JERUSALEM
\nPales\u00adtinians rallied on Sunday to mark the \u201cNakba\u201d, or catastrophe, 74 years after Israel\u2019s creation, with condemnation spreading over a police raid on the funeral of a slain journalist.
\nThe annual demonstrations across the occupied West Bank, annexed east Jerusalem and inside Israel came with tensions high over the killing of 51-year-old Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh.
\nThe Palestinian-American was shot dead by Israeli security forces on Wednesday during an Israeli raid in Jenin, a West Bank flashpoint. A Palestinian militant wounded in clashes there, Daoud al-Zubaidi, died from his injuries in an Israeli hospital on Sunday.
\nIsraeli police have vowed to investigate the chaos that marred the day of Abu Akleh\u2019s funeral, after television footage seen worldwide showed pallbearers struggling to stop the casket from falling to the ground as baton-wielding Israeli police descended upon them, grabbing Palestinian flags.
\nThe scenes on Friday sparked international condemnation, including from the United States, United Nations and the European Union, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday calling for a \u201ccredible\u201d investigation into Abu Akleh\u2019s death as he offered condolences to her family.
\nLate South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu\u2019s foundation said Israeli police \u201cattacking pallbearers\u201d was \u201cchillingly reminiscent of the brutality\u201d seen at the funerals of anti-apartheid activists.
\nIsraeli commentators joined the chorus lambasting the raid as Abu Akleh\u2019s coffin emerged a Jerusalem hospital.
\nIn leading Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot, Oded Shalom said the footage \u201cdocumented a shocking display of unbridled brutality and violence\u201d.
\n\u201cThe Jerusalem District Police decided to come down like a tonne of bricks on anyone who dared to hold a Palestinian flag,\u201d Shalom wrote.
\n\u201cAs if holding up a flag \u2014 a mere piece of cloth, for God\u2019s sake \u2014 at a funeral procession for an hour or two could have had any impact whatsoever\u201d on Israeli claims to control over Jerusalem, he added.
\nIsraeli police regularly crack down on people holding Palestinian flags.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JERUSALEM Pales\u00adtinians rallied on Sunday to mark the \u201cNakba\u201d, or catastrophe, 74 years after Israel\u2019s creation, with condemnation spreading over a police raid on the funeral of a slain journalist. The annual demonstrations across the occupied West Bank, annexed east Jerusalem and inside Israel came with tensions high over the killing of 51-year-old Al Jazeera […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260824,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7279,7280,5960],"class_list":{"0":"post-260793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-funeral-raid","9":"tag-israels-creation","10":"tag-palestinians"},"yoast_head":"\n