Arab unions, parties and public figures on Wednesday condemned the killing of Palestinian journalist and Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh by “Israeli” forces.

Abu Akleh, 51, was shot in the head by the “Israeli” army while covering a military raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

In a statement, Joseph Al-Qusifi, the head of the Syndicate of Lebanese Press Editors, condemned the killing of Abu Akleh by the “Israeli” occupation forces and the serious injury of the reporter Ali Al-Samoudi.

"A bullet lodged in Abu Akleh's head, causing the martyr, while carrying out her professional duties, to fall in her homeland, Palestine, on the outskirts of Jenin city, which is exposed on a daily basis to the most heinous practices of the occupiers," said Al-Qusifi.

He called on the International and General Federation of Journalists and international and Arab human rights organizations and bodies to “file cases against “Israel” before international courts in order to convict it of its shameful and heinous act," according to the statement.

In another statement, the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate described the killing of Abu Akleh as a "heinous crime" committed by the Israeli army.

"The heinous crime, which provoked surprise, denunciation and condemnation of the world, is a severe breach of media responsibility and freedom of press, which are emphasized by international laws and covenants," it said.

International investigation

The Iraqi Journalists Syndicate called for an "urgent international investigation to uncover the killers and bring them to justice."

The Egyptian Journalists Syndicate, in its statement, called on the international community and concerned organizations to "hold the occupying state (of Israel) accountable for its latest crime against the martyr, Abu Akleh."

It condemned the assassination of Abu Akleh while she was carrying out her duties, calling for an “extensive international investigation into this crime and all the repeated crimes of the occupation forces against Palestinian journalists."

UN protection

The Egyptian Journalists Syndicate also called on "the relevant UN bodies to protect Palestinian journalists from the aggression of the “Israeli” occupation forces," and media professionals in the occupied territories to “exercise caution while performing their professional duties.”

Meanwhile, the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate said in a statement that the assassination of Abu Akleh is a "direct targeting of the press and free speech" that puts the world and international institutions before their responsibilities in condemning the crime and holding the occupation leaders accountable for it.

"The murder of Shireen Abu Akleh represents a serious violation of the Geneva Conventions and a flagrant violation of international treaties that guarantee freedom of the press, the safety of journalists, and their right to information and protection while performing their professional work," it added.

In a statement, the Jordanian Engineers Association considered the killing of Abu Akleh "an assassination operation aimed at terrorizing journalists and preventing the media from carrying out its message and conveying the truth of the crimes of the occupation to the whole world."

Meanwhile, the Center for the Protection of Journalists in Jordan clarified in a statement that the assassination of Abu Akleh is a "new crime to be added to the record of the crimes of the Israeli occupation."

The Palestinian Journalists Center described Shireen Abu Akleh and her colleagues as "witnesses of the truth," stressing that "pursuing (them), restricting their work and targeting them will not deter or prevent them from continuing their noble mission of exposing the crimes of the “Israeli” occupation," according to its statement.

The center called on the international community not to allow the crime of the assassination of Abu Akleh “to pass without accountability so that the perpetrators would not go unpunished.”

War crimes

The Libyan Center for Freedom of the Press said in a statement that targeting the press in Palestine "falls within the framework of full-fledged war crimes committed by the Zionist occupation authorities against the Palestinian people, journalists and the media."

It stressed that the assassination of the Al Jazeera correspondent is "a heinous crime and an additional link in the chain of Zionist terrorism targeting journalists through violence and murder.”

“The cowardly assassination is a direct result of the silence of the international community in the face of the successive Zionist crimes," the statement added.

The Bahrain Journalists Association condemned in a statement the killing of Abu Akleh and the injury of the journalist Ali Al-Samoudi by Israeli army fire.

The association said "correspondents and journalists must be protected by all laws and customs, and the sanctity of their mission that they perform with dedication and sincerity must be respected, and they must be provided with safe working conditions to perform their professional duty and uphold their right to freedom of expression."

Awful crime

Yemeni activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman called for an international investigation of the assassination of Abu Akleh by the hands of the “Israeli” army.

