TALAL ABU RAHMA
Palestinian cameraman who works for CNN and for France 2. Talal Abu Rahma filmed the al-Dura incident, the one shot that started the second intifada. Abu Rahma received many honorary awards from organizations and festivals for his unique footage of Al-Dura, including one from Carthage Cinema Festival in Tunisia in 2000; the Badge of Courage from the Palestinian Journalists’ syndicate in 2000; Festival Scoop 2000 in France; Palestine’s Culture, Literature and Humanities Award in 2000; the Mujahid Shield from the President of Iran in 2001, the North-South Cultural Communication 2001 award in Morocco; the Arab Press award from the U.A.E.; the Professional Syndicates Union award from Jordan. He was also granted the Year’s Journalist award by ADC in the U.S. won the Best Picture award for 2000 for the cover of Italian newspaper Republica, and the Rory Peck Award in England.
LINKS TO ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS:
▪ Statement under oath by Talal about the shooting of al-Dura, Gaza, October 3, 2000.
This statement is no longer available at the Palestinian NGO site where it was first posted (Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group). The English translation can be found here.
▪ National Public Radio Interview (October 2000): “OK. It’s clear it was a father, it’s clear it was a boy over there for ever who was shooting on them from across the street, you know, in front of them. I’m sure from that area, I’m expert in that area, I’ve been in that area many times. I know every …(unintelligible) in that area. Whoever was shooting, he got to see them, because that base is not far away from the boy and the father. It’s about 150 meters.”
▪ Al-Ahram Weekly On-line, 5 – 11 October 2000: Talal declared: “It wasn’t a tear gas canister; it was a real bomb, which caused a huge explosion. After the air cleared, we saw the son lying on his father’s lap and it appeared his father was unconscious, hit by bullets. I knew the boy had been killed and his father was dying; I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned off my camera, even though the firing was still heavy”
▪ Disclosing Israeli lies, Palestine-Israel, Politics, July 30, 2001. “As for killing Al Dorra, Abu Rahma confirmed that he was shot in cold blood adding that the Israeli soldiers’ aim was leaving no one alive and burning the whole area…”
▪ Arab Media Awards gala ceremony (Dubai- 2001), Talal said, “My colleagues said words fail to describe our feelings tonight… Cameras don’t. I will continue to fight with my camera… I will continue to shoot what I want without bias.”
▪ “The Death of a Palestinian Child”, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, September 30, 2001, “After approximately 17 minutes, an ambulance was on the scene to take al-Durra to the hospital. It was estimated that the young boy was alive for 27 or 28 minutes after being shot. After viewing the tape and listening to the testimonies of doctors, eyewitnesses and the Palestinian base commander, several facts immediately are clear. There remains no doubt, Abu-Rahma said, that not only was Mohammad al-Durra shot by Israeli forces, but that in fact the child actually was targeted. The bullets, obviously coming from the direction the victims were facing, appear to have been coming from the Israeli side, as the two victims were positioned next to and in front of the Palestinian base. Had the shooting come from the Palestinian side, al-Durra would have been shot in the back, not the stomach, and the two victims would not have been pleading with those individuals facing them.”
Palestinian cameraman who works for CNN and for France 2. Abu Rahma filmed the notorious clip of Al Dura’s shooting and originated the claim that the boy was shot dead by Israeli soldiers.
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