This can be quickly identified as a shooting or suicide. Is all his bullets still in his gun? Is there gun shoot residue on his hand(s)? That would be the first two things. There was a cop who murdered 8 people in northern Wisconsin, supposedly he shot him self in the head 3 times.

Scott Wright, Racine, USA

It has been neither suicide, nor accident. It has been the assassination attempt on Sarkozy from the Israeli side. But this will never come to light because nobody will say ANYTHING against Israel, no matter what they do or whom they kill.

Tatjana, Saarbruecken, Germany

To James Rose: I bet you believe in the tooth fairy too ....

Rob Baillie, Liverpool, UK

The cause of death in this case can be settled, by an autopsy and very simple forensic procedures. the coroner can decide by examining the entry and exit of the bullet(s) through the skull, if that was a suicide or a homicide,and of course, his gun can be examined for a recent firing.

Sam, Dallas, USA

John NYC USA, it appears suicides can indeed shoot themselves twice in the head...It has happened previously in army barracks in UK where a young man was found in mysterious circumstances with two bullet wounds to the head and the verdict was suicide!

EC, London,

Maybe it was just an accident, you know, those things that happen without motive and blame. Guy's patrolling on the roof fiddling with the safety on his rifle and while it's set on on three round burst, slips and accidently shoots himself.

James Rose, Trelewis, Wales

yesterday it was 100m today 200m next week will it be 900m come on people distance is a basic thing to measure!!!!

Dave, Warminster, England

"Mr Ghanan, 32, was from the northern Israeli town of Beit Dajan and was a member of the Druze community, a minority group whose religion includes an eclectic mix of beliefs rooted initially in Islam."

Any chance that those "rooted Islamic beliefs" fueled an assasination attempt thwarted by MPs?

Mark, Minneapolis,

It was expected. Only very nieve people still believe that Israel is not falling apart. An agreement between the warring parties is now critical to world peace. Such acts are a precursor to the final settlement. We should take some hope from this and push for a first stage settlement.

J Nowland, Leeds, United Kingdom

It's interesting how everyone uses this to express their position(s) as each perceived them to be. While these responses, and I include my own, make interesting reading, its all speculative. I would suggest that everyone read the book "The Red Badge of Courage" Note peers perceive main character

Bob , Cleveland , Ohio , USA

Bush did it!......sorry, that was a knee jerk reaction. The media over here must have finally gotten to me since they are constantly bashing the Administration and working to get the Dems elected.

Hugh, Devon, USA

"
Sam, Britain's surrender to militant Islam isn't working too well. Why would Israel follow your example?

Byron, Wahroonga, Australia
"

And you're basing this idea on what, the hordes of the Muslims in the British parliament? There are more Muslims in the Israeli Knesset than all of europe

Roger, Manchester, UK

Could this be a metaphor for the state itself? Beyond the blame game, perhaps a metaphor for the human race?

david j., Victoria, BC

In response to Mr. Scott, from Aiken, USA. Not everybody is against Israel. Israels government has put this un-holy mess upon itself, & its the poor israeli/palestinian, lebanese and arab neighbours are paying its price.This suicide/cover-up is just another way for the gov't to hide its unpopularity

D_montana, Toronto, Canada

Suicide? Doesn't sound like it, but it does sound like an assassination attempt gone awry. Leave it to Israel to try to cover it up. The Middle East has always been and will always be a mess. I don't think it can be fixed. Maybe the Bible is right...

Artemis, Felton, USA

Sounds like another screw-up among Israeli forces, i.e., another guard sees this guy with a gun on a rooftop and shoots him, thinking he was a sniper. Shades of the incompetence demonstrated in the last Lebanon invasion.

Doug, Orlando, USA

Palestinians offered a home in Israel? Villages and towns, homes and farms have been erased from the map. Even from the most benign viewpoint what has happened to the Palestinians can only be described as ethnic cleansing.

david j., Victoria, BC

Simon you are simply wrong. Eastern Germany was, of course, occupied by the Soviets for 45 years. Western Germany was disarmed via several plans, that called for the abolishment of the German army, and de-industrializing and disarmament. Look it up.

Steve, Miami, USA

Did this guard have a copy of J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye' with him? (CIA Mancurian candidate?) or had he traded it for a copy of 'A Perfect Day for Bananafish'?

I think we should be told!

Jay , Cavan, Ireland

Andrew in ye olde England:

Israel has nukes but is also a sovereign country. Until Star Trek ushers in a one world order, sovereignty is allowed and "legal", whatever the bureaucrats in Brussels declare.

The UK has nukes. I'm sure many other nations would like you to unilaterally disarm.

