Al-Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was at the wrong place at the wrong time, but that in and of itself does not absolve those who caused her death of responsibility.
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The nature of a journalist's work is to be on the scene of various events, including clashes and exchanges of gunfire. As someone who has seen their fair share of such scenes, I can testify to the difficulty and risk posed to journalists doing their job professionally in such circumstances. I met Shireen and other colleagues from around the world under similar circumstances on more than one occasion. In those instances, we were fortunate to make it out alive. This time, Shireen was not as lucky.
Shireen's death is without question a tragic event for the Arab and international journalist community that covers the Palestinian conflict. Those responsible for her death, whoever they may be, must pay the price. But in the war of conflicting versions, it will be difficult to determine who was responsible for her killing and who exactly pulled the trigger.
As soon as Shireen's death was announced, the war over the public consciousness began. The Palestinian narrative is winning as usual, finding an attentive ear and understanding in the Arab world as well as large portions of the West.
I will not say Israel is responsible for her death before the circumstances have been clarified and all the necessary steps have been taken to discover the truth. But it is my experience in such cases that even if it turns out to be fictitious, the Palestinian version will emerge victorious. See, for example, the case of 12-year-old Muhammed al-Dura, who was killed under very similar circumstances in the Gaza Strip in 2000.
With an organized military, Israel is seen as the stronger side, while the Palestinians are seen as weak and occupied by Israel. The world tends to forget Palestinians' mistakes and support them even when they fire weapons without discretion and use journalists as human shields.
The death of an Al-Jazeera reporter once again brings the issue of purity of arms to the forefront of internal Israeli discourse, and there will be those who take advantage of the incident to emphasize their opinion either for or against a resolution to the conflict. The Israel Defense Forces will once again be at the center of controversy, and questions regarding the purity of arms of a military operating in occupied territories will once again be raised.
To my mind, it makes no difference how much effort Israel makes to explain its version of events. One difficult image or Palestinian death is enough to embarrass the entire State of Israel and its public diplomacy system.
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