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Journalism of Courage
JAN 18: Three hooded gunmen shot dead the chief of Palestinian state television in broad daylight in a restaurant in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, a killing that the Palestinian leadership blamed on "collaborators" with Israel.
Israel denied any connection with the killing of Hisham Mikki, 54, an associate of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, but not a close aide.
Mikki was sipping tea at a hotel restaurant when three gunmen, their faces concealed by masks, walked up to his table and fired two shots at close range at the chest and the head, Palestinian police chief Ghazi Al-Jabali said.
He said the assailants were armed with machine guns and not pistols with silencers as had been previously reported and they sprayed the walls and windows of the restaurant with bullets to disguise the fact that they were professional killers.
Jabali said the Palestinian authority had formed a taskforce to investigate the killing. He said the killers had been observing Mikki’s movements and knew that he regularly reserved a table at the restaurant.
Mikki was the head of the official Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), which is accused by Israel of inciting hatred during a 16-week-old Palestinian uprising by showing graphic footage of the violence and victims almost non-stop.
The television station has denied the charges of whipping up hatred or any of the violence in which at least 309 Palestinians, 13 Israeli Arabs and 44 other Israelis have been killed since late September.
Palestinian police did not say whether the killing was politically motivated. Palestinian sources said it may have been an internal matter or a settling of scores following rumours of corruption.
Israel denies any connection to killing
But the Palestinian Authority issued a statement blaming the killing on "collaborators" with Israel in a statement read out on television.
After the Palestinian accusation, the Israeli army issued a statement saying it "wished to clarify that the Israel defence forces and the Israeli security forces have no connection to the death of the Palestinian TV director in Gaza."
Although Jabali supported the official Palestinian position that Mikki was killed by collaborators with Israel, he said all options were open for investigation.
Two Palestinians were executed last weekend after being found guilty of collaboration with Israel and two more were sentenced to death. Human rights groups have condemned the speed of the trials and the lack of a right to appeal.
Palestinian officials say the executions were intended to deter other Palestinians from collaboration with Israel, referring to what they say are Israeli assassinations of about 30 Palestinian activists since the start of the unrest.
Israel says it has targeted and killed activists accused of carrying out or plotting attacks on Israelis or Israeli targets but denies carrying out political assassinations. None of those killed was tried in court.
Mikki, a father of seven, used to work for state television in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
The PBC was set up in 1994 when the Palestinian Authority was established and Israel handed over most of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank city of Jericho to Palestinian rule.