Brad, Grass Valley, USA

Please! This is an "sharps shooter" attempt on the French President's life. A poor marksman, a sudden gust of wind, A grain of sand in the eye.

Some one simply missed. My prayers are with the policeman's family.

john smith, los angeles, usa

yes according to Israel every body is against them, one question if israel really wants peace why the keep on stealing or confiscating the land from the Palestinian?

joe, Cape Coral, USA

Would you have a suicidal person guarding a VIP? This is going to make people suspicious even if the suicide report turns out to be true. So far there is nothing to make the suicide report look credible.

Rob, Tulsa, OK

People are always against Israel and for no reason. When Israel was created the Palestinians were offered a home in Israel but they refused. They left and their Arab brothers refused to take them as they deemed them peasants. They came back with their tails between their legs. Fact.

nick , London, United Kingdom

The whole suicide story sounded unconvincing from the beginning. Usually when people commit suicide its done in private and the minority that are done in public are usually accompanied by some sort of verbal declaration by the person immediately before they kill themselves.

Jonathan, Seattle,

Firstly, his family says he was a 'happy man with a young family with NO reason to kill himself.
Secondly, what a strange setting suicide!
Thirdly,did he PLAN to stand at the edge of the roof so that he would fall off it after shooting himself?
And,photographer took the pic rather stop him.

San Ying, Montreal, Canada

Those corrupt arab governments you talk about only remain in power because the united states wants them there.. to do their bidding.. you think the white house really cares about how much pay at the pump

Heidi, Halifax, Canada

"France and Germany finally began to get along after Germany was throughly and utterly defeated militarily but the Allies in WWII. And disarmed."

Er no, that was WWI and led to the rise of Hitler. Germany was not disarmed after WWII, but helped to rebuild. Humiliation leads to grudges, not peace

Simon, London,

It is understandable that the family of this dead soldier cannot accept that he committed suicide. My boyfriend committed suicide...it had nothing to do with his private life; he was in love, had very good career prospects, and had no financial worries but he suffered from depressive bouts.

Vanessa, London, UK

Okay, man kills himself, and the conspiracy kooks and Israel-haters come out of the woodwork. Sad. The same people advocating Israel's unilateral disarmament and surrender to appease those who want her obliterated are the same ones cheering the "resistance" against the US, UK, and Iraqi forces.

Scott, Aiken, United States

Many times when someone commits suicide, his/her family would have had no idea that the suicide victim was depressed or had serious personal problems. Therefore just because his family say that he had no reason to commit suicide, only he knew what was going on in his mind.

Max, Sliema, Malta

There is more to this than what is being said. I for one do not believe this was a suicide.

Larry, N.Y., USA

One guard dies & people on this forum use it to attack Israeli policies. Israel is not trying to destroy or terrorise the Pal. Arab people (Rhett & Andrew), it is defending itself. And Israeli nukes are not illegal (Andrew) as Israel is not a signatory of the non-proliferation agreement. Research!

C Bozner, London,

Everytime Israel ceded land back to Palestine, they immediately used the area to lob rockets into civilians. The children are taught from day one to HATE their Jewish neighbors, these poor children are not given an oppotunity to 'love thy neighbor'. Very sad, quite solely blaming Israel.

Cheryl, San Diego, USA

There were reports of "SHOTS" as in multiple rounds. Seems to me that this was most likely an assassination attempt and the Israelis refuse to acknowledge it. People who commit suicide usually shoot themselves ONCE, especially when its a head shot. Failed assassinations have multi-shots.

John, NYC, USA

What a sad story. But nothing compared to to the war of attrition Hamas seems intent on utterly destroying the Israeli people.

Fighting only benefits the leaders of Hamas and Iran and their fear-driven agenda. It feeds hate and extremism in the middle-east causes everyone to suffer.

russ, Mansfield, Texas, USA

Hezbollah, Hamas. Al Qaeda, etc, etc,; they all get funding from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar... the same corrupt kingdoms that we in the US buy our oil from. In this way the corrupt kingdoms can justify their own demand as the terrorist justify military response which increases oil consumption.

Adam L Tucker, San Diego, US

Israel propaganda is playing the western countries' opinion like a harmonica. They really don't care about international legal systems or international opinion. Each day is bringing them closer to herding the Palestynians behind the walls of various ghettos scattered like a swiss cheese holes.

Eva SK, Brighton, UK

What a sad story. But nothing compared to to the war of attrition Israel seems intent on utterly destroying the Palestinian people.

Fighting only benefits the leaders of Israel & US and their fear-driven agenda. It feeds hate and extremism in the middle-east causes everyone to suffer.

Rhett, Boston, MA, USA

***I wish Israel would see sense and cooperate with it's neighbour (Palestine)***

Sam, Britain's surrender to militant Islam isn't working too well. Why would Israel follow your example?

