James Miller, a British cameraman and director, was shot dead in the Gaza Strip on May 2nd, 2003 while filming the Emmy-Award winning documentary, "Death in Gaza". The film investigates the traumatic lives of those people stuck in the middle of the violent Israel-Palestine conflict with particular focus given to the lives of three Palestinian children growing up in a culture of martyrdom.Miller and his crew had been at the home of a Palestinian family in the Rafah refugee camp where they had hoped to film Israelis destroying houses; clearing the border area to prevent tunneling. The Israelis believe that the Palestinians use these tunnels to smuggle guns and bombs across the border and by policing this area have effectively created a Berlin Wall style 'death strip'. By nightfall, activity had quietened down and Miller, reporter Saira Shah and another crew member attempted to approach an APC, waving a white flag and shouting in English, to ask if it was safe to leave the area. The Israeli soldiers in the APC fired a warning shot followed by a second shot which killed Miller instantly, hitting him in the front of the neck. The whole sequence of events is captured on video shown in the documentary although the darkness of the night thankfully spares us the gruesome details. Miller and Shah had planned to film Israeli children as well but his death inevitably becomes the focus of the end of the film.
James Miller's family have been rallying ever since to get justice for his murder. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have always claimed that there is insufficient evidence to prove the Israeli soldier guilty and have refused to prosecute him. On April 6th, 2006, the jury at St Pancras Coroner's Court in London returned a verdict of unlawful killing, finding that he had been "murdered". The story has been in the news again this month with UK officials giving Israel a deadline to respond to new evidence proving that Miller was shot by the Israeli soldier.
It's a dark, brutal film as you'd expect from a project that has death as it's central theme but I found it very educational. I have to admit that before working on the project I had known very little about the Israel-Palestine conflict. For several weeks in 2004 I worked closely with Frostbite Films, the production company Miller and Shah set up together, to produce graphics for the film such as maps and photo separation animations of key scenes.
