Thanks for highlighting grief and suffering of Palestinian community following the military raid of Jenin refugee camp

"Thank  you especially for highlighting Sadeel’s classmates’ grief at her funeral and your effort to humanize this child and her family by letting  her father tell us about his daughter’s life in Jenin Refugee Camp.  In doing so Sadeel becomes not just a statistic, as Palestinian deaths are so often reported."


July 3, 2023

To:

Isabel Debre, Correspondent , Associated Press

Joseph Federman, News Director, Associated Press Jerusalem

Anne Marie Ownes, Editor-in-Chief, Toronto Star

Donovan Vincent, Public Editor, Toronto Star

Dear Ms. Debre, Ms. Owens, Mr. Federman and Mr. Vincent

I am writing to you on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME,  https://www.cjpme.org ) to express my appreciation regarding your article  “Israeli killing of 15-year-old Palestinian girl in West Bank casts light on civilian casualties” that was published in the Toronto Star on June 29, 2023.

I appreciate that the title of the piece does not shy away from indicating who is responsible for the killing of Sadeel Naghniyeh who reportedly  was nowhere near the fighting.

Thank  you especially for highlighting Sadeel’s classmates’ grief at her funeral and your effort to humanize this child and her family by letting  her father tell us about his daughter’s life in Jenin Refugee Camp.  In doing so Sadeel becomes not just a statistic, as Palestinian deaths are so often reported.

I am puzzled by your reporting that “12 children under the age of 16” were killed so far in 2023. The  UN Convention on the rights of the child to which Israel is a signatory defines ‘child’ as a  person under 18. 

 UN and Defense for Children International Palestine report 24 children have been killed by Israel in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 2023 . Sixteen and seventeen-year-olds are  children too.In future I would like to see all children included in your reporting. Although you might have used the under 16 bracket to garner more  sympathy, the reader should know the number of children of all ages killed.

Thank you for including a statement from al Haq emphasizing the lack of accountability which allows the killing to continue. You point out that 140 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in the West Bank so far this year  “almost half of them affiliated with military groups” This implies that at least one civilian is killed for each militant. Perhaps you could have put his disproportionality  more strongly. 

I hope this informative article that gives the reader a glimpse of life and death in Jenin Refugee Camp , will be followed up by one reporting on the ‘renewed scrutiny’ of killing of civilians,  especially children, who were killed despite presenting  no threat. 

Sincerely, 

Renée  A. Nunan-Rappard

CJPME Saskatoon,

Lanigan, Saskatchewan.

https://www.dci-palestine.org/child_fatalities_by_region

https://www.dci-palestine.org/child_fatalities_by_age_group

https://www.dci-palestine.org/child_fatalities_by_month