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A new Israeli report into the death of a Palestinian boy during a fierce gunbattle in the Gaza Strip more than a dozen years ago has reignited an emotional debate over who killed him — and how the incident has shaped perspectives of the Mideast conflict. Israel says a French TV report in 2000 that claimed Israeli forces killed the boy is misleading, provides no evidence and is part of a smear campaign against the Jewish state. For Palestinians, the case remains a vivid symbol of Israeli oppression and of their own sense of victimhood. The deep feelings surrounding the death of 12-year-old Mohammed al-Dura illustrate how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict goes far beyond the battlefield and is often a high-profile media war as well. While Israel enjoys an overwhelming military advantage, it is often outclassed in the imagery battle, with the Palestinians portraying themselves as David to Israel's Goliath. It's a touchy subject for Israel, which devotes an enormous amount of energy to promote its image to counter what it sees as hostile international opinion. The France 2 network report aired on Sept. 30, 2000, days after a Palestinian uprising erupted. The video showed a terrified child and his father, Jalal, cowering in front of a wall during an exchange of fire between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen. The father is seen gesturing frantically to try to stop the shooting as the boy screams in terror. The camera then cuts to a shot of the motionless boy slumped in his father's lap. France 2 blamed Israeli troops for killing the boy. Israel has long disputed the accusation, and on Sunday it published the 44-page report of its investigation, ordered last year by Israel's current Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon. It found the TV report misleading and unfairly critical of Israel. It said there was no evidence the boy was shot by Israeli troops or that he was even killed at all, claiming there were no blood marks on the scene or bullet wounds in the alleged victims. It said the boy was shown alive toward the end of raw video it obtained from France 2, but that was not included in the edited TV report. "It is important to focus on this incident, which has slandered Israel's reputation," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a ceremony where the report was delivered to him. "This is a manifestation of the ongoing mendacious campaign to delegitimize Israel. There is only one way to counter lies, and that is through the truth." Yuval Steinitz, Israel's minister of strategy and intelligence, called the al-Dura affair "a modern-day blood libel." No autopsy was conducted, and the Israeli investigation was based primarily on expert interviews and analysis of the raw film. The boy's father, Jamal al-Dura, on Monday called the Israeli allegations "silly" and offered to have the body exhumed for international inspection. "If he is still alive, who was the one who was shot in my arms and killed?" he asked. "The entire world saw how my beloved son was killed." France 2 said it would be willing to help al-Dura's father exhume the body to "clarify the circumstances of the incident." "France 2 learned about the existence of the committee from the press, and this speaks for itself," said Charles Enderlin, the network's Jerusalem bureau chief and the reporter of the initial al-Dura story. For the Palestinians, the al-Dura affair became a powerful rallying cry. The Palestinian Authority issued stamps and posters bearing his image and named a children's hospital after him. Other Arab countries named schools and streets in his honor. The boy's father was invited on speaking tours in the Arab world and honored by universities and political parties. Islamic militants have cited the case as justification for carrying out attacks against Israel and Jewish targets overseas. Israeli commentators who believe their country has been unfairly punished for the case nonetheless questioned the decision to conduct a new investigation, saying it was unlikely to sway already hardened opinions around the world. "On one hand, it's better late than never. On the other, the damage has already been done," wrote Ben-Dror Yemini, a columnist for the Maariv daily. "No report, and certainly not a report commissioned by the Israeli government, is going to decrease the damage. We have already been defeated in the battle between lies and the truth. The lies won." Yossi Kuperwasser, the Israeli official who led the investigation, said it was imperative to set the record straight. "The entire idea that Israel is a child killer is first and foremost based on the Mohammed al-Dura story," he told The Associated Press. "This case is still being used by people who are committing terror attacks against Israel. It still feeds the hatred." ____ Follow Heller on Twitter (at)aronhellerap