Byron, Wahroonga, Australia

It is simply not true that a suicidal person is unhappy on the exterior and has no family or reason to live.

Unhappiness is about what is on the inside and, thus, is quite indiscernible to others, and usually beyond the pale of understanding for anybody but the person.

Keith, New York City,

Err, Sam? Hellooooo?

France and Germany finally began to "get along" after Germany was throughly and utterly defeated militarily but the Allies in WWII. And disarmed. Perhaps Israel should do the same.

Steve, Miami, USA

Shame about the man killing himself if that's what happened!

Israel needs to stop fighting with Palestine! We are all sick to the back teeth of it now.

In my honest opinion they don’t have a leg to stand on when they run Mosad, have nukes (against law) and terrorise Palestine daily.

Andrew Towell, Hartlepool, England, UK

We will never know the real resone for the guards death. I'm sure it wasn't suicide. I think it is another Olmerts ruise to stay in power. He is corrupt and a danger to Isreail.

Douglas Cummins, Eagle, United States

Oxford from Oxford. Sarkozy has quickly established himself as a very strong ally of Israel. Why would they try to kill him? That's honestly just a ridiculous attempt at another conspiracy theory. Not every death or accident in the world is some gov't cover up.

Yon D., Boston, USA

I wish Israel would see sense and cooperate with it's neighbour (Palestine). France was invaded 3 times by Germany between 1871 and 1945 and after WW2 they took the pragmatic decision of creating a Coal and Steel Union to forge economic mutual self-interest with their enemy. Can Israel do the same?

Sam, London, UK

Maybe its my imagination, but it looks like the bodyguards were all running towards Carla Bruni while forgetting the French President...

Jonathan L, Tel-Aviv, Israel

There is strong smell of cover-up about this story. I believe someone intended to have a pop at Sarkozy and the Israeli's are past masters at lies and subterfuge.

Oxford Don, Oxford, UK

Poor guy. My sympathies go out to the suicide victim's family. Perhaps Sarkozy should be doing something about the daily violent attacks on Jews in France by Islamists and neo-Nazis/radical leftists before he tells Israel what to do?

I forget -one rule for rich Europeans and another for Israel.

Toby, London, UK

Erik, ever heard of depression? Male suicide? Why should cops be exempt? Then again, it might have been the Great Satan plotting to teach those cheese eating surrender monkeys a lesson. Gee, maybe it was aliens.

Jon, Sydney, AU

Sounds very suspicious to me, and this is also a topic on talk radio here in the U.S. today. A policeman killing himself during a farewell ceremony? From a high vantage point no less.....something isn't adding up.

Erik, Las Vegas, USA

George, I owe you a beer for than one. Perfectly put.

Kevin, K Falls, USA

"Two women soldiers who witnessed the incident fainted and were treated by medics."

Just one reason why women don't make as good soldiers as men

Stuart, Southampton, UK

Committed suicide. Yeah, sure. Don't dare suggest Israel share Jerusalem or someone will come gunning for you.
Hopefully this will be a real wake-up call for France and other Western countries as to the willingness of radical Israelis for a fair peace.

Tim, Toronto,

So, they shouldn't defend themselves?
What would happen if another country invaded France?
Oh wait, never mind.....
The only way to deal with this is overwhelming force.
Israel should count the number of rockets fired blindly at their citizens and drop 10-500lb bombs on Gaza for each one.
Done.

George, Phoenix, USA

Peterfieldman's argument is skewed and wrong.The retaliations by israel do not "target" women and children but terrorists who work amid women and children.Money given to Arafart went to further terror bombings and to swell his fortune - see the reports of his wife renting a whole hotel floor.

Amin Aswet, Gibraltar,

thank goodness Carla Bruni is safe!

harrod, Los Angeles,

Palestine has had no shortage of donations by other arab countrys looking to prop them up.
They have used the money to buy missles, grenades and other weapons to use on Israel.
More money is hardly the solution to anything.

jon, brandon, Ms

It wasn't his mission to secure the area, it was his duty. Missions and goals and issues seem to keep appearing everywhere these days.

Phil de Buquet, Newport,

Another sign of Israeli weakness - letting an armed, mentally unstable person act as a guard for world leaders.

I can name one person in Iran who is laughing now.

Gerry, Los Angeles,

The soldier was trying to make a point but what that is I do not know. Any ideas?

jayil, london, uk

Israel is the stronger and can afford restraint, ceasefire or no ceasefire. Ignoring attacks would do far more to their cause than the standard tit for tat retaliation which often targets women and children and achieves nothing. Only prosperity will bring peace to Palestine. The money is available.

peterfieldman, paris, france