Friday, January 28, 2011

9 out of 9

That's the number of the paragraph out of the total number of story paragraphs where Reuters finally discloses the key facts surrounding the reported shooting of two Palestinians by Jewish settlers:
Jewish settlers shoot 2 Palestinians in West Bank
(Reuters) - Jewish Settlers shot two Palestinian men in the occupied West Bank on Friday, critically injuring one of them, the mayor of a Palestinian village and Israeli police said.
Palestinians said the incident in the village of Beit Ummar near Hebron was the second time they had come under fire from settlers in 24 hours. A 19-year-old was shot dead on Thursday near Nablus, further north.
An Israeli police spokesman said several Israelis who had been hiking in the area were being questioned in connection with the shooting. He said the settlers had "probably" been attacked by stone-throwing Palestinians and had opened fire on them.
Nasri Sabarna, the mayor of Beit Ummar, told Reuters dozens of settlers had entered his village and started shooting at houses on Friday morning, hitting two youths working on land nearby.
Palestinian medics said Fakhri Youssef, 17, had been shot in the head and was on a life support machine.
Violence in the West Bank has largely subsided in the past few years, but Israeli military officials have warned in private that the stalling of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians could stoke tensions and break the status quo.
U.S.-brokered peace efforts broke down last year after Israel refused to give way to Palestinian demands to freeze settlement building on occupied land.
On Thursday, Oday Kaddous, 19, was shot dead near the village of Iraq Burin near Nablus. His cousin Omar Kaddous accused settlers of killing him in an unprovoked attack.
Israeli media said footage from a military security camera showed an Israeli-looking man shooting in the air after Palestinians started throwing stones at him. He then fired directly at the group.
Only after describing the location of the incident employing the propaganda mantra "occupied West Bank"; citing anonymous Palestinian sources; linking the shooting to a previous shooting of a Palestinian; employing scare quotes to mock a statement by Israeli police; citing a Palestinian mayor's account of the incident; citing Palestinian medics; citing anonymous Israeli officials to suggest that violence may rise as a result of stalled peace talks which it is suggested have failed due to Israel's refusal to "freeze settlement building on occupied land"; providing further details on the previous shooting which includes citing the dead man's cousin accusing Jewish settlers of murdering him in cold blood -- only after that litany do Reuters correspondents Ali Sawafta and Maayan Lubell finally get around to disclosing that video footage of the incident evidences a group of Palestinians throwing rocks at an "Israeli-looking man" who first fires into the air and (when that fails to deter his attackers), at the group of Palestinians.

By that time of course, most readers have already moved on to the next piece of Reuters carefully contrived propaganda.

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