A senior Israeli official has claimed that the TV footage, above, of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy allegedly killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza in September 2000 was staged. The images of Mohammed Al Dura and his father crouching in fear on a Gaza street, caught in cross-fire between Palestinians and the Israeli army, became one of the most-potent symbols of the conflict.
But Israeli government press office chief Daniel Seaman contends that a cameraman working for France 2 staged the incident. The claim emerged in a letter, obtained by Agence France-Presse, in which Seaman responded to a demand from an Israeli group that Israel deny France 2's accreditation because of the incident.
Seaman, in explaining that his office lacked the legal authority to do so, wrote: "This report became the blood libel of modern times that shows that Jewish soldiers kill children in cold blood. This fomented the Arab world and caused many casualties in Israel and the world."
Although the Israeli army initially accepted culpability for the death, Seaman reveals that an Israeli inquiry into the incident proved that "the events could not have taken place as described by the French reporter Charles Enderlin, since they contradict the rules of physics."
Seaman adds: "It is impossible that the child was hit by Israeli troops. The wounds actually show that they were caused by shots that came from the Palestinian direction... The channel's cameraman [Talal] Abu Rahma staged the entire incident."
Enderlin has vigorously rejected the claims. "This is not the first time Daniel Seaman has voiced these false accusations that interfere with a judicial process underway in Paris," he said.
"There was no staging, and I can vouch for the honesty and credibility of the Israeli and Palestinian teams working for France 2." (Via Middle East Times)
