(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Defence Benyamin Ben Eliezer, RSF protested the shooting of Bertrand Aguirre, correspondent from the French television station TF1, in Ramallah. Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general, asked for “the launch of an investigation in order to determine the exact circumstances of the incident and to take disciplinary mesures […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Defence Benyamin Ben Eliezer, RSF protested the shooting of Bertrand Aguirre, correspondent from the French television station TF1, in Ramallah. Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general, asked for “the launch of an investigation in order to determine the exact circumstances of the incident and to take disciplinary mesures against those responsible if it is found that an Israeli soldier fired the shot.” Ménard also recalled that “this is the fourth journalist to be shot and injured in 2001 during confrontations between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers. Close to forty media professionals have been shot by Tsahal [Israeli Defence Forces] in the last three years.”
According to information collected by RSF, on 15 May, Aguirre was lightly injured while covering confrontations between the Israeli army and Palestinian demonstrators in Ramallah. A bullet hit the journalist’s flak jacket in the chest area, causing a haematoma. The journalist was taken to the hospital in Ramallah for examination.
On 20 April, Laila Awda, Abou Dhabi TV correspondent in Ramallah, was hit by a bullet in the thigh while reporting in the Rafah region. According to the journalist, the soldiers deliberately targeted her (see IFEX alerts of 26 and 23 April 2001).
On 9 February, Gamma agency photographer Laurent van der Stockt was seriously injured while covering young Palestinians’ demonstrations in Ramallah. The photographer was located about fifty metres from Israeli soldiers when he was shot in the knee. He was taken to a Jerusalem hospital before being repatriated to France (see IFEX alert of 23 April 2001).
