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Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, September-October 2008, page 60 Human Rights Newseum’s Journalists Memorial Flawed
AFTER SENDING out action alerts and a petition protesting Israel’s brutal attack on Gaza correspondent Mohammed Omer, the Washington Report received an e-mail from Patricia Ann Abraham. She’d visited Washington’s Newseum on June 16 and said one of its 14 galleries includes a very moving, two-story glass Journalists Memorial. Abraham searched for the names of journalists killed by Israelis in Palestine, to no avail. She wrote to the Newseum and, after receiving no reply, suggested this reporter investigate. I first examined the Newseum’s Web site which includes a list of journalists killed in “Israel.” But the only Israelis on the wall appear to be Nathan Perlman and Ben Oserman, killed in the wars of 1948 and 1967, respectively. The rest are Palestinians or foreigners killed in Palestinian territories, but they are all listed as dying in Israel. There is no listing for Palestine or the occupied territories. According to the Web site, there are 1,843 names of journalists listed on the wall who died from 1837 through 2007 while reporting the news. Beside each name is listed the place of death. The Newseum plans to rededicate the memorial every year, adding the names of journalists who died on the job the year before. There is also a mural of photographs of journalists. Below the mural are brief biographies and photos of journalists who have died during the current year. The number of photos waiting to be included in 2008 is astounding. Many of them are Iraqi, of course, but there are also Palestinians. At the Newseum, located in downtown Washington, I visited the wall accompanied by Tina Tate, director of Newseum’s media relations. I saw that, indeed, Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana is ready and waiting on the 2008 list. Shockingly, the Newseum lists him as having been killed in Israel, not Gaza. Mohamed Abu Halima, a student correspondent for Al-Najah radio station, was actually killed in Balara refugee camp outside Nablus in 2007. His death is also listed as having taken place in Israel. Imad Ghanem, killed in 2007, and cameraman James Miller, killed in 2003, both died in the Gaza Strip, but the wall says they were killed in Israel. I explained to Tate that these men were killed in Palestinian territories by Israelis, but that one couldn’t tell by looking at this wall. No wonder our reader couldn’t locate them when she looked. “We try our best to be politically correct,” Tate explained. Not only can Palestinian journalists not cover the news safely—apparently they cannot even die in Palestine. For more information visit <www.newseum.org/scripts/Journalist/countryDetail.asp?countryID=107>. —Delinda C. Hanley |
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