From: Ali Abunimah
To: morning@npr.org
Subject: Palestinian youth not a "gunman"

May 3, 2001

Dear NPR News,

Vicky O'Hara's report on Morning Edition today about Shimon Peres' visit to the United States was generally fair and informative. However, I believe that O'Hara made a mistake when she referred to Tuesday morning's Israeli attack on Rafah refugee camp in these terms:

OHARA: "Israeli tanks and bulldozers demolished homes in a Gaza refugee camp. A Palestinian gunmen was killed in that attack and more than two dozen people wounded."

I have reviewed as many media reports as I can on this incident and none of them identify the person killed as a "gunman." None of them even contain Israeli claims that he was a "gunman." By all accounts he was a teenage resident simply unlucky enough to be living in a refugee camp when the Israelis decided to attack it. The reports I reviewed included BBC News Online, Associated Press, Agence France Presse, UPI, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Reuters, The Washington Post and The New York Times.

All the reports that mentioned the dead teenager by name (which included The Washington Post) agreed that he was 17-year-old Mahmoud Aqel, who died of gunshot wounds to the chest in the Israeli assault. Several reports say that he suffered gunshot wounds to the head as well.

If NPR is in possession of a credible report that the boy was indeed a "gunman" I would appreciate a copy, otherwise it would be appropriate for you to make a correction in your next broadcast.

Sincerely,

Ali Abunimah
http://www.abunimah.org

NB: Following the sending of this letter, I located a single Reuters reported that identified the dead youth as a "gunman." However, this report was not primarily about the attack on Gaza, and the reference appears in a paragraph summarizing recent violence. The Reuters reports about the actual incident in Gaza do not report any such claims. The fact that this was the only reference I found, that it was devoid of detail, and that it is totally inconsistent with all the other reports leads me to believe that the report is erroneous and there is still no credible report that Mahmoud Aqel was a "gunman."