Row as Israel conducts tests on bullet that killed reporter

Israel has said it will conduct forensic tests on the bullet that killed the Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh, a day after Palestinian officials handed over the evidence to a US security coordinator for examination, on what they said was the condition that Israel would not be involved.

The testing will be carried out by Israeli investigators in the presence of US observers, the Israeli military spokesperson Brig Gen Ran Kochav told Army Radio yesterday.

Akram al-Khatib, the general prosecutor for the Palestinian Authority, told Voice of Palestine radio the test would take place at the US embassy in Jerusalem, but that “we got guarantees from the American coordinator that the examination will be conducted by them and that the Israeli side will not take part”.

The fresh dispute threatens to derail what on Saturday had appeared to be a major step towards resolving a standoff between Israel and the Palestinians over an investigation into the Al Jazeera reporter’s death.

The news agency AFP quoted an unnamed Palestinian Authority official yesterday as saying Kochav’s remarks raised questions about whether it could “trust the Americans”.

Abu Aqleh, 51, a well-known figure in the Arab world, was shot in the head in the West Bank city of Jenin in May during what her colleagues at the scene said was a burst of Israeli fire on a group of journalists covering an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) raid. She was wearing a helmet and protective vest clearly marked “press”. Footage of Israeli police storming her funeral procession in Jerusalem added to Palestinian and international outrage.

Israel initially blamed the reporter’s death on Palestinian militants, but has since said that an IDF soldier may have accidentally killed her. The army has said it cannot draw any conclusions unless the bullet can be examined to find markings left by a gun’s unique barrel rifling.