A former senior Justice Department official at the American Embassy in Moscow was not allowed to return to Russia this month, and people familiar with the case say it could be because he refused to spy for the Russians. Thomas Firestone -- an attorney living in Moscow -- was working for an American law firm, and had extensive contacts in the Russian government, according to a report in The New York Times. Firestone was returning from a trip abroad on May 5 when authorities stopped him at Sheremetyevo Airport, near Moscow. He was held for 16 hours and then put on a flight to the U.S. A source close to the case told The Times that intelligence operatives from the Russian Federal Security Service had contacted Firestone in March, to recruit him to spy for the Russians. Firestone declined the offer. It's not clear whether there is a connection between Firestone's unwillingness to work with the Russians and his ejection from the country. The White House has contacted the Russian government about Firestone's expulsion, according to a U.S. government official who spoke to The Times. But there has been no official comment on the case from the Obama administration, the American Embassy in Moscow or the State Department. News of Firestone's ejection came on the heels of the case of Ryan C. Fogle, an American Embassy official at the center of a spy scandal, who was arrested in Moscow last week. Fogle, who worked on the Embassy's political desk, was arrested by the Russian Federal Security Service, for attempting to recruit a Russian counterterrorism officer to spy for the C.I.A.   It's not clear whether the two cases are connected. Firestone served two tours of duty at the Moscow Embassy as a legal adviser before going into private practice at a global law firm. His work at Baker and McKenzie focused on anticorruption matters, an expertise that may not have won him favor in Russian government and business circles. When the Times reached Firestone by email, he referred all questions to the firm's director of professional responsibility, William J. Linklater.  In a statement, Linklater said the Russian government had provided no explanation for its action, and that the firm did not believe Firestone had done anything wrong. "Neither our colleague nor we have been informed of the reason for this action. Only the Russian government knows the reason, and we do not wish to speculate," Linklater wrote in the statement. Click for more from The New York Times.  

Here is a look at the deadliest attacks in Iraq since the withdrawal of U.S. troops on Dec. 18, 2011: — May 20, 2013: A wave of attacks, some at markets and rush hour crowds, hour killed at least 86 people in Shiite and Sunni areas. — May 18, 2013: Shootings and bombings kill at least 16 people including an anti-terrorism police captain and his family. — May 17, 2013: Bombs rip through Sunni areas in Baghdad and surrounding areas, killing at least 76 people. — May 16, 2013: Car bombs hit Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad and attacks elsewhere in the country leave 21 people dead. — May 15, 2013: A car bomb goes off near a bus station in Baghdad's main Shiite district, the deadliest of explosions that killed at least 33 people nationwide. — May 14, 2013: A convoy of gunmen open fire on a row of liquor stores in eastern Baghdad, killing 11 people and wounding five others. — April 29, 2013: A wave of car bomb blasts tear through Shiite areas south of Baghdad, killing at least 36. — April 25, 2013: More than 40 people were reported killed in fighting in the key northern city of Mosul. — April 24, 2013: Clashes between the army and armed Sunni tribesmen who sealed off a central Iraqi town kill 22 people. — April 23, 2013: Security forces storm a Sunni protest camp in the north, sparking deadly clashes in several towns, which combined with other attacks left 56 people dead. — April 18, 2013: A suicide bomber detonated explosives at a Baghdad cafe crowded with young people, killing 32 — April 15, 2013: At least 36 are killed in string of attacks across the country ahead of elections. — April 6, 2013: A suicide bomber blows himself up at a lunch hosted by a Sunni candidate ahead of regional elections, killing 20 people. — Mar. 19, 2013: Insurgents carry out a wave of bombings that kills at least 65 people on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion. An al-Qaida in Iraq front group claimed responsibility. — Mar. 14, 2013: Militants unleash a carefully planned assault on the Justice Ministry, killing 30. — Mar. 4, 2013: Gunmen attack a convoy of Syrian soldiers who had crossed into Iraq for refuge, killing 48. — Feb. 17, 2013: Car bombs tear through shopping areas in Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad, killing at least 37. — Jan. 23, 2013: A suicide bomber strikes a packed funeral ceremony at a Shiite mosque in northern Iraq, killing at least 25. — Jan. 17, 2013: Insurgents unleash a string of bomb attacks mainly targeting Shiite Muslim pilgrims across Iraq, killing at least 26. — Jan. 16, 2013: A wave of bombings against the offices of a major Kurdish party and Kurdish security forces headquarters in Kirkuk province kills at least 33. — Nov. 27, 2012: Insurgents launch attacks against Shiite mosques, security forces, and other targets in central and northern Iraq, killing at least 30. — Nov. 6, 2012: A suicide bomber detonates his explosives-laden car near a military base north of Baghdad, killing at least 33. — Sept. 9, 2012: Insurgents gun down soldiers at an army post, bomb police recruits waiting in line to apply for jobs, and stage other attacks that kill 92. — Aug. 16, 2012: A blistering string of bombings and shootings across the country kills at least 93. — July 23, 2012: Attacks aimed largely at security forces kill 115 in the country's deadliest single day in two years. — July 3, 2012: Bombs pound six cities and towns, killing some 40 and raising suspicion that security forces may be assisting attacks on Shiites. — June 28, 2012: Bombings and shootings take the lives of 22 people in attacks in Shiite neighborhoods and on security forces. — June 16, 2012: Two car bombs kill at least 26 people in the capital on the final day of the Shiite pilgrimage. — June 13, 2012: Car bombs target an annual Shiite pilgrimage, killing 72 people in 16 separate explosions. — June 4, 2012: A suicide car bomb hits Iraq's main religious affairs office for Shiite Muslims, shearing off the facade of the three-story building and killing at least 23 people. — April 19, 2012: Bombs rip through 10 Iraqi cities, killing at least 30 and shattering a month of relative calm. Al-Qaida later says the attacks aimed to punish the Shiite-led government and its allies. — March 20, 2012: Insurgents bent on derailing an Arab League meeting in Baghdad kill 46 in attacks on Shiite pilgrims in the holy city of Karbala, firebombings in Kirkuk, and strikes on security and government officials around the country. — March 5, 2012: Assailants waving al-Qaida's battle flag gun down 25 policemen in a brazen, well-orchestrated attack in Haditha, challenging government control over the town in Iraq's Sunni-dominated west. — Feb. 23, 2012: Attackers kill at least 55 as car bombs go off near an elementary school in the town of Musayyib, a restaurant in a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad, and various checkpoints and secure areas. — Feb. 19, 2012: A suicide bomber detonates his car as a group of police recruits leave their academy in eastern Baghdad, killing 20. — Jan. 28, 2012: A suicide car bomber strikes a Shiite funeral procession, killing 33 in southwestern Baghdad. — Jan. 14, 2012: A bomb tears through a procession of Shiite pilgrims in southern Iraq, killing at least 53. — Jan. 5, 2012: Coordinated bombings target Shiite Muslims, killing 78 in Baghdad and near the southern city of Nasiriyah, just days before a Shiite holy. — Dec. 22, 2011: Attackers hit markets, cafes and government buildings in mostly Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, killing 69.

Saudi Arabia says it has recorded another death from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing the total number of deaths in the kingdom to 16. Saudi Arabia remains the center for the virus as investigators from the World Health Organization seek more clues about its origins and how it is spread. More than 20 people have died from the virus worldwide. The Saudi Health Ministry announced the latest death Monday but gave no other details. Since September 2012, the WHO has been informed of 41 confirmed cases of the virus. The virus has been compared to SARS, a respiratory infection that surfaced in China in late 2002 and killed at least 774 people worldwide.

The head of Algeria's main Islamist political party has called for the country's ailing president to appear on television to dispel rumors over his health after a three week absence. Abderrazzak Mukri, the leader of the Movement of Society for Peace, warned that if the president did not soon appear, it would require invoking constitutional powers allowing his removal for health reasons. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 76, suffered a mini-stroke on April 27 and was rushed to a French military hospital where he has remained. The government has said he is fine and following events from abroad but rumors are rife that his condition is much worse. An editor of two newspapers said publication was blocked after he rejected an order to remove a story that claimed Bouteflika was in a coma.