"The “Israeli” occupation killed the Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, another major crime that joins the series of crimes against humanity committed by the occupation forces,” Karman said in a Facebook post.

"I condemn, in the strongest terms, this heinous crime and my condolences to all journalists in the world, the Palestinian people, and the Arab nation, for the martyrdom of Shireen Abu Akleh."

She also called on "the International Federation of Journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and all organizations concerned with defending human rights to condemn the crime, work for an international investigation, and ensure that its perpetrators do not escape prosecution and punishment."

The Speaker of the Kuwaiti National Assembly, Marzouq Al-Ghanim, said on Twitter that the assassination of Abu Akleh is "a new witness to the falsehood of all the allegations of the occupation," describing the journalist as a "hero."

In Sudan, the Preparatory Committee for Sudanese Journalists, the Journalists’ Network, the National Umma Parties, the Federal Gathering and the Arab Ba’ath Party condemned the assassination of Abu Akleh, stressing that it was a “flagrant violation of freedoms and rights,” according to separate statements.

Abu Akleh was born in Jerusalem in 1971 and over the past two and a half decades, she was one of the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network’s elite journalists covering the situation across the occupied Palestinian territories.

Al Jazeera accused “Israeli” forces of deliberately killing its veteran journalist Abu Akleh in the occupied West Bank, while the Israeli army said that its initial assessments indicated that Abu Akleh was "killed by Palestinian gunmen."

However, the Palestinian Authority confirmed that Abu Akleh was “shot dead by the Israeli army.”

The Palestinian news agency Wafa quoted the injured journalist Al-Samoudi as saying that the occupation forces targeted journalists directly, which led to him being shot in the back and the death of his colleague Abu Akleh after she was shot in the head./aa

A first-of-its-kind federal study of Native American boarding schools released Wednesday has identified at least 53 associated burial sites with 500 deaths reported so far, a number the US government believes could grow exponentially as the research continues.

“Each of those children is a missing family member,” said Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland in a statement. “A person who was not able to live out their purpose on this earth because they lost their lives as part of this terrible system.”

The report by the Interior Department pinpointed more than 400 schools designated to assimilate Indigenous children into white society.

The investigation shows the schools operated for 150 years, starting in the early 19th century, which coincided with the removal of many Native American tribes from their ancestral lands.

The dark history of Indigenous boarding schools included taking children from their families and prohibiting them from speaking their Native American languages.

The schools also deployed “systematic militarized and identity-alteration methodologies,” including renaming children with English names, cutting their hair short, and forcing children to perform manual labor.

If children spoke their language or practiced their culture, they were punished by methods, including solitary confinement, humiliation, flogging, withholding food, whipping, slapping, and cuffing. Older children were forced to punish younger children.

“The consequences of federal Indian boarding school policies… are heartbreaking and undeniable,” said Haaland.

As part of its initiative, the Interior Department will conduct a year-long “Road to Healing” across the US to allow survivors to tell their stories and establish a permanent oral history collection.

The department says it will produce a second report with the locations of marked or unmarked burial sites, and the names, ages and tribal affiliations of the children buried there.

“It is my priority to not only give voice to the survivors and descendants of federal Indian boarding school policies but also to address the lasting legacies of these policies so Indigenous Peoples can continue to grow and heal,” added Haaland./aa

Spain on Wednesday "firmly condemns the death" of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

The "serious incidents" related to Abu Akleh's death must be "investigated and clarified," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, calling also for the "freedom of the press and the work of journalists to be respected."

The Palestinian Health Ministry had said earlier in the day that Abu Akleh was shot dead while covering an Israeli raid in the Palestinian city of Jenin.

Another journalist, Ali Al-Samoudi, was also shot during the attack.

The statement by Spain's Foreign Ministry did not name the Israeli government.

The Qatar-based Al Jazeera network accused Israeli forces of deliberately killing its veteran journalist Abu Akleh in the occupied West Bank.

"I met Shireen Abu Akleh years ago in the West Bank. An entire generation followed her reports," wrote Spanish journalist Olga Rodriguez Francisco, who penned an obituary for Abu Akleh in Spanish daily El Diario.

