A Simple Explanation

What happened to the pictures? Exhibit A, Exhibit B
Will they ever come back? Yes and no

Brian C. Ledbetter · Thursday, June 7. 2007 09:24

Here's how people get hurt in the "occupied" Palestinian territories:

A member of the Fatah force takes up position with a rocket propelled grenade during clashes with Hamas militants at Rafah camp in the southern Gaza Strip June 7, 2007. Rival Hamas and Fatah forces clashed in the Gaza Strip, killing at least one person and injuring 12 others, in the worst flare-up of factional fighting in almost three weeks. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA)

Notice the proximity of this "militant" to a residential area? All of the photos I've seen so far are fairly close-cropped, so it's not clear whether there are any civilians milling about, but as we've seen before, there usually are. (With thanks to Yishai for the link!)

I'll be tracking the rest of the photos related to this latest bout of "factional" fighting. It will truly be interesting to see which group our various photographers embed themselves with. I'll be keeping a scoreboard beyond the fold, if you want to play along at home!

The Scoreboard

Here're my predictions of our photographers' allegiances. I'll update them as I see their photos come across. The first one is a given, since his photos are already in.

Abed Omar Qusini/Reuters: Fatah
Adel Hana/AP: Hamas
Hatem Moussa/AP: Hamas
Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters: Fatah
Mohammed Ballas/AP: Fatah
Mohammed Salem/Reuters: Fatah
Muhammed Muheisen/AP: Fatah
Nasser Ishtayeh/AP: Fatah
Said Khatib/AFP: Hamas

Feel free to chime in with your own predictions in the comments section below!

The Photos

Ibraheem Abu Mustafa, Reuters:

A member of the Fatah force runs in a street carrying a rocket propelled grenade during clashes with Hamas militants at Rafah camp in the southern Gaza Strip June 7, 2007. Rival Hamas and Fatah forces clashed in the Gaza Strip, killing at least one person and injuring 12 others, in the worst flare-up of factional fighting in almost three weeks. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA)

Members of the Fatah force take up position in a street during clashes with Hamas militants at Rafah camp in the southern Gaza Strip June 7, 2007. Rival Hamas and Fatah forces clashed in the Gaza Strip, killing at least one person and injuring 12 others, in the worst flare-up of factional fighting in almost three weeks. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA)

A member of the Fatah force takes up position with a rocket propelled grenade during clashes with Hamas militants at Rafah camp in the southern Gaza Strip, June 7, 2007. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)

A member of the Fatah force takes up position in a street during clashes with Hamas militants at Rafah camp in the southern Gaza Strip June 7, 2007. Rival Hamas and Fatah forces clashed in the Gaza Strip, killing at least one person and injuring 12 others, in the worst flare-up of factional fighting in almost three weeks. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA)

A member of the Fatah force takes up position with a rocket propelled grenade during clashes with Hamas militants at Rafah camp in the southern Gaza Strip June 7, 2007. Rival Hamas and Fatah forces clashed in the Gaza Strip, killing at least one person and injuring 12 others, in the worst flare-up of factional fighting in almost three weeks. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA)

Members of the Fatah force take up position in a street during clashes with Hamas militants at Rafah camp in the southern Gaza Strip June 7, 2007. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)

A wounded Palestinian is carried to the hospital after he was shot during clashes between Hamas and Fatah forces at Rafah camp in the southern Gaza Strip June 7, 2007. Rival Hamas and Fatah forces clashed in the Gaza Strip, killing at least one person and injuring 12 others, in the worst flare-up of factional fighting in almost three weeks. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)

A member of the Fatah force takes up position with a rocket propelled grenade during clashes with Hamas militants at Rafah camp in the southern Gaza Strip, June 7, 2007. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Said Khatib, AFP:

Palestinian Hamas gunmen take positions during clashes with Fatah militants in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. A Palestinian security officer was killed in the first deadly clashes between rival Fatah and Hamas gunmen to scar the Gaza Strip since a truce began nearly three weeks ago.(AFP/Said Khatib)

Neat, a newcomer:

Members of Fatah militants hold their weapons during a display in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 7, 2007. A battle between gunmen from Hamas and Fatah in the Gaza Strip left one Fatah man dead before daybreak Thursday, Palestinian officials said, the first fatality in Palestinian infighting since a truce between the rival factions took hold more than two weeks ago. Arabic on wall reads 'Hamas greets the hero and martyr Wael Moussa'. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)

Fatah militants carry their weapons in an alleyway in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 7, 2007. A battle between gunmen from Hamas and Fatah in the Gaza Strip left one Fatah man dead before daybreak Thursday, Palestinian officials said, the first fatality in Palestinian infighting since a truce between the rival factions took hold more than two weeks ago. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)

A Fatah militant holds his weapon in an alleyway in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 7, 2007. A battle between gunmen from Hamas and Fatah in the Gaza Strip left one Fatah man dead before daybreak Thursday, Palestinian officials said, the first fatality in Palestinian infighting since a truce between the rival factions took hold more than two weeks ago. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)

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Here is what a handful of random people think about this article. But first, the fine print:

The opinions expressed here, even where approved for display, do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this website, the management, or any other entity or organization, with the exception of the Vast Zionist Conspiracy. Those opinions we represent in style, yo. Please keep the language in these comments clean, as this is intended to be a family-friendly, work-friendly website. Comments not compliant with this policy will be edited for content where necessary. Abusive or otherwise illegal comments will be reported to the proper authorities, up to and including the aforementioned Vast Zionist Conspiracy. The Management cannot and will not be held responsible for commenters making a spectacle of themselves, even if The Management are the said commenters in question. In other words, don't take yourself so seriously, folks. We're all here to discuss the news, and more importantly, to have fun. Now go get yourself into some OCD treatment program—you obviously need it if you actually read all of this mess.

Captain_Lewis on 2007-06-07 10:48 #1

These seem obviously staged to me. In some of the pictures note the defensive postures, positions, and aiming of the terrorists. If this were for real the photographer would be exposed or in the line of fire. If you were sneaking around a dangerous labyrinth would you allow a photographer to constantly be scurrying <i>ahead</i> of you?
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Brian C. Ledbetter on 2007-06-07 10:53 #2

The poses definitely look bogus, but this kind of thing does happen all the time over there. I think this is mostly due to the terrorists wanting to transmit photographs of themselves looking tough and victorious, a service which the mindless dolts in the press generally provide for free.

Here are some past instances of photographers who have willingly embedded themselves within Jihadi ranks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

I'm sure you could readily find more cases like this elsewhere, but these are the most egregious ones I've documented over here.

Thanks for the input, Cap'n!

Regards,
Brian
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captainfish on 2007-06-08 17:29 #3

Staged? Or just for show? Staged would mean to me "faked". This is not fake but definitely for show.

Note: "Members of Fatah militants hold their weapons during a display in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip,.."

Also, the guys with the grenade launcher walking down the skinny alley had to have been taken by the same person, but sold to different news sites.

How could one man been injured and another said to have been killed, when no combat occurred?? We have pics of the displays and preening, but no pictures of the actual battle? I thought battle shots were the shots that sold... not pics of people just holding guns?

Now, if they had pics of an actual shootout, I would be interested. Not much anymore. I don't care if terrorists shoot themselves.
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