Clayton Swisher

Clayton Swisher is an award-winning American journalist and author, currently working as the Manager of Investigative Journalism for the Al Jazeera Media Network in Doha in Qatar.

He is the author of two non-fiction books on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Career

Swisher is currently the head of the Al Jazeera Investigative Unit, based at the network's headquarters in Doha. He has worked for Al Jazeera English, and other parts of the Network, since 2007.

The Palestine Papers

In 2011, Swisher obtained thousands of confidential documents of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and helped break the story for Al Jazeera. These documents became known as the “Palestine Papers,” and are the largest ever leak of confidential documents related to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The leak led to the temporary resignation of Dr. Saeb Erekat, Chief PLO Negotiator.^[1]

The Arafat Case

In 2012, he delivered the documentary investigation: What Killed Arafat? This won the

• 2013 CINE Golden Eagle Award for: Best Investigative Journalism.

It was also a nominee for the:

• 2013 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA): Best TV Current Affairs Documentary.
• 2013 Royal Television Society (RTS): Scoop of the Year.
• Monte Carlo Television Festival: Best News Documentary.
• the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE): Long-form Documentary Film - for which it was a finalist.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]}

The nine-month investigation revealed high levels of radioactive Polonium 210 in articles left behind by Yasser Arafat, the first President of the Palestinian National Authority. This led to a French criminal investigation and the exhumation of Arafat’s body.^[8][9]

In November 2013, the findings of the secondary investigation - the analysis of the Polonium levels in the exhumed bodily remains of Mr. Arafat - confirmed the earlier findings regarding the clothing and other items; namely, that the levels were abnormally high and could not be accounted for by 'natural' circumstances.

Publications

In 2004, Swisher’s first book, The Truth About Camp David, was published to favorable reviews in Foreign Affairs and the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.^[10][11]

In 2011, Swisher’s second book, The Palestine Papers: The End of the Road? was released, examining the themes of the more than 1,600 leaked documents on the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, that Swisher had obtained for Al Jazeera.

References