The Death of Innocence.

• Position: Violence in Israel - Brief Article

September 30 would have been a normal school day for Muhammad al-Durrah, 12, but his school in Israeli-occupied Gaza was closed by a strike, so instead he went shopping with his father. On the way home they were caught in a deadly crossfire between Israeli and Palestinian security forces.

In a scene filmed by a French TV crew, his father tried to stop the shooting, yelling, "The child! The child!" Within minutes, both had been hit. Muhammad was dead, his father wounded. Israeli troops fired the shots, witnesses said.

The shooting was part of the worst violence in...