RAMALLAH, West Bank — A flak jacket may well have saved the life of a French TV reporter shot Tuesday while covering violence in the West Bank.
Bertrand Aguirre, a correspondent for the French TV network TF1, was hit in the midsection by a bullet, apparently fired by an Israeli. The protective vest stopped it.
The incident happened during Palestinian riots throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Tuesday as Palestinians marked the anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel, when about 700,000 Palestinians lost their homes.
Aguirre was standing among TV cameramen near Ramallah in the West Bank. An Associated Press Television News photographer’s video shows an Israeli border policeman, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, jump out of a dark green jeep, aim his M-16 rifle in the direction of the reporters and fire a single shot.
The camera jumps wildly out of control for a moment, and then shows Aguirre, wearing a tan flak jacket over a blue shirt, writhing in pain on the ground as his crew members try to help him.
Aguirre was taken to a Ramallah hospital by ambulance, where doctors said he suffered only a bruise. “If I had not been wearing this jacket, I would be dead now,” he said.
He charged that the Israeli paramilitary policeman targeted him. “It was clear that I am a journalist and the camera was proof,” Aguirre said.
The Israeli military said it was investigating the shooting. In a statement, the military expressed regret for the incident, but added that the presence of reporters among rioters puts the journalists in danger.
