11/26/2004|||110149387614236415||||||

A DEATH IN GAZA

Is this story true? Writing in the Wall Street Journal (subscriber-only), Stephane Juffa claims to have definitive proof that the shooting of Mohammed al-Durra - the Palestinian boy who became the symbol of the second Intifada - was "nothing but a hoax". Israeli generals intitially accepted the blame for Mohammed's death in cross-fire after tape of the incident was broadcast on French TV.

Juffa writes of his probe into the incident: "I realized that this might be one of the greatest media manipulations the world has ever seen. We started our own investigations and wrote over 150 articles on the issue, concluding that the French report is, beyond any reasonable doubt, pure fiction."

James Fallows wrote a detailed piece on the tragedy in The Atlantic (again subscriber-only) almost two years ago, but the story appeared to fade away. Are we closer to establishing the facts now?

UPDATE: I'm not suggesting the Israeli forces are spotless. The Washington Post (reg required) has an account of a much more recent incident.

|||Clive|||http://clivedavis.blogspot.com/2004/11/death-in-gaza-is-this-story-true.html|||11/26/2004 06:30:00 pm|||||||||

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