Palestinian journalist loses eye to Israeli bullet

Mu'ath Amarneh is a Palestinian photojournalist whose only weapon is his camera, one of the Israeli occupation's worst enemies.

Amarneh was covering a Palestinian protest against the Israeli confiscation of land for settlement construction in Surif town, northwest of al-Khalil, 15 November, when an Israeli soldier shot him with a rubber-coated metal bullet in the left eye.

Wearing a vest clearly marked "Press", Amarneh was rushed to a hospital, but doctors could not save his eye. They even were unable to remove the bullet completely as that would affect his brain and other eye.

Amarneh, 32, a resident of Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, works for several local media outlets, and he was the first photojournalist to document the Israeli brutal and unprovoked killing of a Palestinian youth named Omar Badawi on the front steps of his house in al-Arroub refugee camp in al-Khalil a few days before he lost his eye.

Amarneh said, "When I headed to Surif before the protest started, Israeli occupation forces stopped me, harassed me, and seized my vehicle for a while before they returned it although I showed them my press card."

Raed al-Sharif, Amarneh's colleague who was present at the scene, said, "I was standing close to Mu'ath to cover the protests in al-Qreinat area in Surif when I noticed an Israeli sniper lying on the ground. All of a sudden I heard Mu'ath screaming that he was shot. When I looked at him his face was covered in blood."

Palestinian and Arab journalists have launched a social media campaign to show solidarity with Mu'ath Amarneh who has lost sight in his left eye forever.

Hundreds of pictures showing people covering one eye with their hand or wearing eye patches have emerged on social media to support Amarneh and shed light on the Israeli vicious crimes against journalists.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has strongly condemned the Israeli attack on Amarneh, urging the International Federation of Journalists to make a serious action toward ending the Israeli occupation's violations against Palestinian journalists. 

 

Source: The Palestinian Information Center