From Occupied Palestine

Journalists killed in 2002
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS
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PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY TERRITORIES: 3

Raffaele Ciriello, free-lance, March 13, 2002, Ramallah

Ciriello, an Italian free-lance photographer who was on assignment for the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, was killed by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to press reports and eyewitness testimony. Ciriello was the first foreign journalist killed while covering the current Palestinian uprising, which began in September 2000. The photographer died after being hit by a burst of machine gun fire from the direction of an Israeli tank during an Israeli military offensive in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Attacks on journalists in 2002
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS
Country Report: Israel and the Occupied Territories

Part I: Overview

While the press is largely free within Israel proper, the country’s military assault on the Occupied Territories fueled a sharp deterioration in press freedom in the West Bank and Gaza during much of 2002. Despite vocal international protest, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) committed an assortment of press freedom abuses, ranging from banning press access in the West Bank to opening fire on journalists covering events.

Attacks on journalists in 2002, part II
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS
Country Report: Israel and the Occupied Territories

Part II: Details of each attack

January 3
Akhbar al-Khalil
CENSORED

The offices of the weekly newspaper Akhbar al-Khalil, in the West Bank city of Hebron, were raided by Palestinian security authorities. The officials ordered the paper’s immediate closure but gave no reason for the move. According to an editor at the paper, however, a Palestinian National Authority (PNA) security officer told him that the PNA was responding to Israeli and U.S. pressure to close the paper, which frequently criticized those countries’ Middle East policies.

Occupying the already Occupied Territories
Reviewing Israel's largest escalation since 1982
JON ELMER
Dalhousie Gazette, 20 March 2002

Italian photographer Raffaele Ciriello was negotiating the war-ravaged streets of Ramallah last week when an Israeli tank turned a corner barely 100 metres in front of him, the tank hatch popped open and an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldier rattled off a spray of heavy machine gun fire which eviscerated the journalist - leaving him, his press tags and his cameras slumped in a pool of blood. After having his limp body dragged from the street by a colleague, Mr. Ciriello - a veteran of Kosovo, Bosnia, and Afghanistan - ultimately bled to death as Israeli tanks blocked ambulance access to the reporter for more than an hour.

Israeli shots kill journalist
SUZANNE GOLDENBERG
Guardian, 14 March 2003

Ramallah -- An Italian photographer was killed by Israeli machine-gun fire in fierce fighting in central Ramallah yesterday. He was the first foreign journalist to be killed in the 18 months of the Palestinian uprising.

RSF appalled by death of Italian journalist in Ramallah
REPORTERS SANS FRONTIERES
Press release, 13 March 2002

RSF is appalled by the death in Ramallah of Italian freelance journalist Raffaele Ciriello, who was hit by gunfire from Israeli soldiers. "For months, we have been denouncing the impunity enjoyed by Israeli troops firing on journalists and today, what we always feared has happened and a journalist has been killed," said RSF secretary-general Robert M

CPJ mourns death of Italian photographer killed in West Bank
Committee to Protect Journalists 13 March 2002

CPJ is shocked and saddened by the death of Italian free-lance photographer Raffaele Ciriello, who was killed this morning by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to press reports and eyewitness testimony.

Journalist gunned down by Israeli tank
COLLEEN BARRY
Associated Press, 13 March 2002

Jerusalem -- An Italian photographer was killed by machine gun fire from an Israeli tank in Ramallah early Wednesday, Palestinian hospital officials and witnesses said. Two other journalists were also shot at in separate incidents in the West Bank town.