Following is the text of the statement issued by the Middle East Council of Churches in Beirut marking the martyrdom of Shereen Abu Aqleh dated May 13, 2022:

With shock and great sadness, the Middle East Council of Churches headquartered in Beirut and the Ecumenical Palestinian organizations and members of the ACT Alliance working in Palestine and the region received the news of the assassination of the prominent television correspondent, Ms. Shereen Abu Aqleh.  As she was engaged with her professional journalistic work, she was fell assassinated by a bullet fired from Israeli occupation forces in Jenin, in the Northern West Bank. Her assassination recalled similar assassinations that happened in the past, and continue to happen at present, such as the assassination of the American activist, Rachel Corie, who identified with the cause of the Palestinian people and who was fell by a bulldozer driver set to destroy a Palestinian home in Gaza in 2002.

This sad incident has saddened all of us in Palestine, Lebanon and throughout the Middle East as it has saddened those who promote the freedom of speech across the globe. Shereen is not simply a journalist as she was a clear voice of the pain and hurt that we all felt as we continued to work for the end of Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and the continued disregard for the basic rights of the occupied people.  At this sad occasion we once again reaffirm the right of the Palestinian people to a state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

We salute Shereen and what she represented through her persevering and diligent journalistic work. Shereen aimed at showing the truth of occupation and to convey the image of daily suffering of Palestinians. She was a model of commitment and we lost with her assassination the professional voice that transmitted for year the unjust and painful reality of occupation that should end with the exercise of the Palestinian people of their inalienable rights.

We offer our heartfelt condolences to the family of Shereen, to the Palestinian people at home and in the diaspora and to ourselves for this heavy loss.

May her soul rest in Peace and may she always be remembered fondly.

“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses (Paul First Letter to Timothy 6:12)”

Signatures:

Middle East Council of Churches

Act Alliance Palestine

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Middle East

YMCA - East Jerusalem