?Who killed Rayan

Dr. Ramzi Odah
Translated by Ahmed abu laban

The Israeli army did not kill Rayan! With this result, the report of the Israeli occupation army concluded in the investigation into the killing of the seven-year-old Palestinian child Rayan Suleiman from the occupied town of Tekoa. Rayan was killed as a result of the terror he felt when the Israeli forces stormed his house and were looking for suspected children who threw stones at the settlers’ cars that were traveling in abundance on the main road to the town of Tekoa, south of Bethlehem.

This fear occurred as a result of the occupation army’s terror and intimidation of civilians. It is not only Rayan who was subjected to such terror, but also the children of Mrs. Hana Abu Haikal in Tel Rumeida in the Old City of Hebron, who submitted more than 30 complaints, to no avail, against the Israeli police and groups of settlers storming her house with their dogs and terrorize her children almost every night.

This fear also affected 1,300 children who were arrested by the occupation forces in the previous year 2021. It is the same fear that afflicted the families and children of families whose homes were raided by the occupation forces, whose number exceeded more than 2,128 cases of raids, only this year, according to the “OCHA” report.

Unfortunately, everyone in Palestine lives in an environment of fear, at Israeli checkpoints, on roads that connect between cities where army and settler cars are scattered, and during repeated incursions by the army and settlers. On the other hand, the occupation army is systematically planned to spread everywhere in the West Bank, to repeatedly break into homes, shoot, interrogate children and women, and kill civilians, with the aim of Instilling fear among Palestinian civilians, imposing domination on them, and preventing them From thinking of doing any activity to resist the occupation!

It is clear that the Israeli investigation reports do not recognize the fear resulting from the existence of the occupation and its crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories as a crime attached to the crime of occupation. Moreover, these reports do not recognize international law or the Geneva Convention, which guarantee the need to respect the dignity of civilians in time of war, prevent intimidation of them, and prevent storming their homes, schools, and places of worship in their areas.

Furthermore, the results of the Israeli occupation army’s report on the killing of the child Rayan, did not mention the word “fear”, nor the word “breaking into Rayan’s house” because they realize that the presence of such words will hold its army criminally responsible.

The report also tried to hide the fact that Rayan’s father “Abu Rayan” and his children were interrogated in a humiliating manner. It stated that “the interrogation was outside the house and gently” ! Yes, it is true, they are very nice! They are armed to the teeth, screaming, shooting, arresting and beating, driving police dogs, breaking into homes, they are nice indeed. There is certainly no logical justification for the child Rayan to die of fear!

In fact, I did not seek from this article to refute the report of the occupation army about the killing of Rayan, because it is simply a weak report and did not provide any evidence for its results. What I wanted from this article is to clarify the policy of double standards pursued by Western countries. As We all remember the laws taken by some European courts, especially the French, to ban th” Niqab” in public places because the ” Niqab” “frightens children and exposes them to nightly obsessions”.

I’m not here to address the morality or immorality of the ” Niqab”, but I offer an approach for Western countries to address those fears, obsessions, terror and anxiety among the children of Palestine, resulting from the presence of the occupation army and its repeated crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories. If the children of Europe are afraid of seeing a woman wearing ” Niqab”, how about the children of Palestine when they see a heavily armed army violating their right to a decent life and security?