"It has never been easy to be a journalist in conflict zones, where reporters are often targeted. Even more difficult is being a Palestinian reporter in a land occupied by Israeli troops," she wrote.

Monica Garcia, the opposition leader in the Madrid regional government, also blamed Israel for the attack.

"I'm appalled by the murder of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh at the hands of a soldier of the Israeli army. Another attack on human rights and press freedom that cannot go unpunished," she wrote on Twitter./aa

The UN on Wednesday said it is “appalled” at the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during an “Israeli” raid in the occupied West Bank and called for “an independent investigation.”

In a Twitter post, Ravina Shamdasani of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said: “We are appalled at the killing of journalist #ShireenAbuAkleh while covering an Israeli military operation in Jenin, #Palestine.”

She said the UN Human Rights Office is on the ground verifying the facts.

Abu Akleh, 51, was shot dead while covering an “Israeli” raid in the city of Jenin.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, another journalist, Ali Al-Samoudi, was shot in the back.

“We urge an independent, transparent investigation into her killing. Impunity must end,” said Shamdasani.

Earlier on Wednesday, Al Jazeera television accused “Israeli” forces of deliberately assassinating Abu Akleh “in cold blood.”

“We pledge to prosecute the perpetrators legally, no matter how hard they try to cover up their crime, and bring them to justice,” the Doha-based television network said.

Abu Akleh was born in Jerusalem in 1971 and earned a BA in journalism and media from Yarmouk University in Jordan. She also held US citizenship./aa

Several Arab countries on Wednesday condemned the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

The 51-year-old Al Jazeera correspondent was shot dead while covering an “Israeli” military raid in the West Bank city of Jenin on Wednesday morning. Another journalist, Ali Al-Samoudi, was shot in the back, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Condemning the killing, Lebanese President Michel Aoun said: "The Israeli occupation adds the murder of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to its bloody history, a new chapter of abuse, aggression and disregard for life and justice."

In a telegram addressed to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Aoun offered condolences over the "martyrdom of Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot by “Israeli” treachery," according to a Lebanese presidency statement.

Faisal Shboul, the Jordanian Cabinet spokesman, described the killing as a "heinous crime committed in cold blood."

"This crime is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and international conventions and norms, which stipulate that journalists and media workers must be protected," Jordan’s Petra news agency quoted Shboul as saying.

He called on the international community to take action to protect journalists and media workers.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi also condemned the killing of Abu Akleh, describing it as a "heinous crime and a blatant attack on the freedom of journalism.”

"May God bless the soul of a professional journalist and voice of truth, who has shed light on the suffering of the Palestinian people," Safadi said on Twitter.

‘Blatant attack’

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry called the killing "a heinous crime and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, and a blatant attack on freedom of journalism and expression."

In a Twitter post, Qatar’s Assistant Foreign Minister Lolwah Alkhater said: “[Israel]i occupation killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by shooting her in the face while wearing the press vest and a helmet.”

“This state sponsored “Israeli” terrorism must stop, unconditional support to Israel must end,” she added.

Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush said on Twitter: "The assassination of Abu Akleh is a public violation of international conventions and norms and human rights.”

In a statement, the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry also condemned the killing.

"This heinous crime, for which the occupation authorities bear full responsibilities, is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, a blatant infringement on freedom of expression, and a new, irrefutable evidence of the ugliness of the occupation's aggression against the Palestinian people," the statement said.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in a statement, considered the killing of Abu Akleh as "a blatant violation of international laws.” It called for an immediate investigation and for holding those responsible to account.

The incident came “in the context of the “Israeli” violations of press and media freedom, as part of its policy aimed at blocking the truth, muzzling the press, covering up its daily violations, and withholding such information from the world public opinion,” the statement added.

For its part, the Arab League described the killing of the Palestinian journalist as "the slaying of the voice of truth, truth and freedom, and human justice."

The Arab League held the “Israeli” government responsible for the “heinous crime.”

Abu Akleh was born in Jerusalem in 1971 and earned a BA in journalism and media from Yarmouk University in Jordan. She also held US citizenship./aa