Palestinian Cameramen Covering Hebron Are Targeted by Israeli Soldiers and Settlers

By Maureen Meehan

Several cameramen and photographers gathered around the bed of Husam Abu Alam, a Palestinian cameraman working for Agence France Presse, at the Al-Ahli hospital in Hebron where he is recovering from emergency brain surgery to remove a rubber-coated plastic bullet from his head. Although they know his head is aching and he is obviously drowsy, his colleagues joke and try to cheer him up.

“We almost lost him and we want to be near him now,” said one of the photographers as he passes a tray of juice around to visitors.

Husam, 42 years old and a father of four, was shot in the back of the head by an Israeli sharpshooter on Oct. 8 during violent clashes in Hebron.

“I was aware the sharpshooter was about 25 meters behind me but I never dreamed he’d fire. He could see we were filming an injured boy who’d just been shot,” said Husam in a strained voice. “There was no reason for the soldiers to have shot at me.”

Mazen Dana, cameraman and reporter for Reuters News, saw the shooting. “There were no stones being thrown at that moment when we were filming the boy who’d been shot. We heard a gunshot and Husam fell forward and landed on his forehead right on top of his camera lens. The close range and size of the bullet hole in his head made us think he was dead. We were stunned.”

Husam was rushed in critical condition to the hospital, where he underwent lifesaving surgery for skull fractures, fragmented bone and hematoma in the brain. “Frankly, it’s a miracle,” said Abdula Hussein, head nurse at Hebron’s Al-Ahli hospital. “He’s lucky to be alive.”

Mazen Dana said if the shooting had not been done by a sharpshooter, the official Israeli explanation that it was an accident might make more sense. “But given the history of treatment of Palestinian cameramen and photographers, it is quite clear that we are targets.”

The astounding number of shootings, beatings, broken cameras, arrests and threats on Hebron-based Palestinians working for foreign media tells a story in itself.

Na’el Shyoukih, 27 years old and working as a Reuters cameraman for four years, was shot in the head, neck, back and leg on March 13 of this year. It was evening, the end of a day of disturbances. With the rioting over, nine cameramen and photographers were gathered together chatting in a well-lit spot on a street near the soldiers. Na’el was on his mobile phone informing the Reuters office in Jerusalem that the day’s clashes were over and he and his colleagues were intending to leave the area.

“Just as I said goodbye to my office, the shooting started. I yelled in Hebrew that we are journalists and to stop shooting. They knew we were journalists…It was so obvious. Every one of us had cameras on our shoulders or hanging on our necks. Besides, they know us personally,” said Na’el.

“I fell when the first bullet hit me in the head and they kept shooting at me. I was hit in the head, neck, leg and back. Before I lost consciousness, I realized three of my colleagues had come to help me and that the soldiers were shooting at them.”

Mazen Dana took up the story: “Three of us put our cameras down to help Na’el, and the soldiers shot at us. We had to drag him out of the way behind a wall. Others immediately began filming. The entire incident is on tape.”

Video tape of the incident shows all nine reporters were indeed in a well-lit spot and that the soldiers continued shooting at Na’el and those helping him. All nine reporters were hit with rubber-coated metal bullets that night. The incident created a stir in the Israeli media, but Defense Ministry officials said the nine reporters were mistaken for rioters.

“That is obviously a blatant lie and it’s all on videotape. But we all know that Israeli soldiers, and settlers for that matter, can get away with murder,” said Na’el, who spent one month in bed recovering from the head wound. He is back at work now but complains of severe headaches, inability to sleep and weight loss.

This was not the first time Na’el has been injured while filming in Hebron. “I have been hit with rubber-coated metal bullets six times and was shot in the hand with a live bullet once,” he recalls. “I’ve been beaten numerous times by the soldiers and settlers who smashed my camera.”

Na’el’s story is common among Palestinian journalists in Hebron. Veteran cameraman Mazen Dana seems to hold the record for bullet wounds and arrests: In one year he was shot at and injured by one live bullet, 27 rubber- and plastic-coated metal bullets; both of his hands have been fractured as a result of beatings by soldiers, and he was arrested 17 times. In one of the arrests he was held for three days and told if he wanted to be released he would have to sign a paper promising not to enter the Israeli-controlled area of Hebron, which is the 20 percent of the city which includes the center of town, the market, the Ibrahimi mosque and the area where the city’s 400 Jewish settlers reside. He refused, of course. Members of the special Duvdevan army unit, who disguise themselves as Palestinians, smashed three of his cameras in one year.

The intrepid group of about 15 Palestinian camera people and photographers who work for mainly U.S. and European agencies and networks all have similar stories of shootings, beatings and arrests.

“There is not one among us who hasn’t been shot, beaten or arrested,” added Husam from his bed. “They’re trying to scare us off the streets so the story of their brutality will go unseen by the world.” Husam sustained a gunshot wound in the leg while filming in Hebron last year and has been beaten several times by settlers who destroyed three of his cameras and lenses.

“It has gotten worse this past couple of years, and all of our nerves are on edge,” added Mazen, “especially after what happened to Husam. To see your colleague whose fate you share so near to death is very upsetting.”

Lo’ay Abu Haiker, 19 years old, was hospitalized with a shoulder injury while filming in the same spot where Husam was shot. He pulled his shirt off to show the Washington Report his wound, which was still fresh.

The reporters are convinced they are being targeted by the soldiers and settlers. “There’s no doubt about it. These types of attacks rarely occur when there is visible Israeli or foreign press around,” said Na’el. “Unfortunately, we’re often the only ones on the street because we live here and we represent a wide span of media agencies.”

At times when covering disturbances in Hebron, cameramen and photographers will position themselves near the soldiers to get shots of stone throwers and close-ups of the troops. Mazen said on the day of Husam’s shooting, the sharpshooter who hit his colleague “did not waste one bullet. He hit his mark every time. I saw the soldiers cheer…after they hit someone they’d jump up and say ‘I got one.’” Mazen said he told the sharpshooter that he had just shot an 11-year-old boy and “he just shrugged.”

Amjed al-Natshe, a 21-year-old Jordanian man visiting relatives in Hebron, was shot and killed and 32 Palestinians were wounded the day Husam was shot.

According to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, at least 57 people have been killed in the past decade by rubber bullets, which are actually rubber-coated metal bullets that frequently inflict lethal wounds. Of those killed, 28 were children under 17 years of age. Hundreds of people have been injured, many permanently.

The Israel Defense Forces argue that rubber bullets are a legitimate tool to disperse demonstrations, although most often they are fired in contravention of the IDF’s own open-fire regulations. These regulations, which prohibit the use of rubber bullets at night and firing them at a range of closer than 40 meters, specify: “Firing a rubber ammunition projectile will be at a specific target and will be aimed only at the legs of a person who has been identified as a rioter or stone-thrower.”

In the recent meeting of Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Washington, the issue of Israel’s security seemed to be the only one that held any importance to the Israeli negotiators, the American mediators and the U.S. media. Most Palestinians, however, equate Israel’s security argument with the continuation of occupation and closure.

“We feel our own personal, financial and future security is never mentioned as our land continues to be confiscated, our civil rights violated and Israeli army and Jewish settler presence grows all around us,” said Mazen.

“There is so much said and written about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it seems nothing ever works to show the world and to pressure Israel to adopt just and non-racist policies toward Palestinians,” Mazen continued. “We think, we hope maybe our pictures will help get the truth out.”

“For that reason, we’ll continue filming and taking pictures,” added Husam, dozing off after a tiring visit.

Maureen Meehan is a free-lance journalist who covers the West Bank and Jerusalem.