German TV station: Mohammed A-Dura killed by Palestinians 
 
By DPA and Ha'aretz Service 
March 19, 2002 

 
Gaza City/Hamburg - Nearly 18 months after television 
footage was aired of the killing of 12-year-old Mohammed 
A-Dura near the Netzarim junction in the Gaza Strip, 
a dispute has erupted over who shot him. 

A-Dura was killed during an exchange of fire between 
IDF soldiers and Palestinian gunmen at the junction, 
and the event has become a potent symbol of the 
Palestinian uprising. 

A report broadcast Monday by German ARD television said 
A-Dura was shot dead by Palestinian militants during the 
shootout with the soldiers. 

ARD said its report by Esther Shapira included photographs 
and documents proving that contrary to earlier reports the 
boy had not been shot dead by Israeli soldiers but by 
Palestinian militants. 

Virtually all Israeli media had assumed at the time that 
Mohammed, was shot dead by soldiers during the 30-minute 
clash. 

The father of Mohammed A-Dura, Jamal, who was seriously 
injured in the shootout, rejected the report: "I am 
100 percent certain that the Israelis were to blame," 
he said. "I have medical reports, X-rays and reports by 
eyewitnesses confirming that we came under fire from 
Israeli soldiers." 

The Palestinian cameraman, Talal Abu Rachman, who filmed 
the death of Mohammed on September 30, 2000, declined to 
comment on the ARD report, saying he had to watch the 
program first. 

Abu Rachman had said in his initial testimony that no 
Palestinian gunmen had fired shots at the time when the 
boy was killed. 

The former GOC Southern Command, Yom-Tov Samia, who headed 
an investigation into the shooting of A-Dura, told Israel 
Radio on Tuesday that the army had erred in hurrying to 
apologize for the boy's death. Senior IDF officers who 
issued the apology, said Samia, "made a very grave mistake." 

"One day," he added, "it will be proven that the whole 
story... was one big Palestinian production. 
And Palestinian propoganda has been riding on this for 
a long time now."
 
Jacob's Note: You can see an IDF picture of the shooting at:
http://www.jr.co.il/terror/israel/shooting.jpg