The Presidency of the Palestinian Authority on Tuesday applauded the decision of the United States to investigate the death of Palestinian-American journalist Shirin abu Akle, who died in May after being shot during an operation by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Jenin.
Nabil abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Washington’s decision «is further proof of the lack of credibility of the Israeli authorities’ narrative of deliberate assassinations by their forces against the Palestinian people».
Thus, he indicated that «it is necessary that the murderers be held accountable for their crimes» and criticized the Israeli government’s announcement that it will not cooperate with the investigations. In this sense, he said that Israel «defies international law», according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has expressed itself along the same lines, applauding the opening of the investigation and saying that, «although it is late», it reflects that Washington «considers that there was no serious investigation on the part of Israel».
It therefore stressed that the Palestinian Authority «is prepared to cooperate fully with any international or U.S. investigation» into the death of Abu Akle «and other victims of extrajudicial killings» by Israeli forces.
The journalist was shot dead on May 11 during an Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank while working for the Qatari television channel Al-Jazeera. The reporter was wearing a helmet and a vest identifying her as a journalist.
The findings of the independent investigation carried out by the United Nations Office for Human Rights into the journalist’s death coincide with the assessment made by the Palestinian authorities and point to Israeli forces as responsible for the reporter’s death.
The conclusions of the investigation carried out by the international organization also dismantle the narrative that there was activity of armed Palestinians in the vicinity of the position where the reporters were, as Israel pointed out at the time.
