![]() Muhammad (left) and Jamal al-Durrah (right) filmed by Talal Abu Rahma for France 2 | |
Date | 30 September 2000 |
---|---|
Time | c. 15:00 Israel Summer Time (12:00 UTC) |
Location | Netzarim junction, Gaza Strip |
Coordinates | 31°27′53″N 34°25′38″E / 31.46472°N 34.42722°E |
First reporter | Charles Enderlin for France 2 |
Filmed by | Talal Abu Rahma |
Casualties | |
Reported deaths: Muhammad al-Durrah; Bassam al-Bilbeisi, ambulance driver | |
Multiple gunshot wounds: Jamal al-Durrah | |
Awards | Rory Peck Award (2001), for Talal Abu Rahma[1] |
Footage | Charles Enderlin, "La mort de Mohammed al Dura", France 2, 30 September 2000 (raw footage; disputed section) |
On 30 September 2000, the second day of the Second Intifada, 12-year-old Muhammad al-Durrah (Arabic: محمد الدرة, romanized: Muḥammad ad-Durra) was killed in the Gaza Strip during widespread protests and riots across the Palestinian territories against Israeli military occupation. Jamal al-Durrah and his son Muhammad were filmed by Talal Abu Rahma, a Palestinian television cameraman freelancing for France 2, as they were caught in crossfire between the Israeli military and Palestinian security forces. Footage shows them crouching behind a concrete cylinder, the boy crying and the father waving, then a burst of gunfire and dust. Muhammad is shown slumping as he is mortally wounded by gunfire, dying soon after.[2]
Fifty-nine seconds of the footage were broadcast on television in France with a voiceover from Charles Enderlin, the station's bureau chief in Israel. Based on information from the cameraman, Enderlin told viewers that the al-Durrahs had been the target of fire from the Israeli positions and that the boy had died.[3][4] After an emotional public funeral, Muhammad was hailed throughout the Muslim world as a martyr.[5]
Initially, the Israel Defense Forces accepted responsibility for the shooting, but claimed that Palestinians used children as human shields,[6] but later retracted responsbility. In 2000, the IDF commissioned Nahum Shahaf to investigate, but that report provoked widespread criticism.[7] One of the Israeli investigators even claimed the incident had been staged by Palestinian gunmen, cameraman and Muhammad's own father.[8] The report eventually concluded that Muhammad was possibly killed by Palestinian fire. However, a Palestinian investigation that same year concluded Muhammad was killed by bullets that came from the Israeli post.[9] In 2012, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commissioned another investigation. In 2013, that report concluded that not only was Muhammad not hit by IDF fire, Muhammad was perhaps never shot nor killed.[10] Jamal al-Durrah rejected the idea that his son was somehow not dead and offered to exhume Muhammad's grave.[11] The report was criticized by Charles Enderlin and France 2,[12][13] Reporters Without Borders and Barak Ravid. In France, Philippe Karsenty, a media commentator, also alleged that the scene had been staged by France 2; France 2 successfully sued him for libel in 2006, with Karsenty ordered to pay symbolic damages of €1,[14] while in 2013 Karsenty was convicted for defamation for the allegation and fined €7,000 by a Paris court.[15][16]
The footage of the father and son acquired what one writer called the power of a battle flag.[17] Postage stamps in the Middle East carried the images. Abu Rahma's coverage of the al-Durrah shooting brought him several journalism awards, including the Rory Peck Award in 2001.[1]
Peck2001
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