Additional Blog (Blog 8)

"Israel says 'no proof' its troops shot Mohamed al-Dura" appears as one of the top stories on BBC News. This, to me, is quite strange since a dispute over one supposedly dead Palestinian child would make headlines when over the past several decades, thousands of women, men and children have been killed. Why did this child make the headline of a story? 
A picture of a young boy, Mohammed al-Dura with his father, Jamal al-Dura under fire in Gaza was shown around the world in 2002. Scenes of the child being shot, under the arm of his father, became one of the most prominent photographs of the second Palestinian uprising. "France 2 has stood by the report and sued a French media activist, Philippe Karsenty, for defamation after he said the film was bogus. A French appeals court will rule on that case on Wednesday," BBC reports. 
Initially, Israel apologized the shooting but soon after, Israel became doubtful about France 2's publication of the events. Israelis reported that the child could have been shot by the Palestinians. 
The image symbolized opposition to the Israeli military occupation, which obviously tarnished Israeli's reputation. Thirteen years later, this image is still being disputed over. Is the reputation of Israel really that significant? 
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stated "It is important to focus on this incident - which has slandered Israel's reputation." 
Jamal al-Dura contrarily said "The Israelis are lying and trying to cover the truth." Both sides have interpreted the situation quite differently and similarly, both sides will never come to accept each others' version. 
If an image resurfaced more than a decade later because of Israel's doubts and concerns about its reputation, then where is Israel's legitimacy?  



Sara Nabhan
Writer
Bellaire High School