Outcry after Israel police beat mourners at journalist funeral

After Israeli police charged the funeral procession of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and battered pallbearers who nearly dropped her coffin, the US and EU led an international outrage on Saturday.

Thousands of mourners gathered in Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday to pay their respects to the 51-year-old Al Jazeera journalist, who was slain two days earlier in an Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank.

Pallbearers struggled to keep Abu Akleh’s casket from sliding to the ground as baton-wielding officers raced towards them, seizing Palestinian flags.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the footage of Israeli police interfering into her funeral procession “very upset” the US.

The European Union condemned what it said was “unnecessary force” used by the Israeli police.

Israel and the Palestinians traded blame after Abu Akleh was shot in the head on Wednesday near Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank. She had been wearing a helmet and a bulletproof vest marked “Press”.

Israel’s army said an interim investigation could not determine who fired the fatal bullet, noting stray Palestinian gunfire or Israeli sniper fire aimed at militants were both possible causes.

The Palestinian public prosecution said an initial probe showed “the only origin of the shooting was the Israeli occupation forces”.

Al Jazeera said Israel killed her “deliberately” and “in cold blood”.

In a rare, unanimous statement, the UN Security Council condemned the killing, calling for “an immediate, thorough, transparent, and impartial investigation,” diplomats said.

– Massive crowds –

As her body left St Joseph’s hospital in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, Israeli police stormed mourners who had hoisted Palestinian flags.

About “300 rioters” came at the hospital for the funeral procession and “prevented the family members from loading the casket onto the hearse to proceed to the cemetery – as had been planned and coordinated with the family in advance,” according to police.

The police intervened “to disperse the throng and prevent them from stealing the casket, so that the burial could go as planned,” they said, adding that officers were pelted with glass bottles and other objects.

According to the Jerusalem Red Crescent, 33 persons were hurt, with six of them being hospitalized. Six persons were arrested, according to Israeli police.

Police then tried briefly to prevent thousands of mourners from following the coffin to the cemetery, but ultimately relented and did not intervene as Palestinian flags were raised, AFP reporters said.

The United States, European Union and United Nations have backed calls for a full investigation into her killing.

Israel has publicly called for a joint probe, which the Palestinian Authority has rejected.

A PA official said on Saturday that the authority would welcome the “participation of all international bodies in the investigation”.

“What happened in her funeral yesterday by the #occupation forces reinforces our position that rejects #Israel’s participation in this investigation,” Hussein al-Sheikh added on Twitter.

– ‘Sister of all Palestinians’ –
Grief over Abu Akleh’s killing spread beyond the Palestinian territories, with protests staged in Turkey, Sudan, and elsewhere.

She “was the sister of all Palestinians,” her brother Antoun Abu Akleh told AFP.

Fresh violence erupted Friday in the West Bank, including a raid and clashes around Jenin refugee camp that claimed the life of an Israeli officer.

Police said the commando, father of six Noam Raz, was wounded “during a shootout with armed terrorists,” and later died.

The Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 13 Palestinians were injured in the fighting, one of whom was badly injured.

Israeli forces surrounded the home of a suspect, besieging two men inside and firing anti-tank grenades at the residence, according to an AFP photographer.

Tensions were already high following a spate of anti-Israeli violence that claimed the lives of at least 18 people, including an Arab-Israeli police officer and two Ukrainians, since March 22.

According to an AFP tally, 31 Palestinians and three Israeli Arabs perished during the same period, including attackers and those killed by Israeli security forces in West Bank operations.