{"id":48363,"date":"2022-05-18T13:22:24","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T13:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=48363"},"modified":"2022-05-18T13:22:24","modified_gmt":"2022-05-18T13:22:24","slug":"shireen-abu-akleh-palestinians-united-in-memory-of-journalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=48363","title":{"rendered":"Shireen Abu Akleh: Palestinians united in memory of journalist"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Occupied East Jerusalem<\/strong> \u2013 As birds sat on the gravestone of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and chirped a cheerful morning tune, Mohammed Shennawy, a Palestinian Muslim from Nazareth walked through the cemetery gates.<\/p>\n

The 71-year-old retired teacher, who had travelled from the northern city, greeted the guards at the cemetery entrance and then asked for the location of the veteran Al Jazeera journalist\u2019s grave.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve come to read the Fatiha on her pure soul,\u201d said Shennawy in reference to the opening chapter of the Quran, the recital of which is a ritual Muslims practice when grieving the death of a loved one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never knew that Shireen was Christian, and it never mattered. She was a symbol of Palestinian unity in her lifetime and in her death,\u201d he added before making his way to the gravestone, reciting verses from the holy book of Islam.<\/p>\n

\"Mohammed<\/img>
Mohammed Shennawy, a Muslim Palestinian from Nazareth says Shireen was a symbol of Palestinian identity and unity [Arwa Ibrahim\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shireen was killed by Israeli forces in Jenin<\/a>, in the north of the occupied West Bank, as she covered an Israeli raid on the city\u2019s refugee camp on May 11. Al Jazeera said she was \u201cassassinated in cold blood\u201d.<\/p>\n

After three days of processions that started in Jenin and passed through the occupied West Bank cities of Nablus and Ramallah, her body reached Jerusalem, where it was laid to rest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although a Greek Melkite herself, Shireen was buried at a Greek Orthodox cemetery on Mount Zion, just outside the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem. Her body was laid to rest next to those of her Greek Orthodox mother and grandfather, and her Greek Melkite father.<\/p>\n

For Abu Khaled, a Palestinian Christian who has served Jerusalem\u2019s Christian cemeteries for 40 years, Shireen\u2019s burial was like no other he had witnessed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in this business for decades. Never had I seen such a force \u2026 such sadness and strength in one go,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\"Abu<\/img>
Abu Khaled, a Palestinian Christian who has served Jerusalem\u2019s Christian cemeteries for 40 years, says Shireen\u2019s burial was like no other he had witnessed [Arwa Ibrahim\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beyond religious divides<\/h2>\n

Ahead of the arrival of her casket to the Christian quarter in Jerusalem\u2019s Old City, thousands of Palestinians, Christian and Muslim, gathered to receive it.<\/p>\n

Posters of Shireen were seen paired with the cross and other Christian symbols, while others were superimposed on building tops overlooking the Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam\u2019s third-holiest site.<\/p>\n

Muslims and Christians stood side by side as pallbearers carried Shireen\u2019s casket through the gates of the St Joseph Hospital, where her body was kept, before they moved towards the cemetery. They prayed together, each in their own way, to bid Shireen farewell.<\/p>\n

\u201cShireen was the daughter of Jerusalem, all of it, Muslims and Christians,\u201d said Laila Mohammed, a Muslim resident of Jerusalem, who took part in the funeral prayers that day.<\/p>\n

\u201cShireen always covered news developments from Damascus Gate,\u201d added the 55-year-old, referring to one of the main entrances to the Muslim Quarter in the Old City, and a point of ongoing confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli police.<\/p>\n

\"Laila<\/img>
Laila Mohamed, a 55-year-old Muslim Palestinian from Jerusalem, said she attended Shireen\u2019s funeral prayers [Arwa Ibrahim\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIn her life and in her death, she was a force that united us around the Palestinian cause. It never was, nor will be, important whether she was Muslim or Christian,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Expanding on the same point, Archbishop Atallah Hanna, head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem said: \u201cShireen was a Christian, but she fought for the freedom of Christian holy sites the same way she did for those of Muslims.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always saw her report from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the same way we saw her report from the grounds of the Aqsa Mosque compound,\u201d explained the archbishop.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was a symbol of our nation, our people, our cause and oneness as Palestinians,\u201d he added. \u201cWe, both Muslims and Christians, will remain forever proud of her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"After<\/img>
After three days of processions that started in Jenin and passed through the occupied West Bank cities of Nablus and Ramallah, the revered journalist\u2019s body reached Jerusalem, where she was laid to rest [Arwa Ibrahim\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Uniting Palestinian Christians<\/h2>\n

As Shireen\u2019s casket made its way out of the hospital, Israeli police attacked the mourners and pallbearers<\/a>, causing them to nearly drop the coffin on the ground.<\/p>\n

But while Israeli forces attacked the procession, the sound of bells from the churches of Jerusalem\u2019s various Christian sects rose in unison.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the churches in Jerusalem, from across the various Christian sects, united in their decision to ring their bells together in her memory,\u201d said Garo Sandrouni, a shop owner in the Old City in Jerusalem and a member of the Armenian Orthodox community.<\/p>\n

He explained that the Christian community in Jerusalem was deeply divided, making it unheard of for Jerusalem\u2019s churches to come together in any event. Yet they did, for Shireen.<\/p>\n

A reflection of intra-Christian division in Jerusalem shows in one of Christianity\u2019s holiest sites, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre \u2013 the place where Christ is believed to have died, been buried, and was resurrected.<\/p>\n

The church is shared by six Christian claimant communities that have defended their rights over various parts of the complex and continue to challenge one another.<\/p>\n

\"Garo<\/img>
Garo Sandrouni, a shop owner in the Old City in Jerusalem and a member of the Armenian Orthodox community, says Shireen\u2019s funeral saw Jerusalem\u2019s various churches come together to bid her farewell [Arwa Ibrahim\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cEveryone knows that the Christian sects can\u2019t stand each other. We have a lot of divisions and differences amongst us,\u201d said Sandrouni.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that they [the churches] all united so quickly to celebrate her legacy and bid her farewell, shows how big of a symbol and meaning Shireen was for all Palestinian Christians,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Abd Shaheen, a guard at the graveyard where Shireen\u2019s body was laid to rest, and a member of the Greek Orthodox community, agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Palestinian Christians, we never celebrated nor grieved together,\u201d said Shaheen as he lit a cigarette and sat on a bench near Shireen\u2019s grave.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven Jesus couldn\u2019t unite us the way Shireen did,\u201d said Shaheen. \u201cAnd so, despite the sadness, there was beauty amid this devastating event.\u201d<\/p>\n