Sunday 30 September 2007

Shocking Image From History

The image to the right was taken this day in 2000. What happened before and after this still has seared itself into my memory and i clearly remember the whole newsroom stopping to stand and stare at the scene on the monitors in disbelief.
It happened in Gaza, two days after Ariel Sharon dismissed calls to cancel his visit to the sacred Haram al Sharif Mosque because of fears of the outcry it would cause in Palestine. He went anyway and the predicted riot ensued which led to this moment.
The father and his son were unarmed, and were not part of the rioting. They were returning from a used-car market and were trying to get home to the Buriej refugee camp where they lived.
Caught in the crossfire between Israeli troops and stone throwing Palestinians, the boy and his father cowered behind a small metal barrel as bullets rained around them.
The father is seen waving desperately at the Israeli soldiers on the other side of the road, as his son screams, obviously terrified, by his side.
Suddenly, the father falls backwards from the force of a bullet and his screaming son's body jerks as he is hit, and killed, by a volley of bullets.
Images of the killing of the 12 year old boy and the shooting dead of 16 youths armed with stones during the same incident caused an international outcry and did much to ratchet up the second Infatida that we see today.
The image of the small boy, scared witless as he cowered behind his father before being ruthlessly shot dead by Israeli troops still chills me today and is filed away in my brain as one of the most disturbing images i have ever seen, ranking up there with the Napalm burned girl running down the road and the Buddhist monk burning himself to death.

6 comments:

Paula said...

There were reports that the bullets were not from Israeli troops, but it is terribly sad either way.

Stephen K said...

You're right. In the context you describe, it is extremely chilling.

Falling on a bruise said...

There were also reports that it was all faked as well miz uz but it was just one those things that just seemed to stay in my mind, the look on the small boys face was horrific.

Still chills me now stephen, knowing what followed that picture.

Daniel said...

Although I've published some pretty harrowing photographs on my blog, the one on my Holocaust post is one I can still barely look at. The look on the boy's face is...

I agree with your sentiments, Lucy. We who involve ourselves in the world's tragedies carry ever-increasing scars.

I followed the Israeli brutality daily following the above scene and it was what got me started into blogging. Cheers.

Nigel Bird said...

It seems that That the Lunatics have taken over the Asylum. Who are the real psychopaths, The Lunatics,the Doctors or the obververs?

Anonymous said...

A French Court has just ordered France 2 television to release the entire 29 minutes of film from this incident, which the TV channel had until now refused to do. Instead they only ever released 59 seconds that the world has seen.

The full images allegedly portray the scene being staged.

Stand by for the Dreyfuss Affair all over again....

This has been another Blood Libel against the collective Jew, Israel.