Israeli police beat mourners at Al Jazeera – NBC 7 journalist’s funeral in South Florida

JERUSALEM – Israeli police stormed a crowd of mourners on Friday during a funeral procession Al Jazeera journalist Sherine Abu AklehThey beat the demonstrators with batons, and the coffin campaign was briefly thrown.

The campaign came during a rare display of Palestinian nationalism in East Jerusalem – the part of the city captured by Israel in 1967 that Palestinians claim is the capital of their future state.

Israel says East Jerusalem is part of its capital and has annexed it to the region in a move not recognized internationally. Israel routinely suppresses any show of support for the cause of a Palestinian state.

Shirin Abu Aqle died while covering a confrontation between Palestinians and Israeli security forces

Thousands of mourners attended, some carrying Palestinian flags and chanting “Palestine, Palestine!” , the funeral of Abu Akleh, who witnesses said was shot dead by Israeli soldiers this week while covering a military raid in the West Bank.

“We die for Palestine to live,” the crowd chanted. Our beloved land. Then they sang the Palestinian national anthem.

Before the funeral, dozens of mourners attempted to move the coffin from the hospital to the Catholic Church in nearby Ciudad Vieja.

Police said the crowd at the hospital chanted “nationalist incitement”, ignored calls to stop and threw stones at police officers. The police had to intervene.”

On the other hand, the Israeli military command said that according to its initial investigations, there was heavy gunfire in Jenin, 700 feet from where Abu Akleh fell, but it could not determine whether she was shot by Israeli soldiers or Palestinian militants.

Israel announced the killing of an Israeli policeman in fresh clashes in Jenin on Friday.

In recent days, expressions of mourning have multiplied in the Palestinian territories and the Arab world in general over the death of Abu Akleh, a veteran television reporter who for a quarter of a century has covered the harsh realities of life under Israeli occupation, continuing for more than six decades with no end in sight.

was in Jerusalem.

In the wake of the frantic scene outside the hospital, police allowed the family to move the coffin to a Catholic church in the old town, which was filled with mourners, before cordoning off the hospital and firing tear gas at the protesters.

After the mass, thousands of people went to the cemetery, waving Palestinian flags and chanting: “Palestine! Palestine!”

Hours later, Abu Akle was buried in a cemetery outside the Old City.

There are still two prisoners on the run. Tension is growing.

Israel called for a joint investigation with the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Authority to hand over the bullet for forensic analysis to determine who fired it.

The Palestinian Authority refused, saying it would conduct its own investigation and refer the case to the International Criminal Court, which is already investigating possible Israeli war crimes.

Reporters who were accompanied by Abu Oqla, one of whom was wounded, said that there were no clashes or gunmen in the vicinity where she was killed on Wednesday morning. They were all wearing protective gear that clearly identified them as journalistic workers.