Clarification of Question by
myphysician-ga
on
27 Jun 2004 08:03 PDT
Although it happened few years ago, who can forget twelve-year-old
Muhammad al-Dura dying in his father's arms at Netzarim Crossing in
the Gaza Strip, a victim of routine and intentional Israeli brutality.
At least that's how French television depicted it in a video clip
replayed countless times the world over. The image quickly attained
iconic status, and Muhammad became the poster child for the second
Palestinian intifada. (In its own narration of the clip, the
Palestinian Authority spoke of the "beauty of the martyr," whose blood
flows "like a waterfall.") But now a March 17 documentary aired by
Germany's ARD television suggests something extraordinary: that
Muhammad was killed not by Israeli soldiers, but by Palestinian
gunmen, perhaps deliberately to create precisely such a photogenic
martyr. The French footage, it turns out, was heavily edited--from six
minutes to 50 seconds--and the French won't let anyone see the tape
they didn't air. What's more, the Palestinian Authority didn't allow
an autopsy on the boy and never released the bullet that killed him
for outside scrutiny. ARD has done its own forensic investigation,
however, and concluded that the shot that entered Muhammad's crouching
body could not have come from the location where Israeli soldiers were
positioned. ARD's report has been covered extensively in the German
press (Die Welt headlined its article, "RICOCHETING TRUTH"). As of
this writing, however, no major American newspaper or TV
network--including the many that ran the original footage of
Muhammad's death--has mentioned it.
