UNITED NATIONS, Nov 12 (APP): United Nations investigators Friday wrapped up the hearings on the killing of veteran US-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and other Israeli actions in occupied Palestine territory, after her family members testified that she had been deliberately targeted as part of the Jewish State’s “wide-scale war” on Palestinian media workers.
The week-long hearings were hosted by the Commission of Inquiry (COI) created by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council last year to probe the root causes of the decades-long Middle East conflict.
Speaking to the investigators, the slain journalists niece Lina Abu Akleh said it was “painful beyond words” to think about how her aunt died, insisting there was no doubt Israeli soldiers “were deliberately targeting my aunt.”
The longtime Al Jazeera reporter was wearing a bulletproof vest marked “Press” and a helmet when she was shot in the head during an army operation in Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on May 11.
The objective of the UN inquiry was twofold, explained Commissioner Chris Sidoti: First, to understand the designation of seven Palestinian non-Government organizations, human rights organizations, as unlawful organizations and six of them as terrorist organisations.
Recording first-hand information on the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh formed the second part of the week’s activities.
“These are not the sole focus of our investigation at all, but rather we see them as particularly significant in giving us a better understanding of the overall situation of civic space, civil society and throughout that region, throughout the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel”. Sidoti added.
In total, 13 witnesses and victims of civil society organizations and legal representatives provided testimony to Commissioners Navi Pillay, Sidoti and Miloon Kothari at the public forum.
Akleh, an experienced television journalist, who was very familiar with reporting in the occupied Palestinian territory, was killed as she attempted to report on an arrest operation by Israeli Security Forces and clashes in Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank.
Following her killing, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said that Israeli forces were behind the fatal shooting, and not indiscriminate Palestinian firing.
In September, the Israeli authorities announced that there was a “high possibility” that Ms. Abu Akleh had been hit accidentally by the Israeli military.
It is really important for these public hearings to be held because it allows us the space to share our testimonies, the experience and the suffering we had to endure over the past six months, but also it allows our voices to get across and our messages and our demands. It’s because it’s unfortunate that the Commission of Inquiry cannot access the territories”, Lina Abu Akleh said.
“The lack of accountability, the lack of justice is what pushed me to advocate for my Aunt Shireen”, she added. “It’s the importance of getting justice and getting her message across, is what continues to push me towards our pursuit”.