Media Watch found: “It was the Palestinian mob that prevented Ms. Abu Akleh’s funeral from progressing to the church by hearse as the family had wanted. It was the mob that took the body without authorization.”

Effort To Block Christian Funeral Precipitated Melee Over Body of Al-Jazeera Journalist

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