Who killed Ryan?

Written by: Dr. Ramzi Odeh

The Israeli army did not kill Rayan!, With this result, the Israeli occupation army’s investigation report concluded that the seven-year-old Palestinian child, Rayan Suleiman, from the occupied town of Tuqu’ was killed.

Rayan was martyred as a result of the fear he felt when the Israeli forces stormed his house while they were looking for suspected children who threw stones at the settler cars moving in abundance on the main road of the town of Tuqu' in the south of Bethlehem. This fear occurred as a result of the occupation army’s terror and intimidation of civilians, and it not only affected Rayan, but also affected 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 who stormed her house With their sniffer dogs, they terrorize her children almost every night.

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

Unfortunately, everyone in Palestine lives in an environment of fear, at the Israeli checkpoints, and on the roads that connect cities and are dotted with army and settler cars, and during the repeated incursions of the army and settlers. On the other hand, the occupation army systematically and planned to spread everywhere in the West Bank, to frequent house raids, to open fire, to interrogate children and women, to kill civilians, with the aim of spreading fear among Palestinian civilians, imposing domination on them, and preventing them from From thinking of doing any activity against the occupation!

It is clear that the Israeli investigation reports do not recognize the fear resulting from the presence of the occupation and its crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories, as a crime attached to the existence of the crime of occupation! Also, these reports do not recognize international law or the Geneva Conventions, which guarantee the necessity of respecting the dignity of civilians in times of war, preventing them from being intimidated, and preventing raids on their homes, schools, and places of worship in their areas. Not only that, but 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 it realizes that the existence of such words would hold its army criminally responsible. In addition, the report tried to hide the fact that the father "Abu Rayan" and his children were interrogated in a humiliating manner. The report stated that the interrogation was outside the house and gently!. Yes, it is true, they are very kind!, they are armed to the teeth, they scream, they shoot, they arrest and beat them, they drive police dogs, they break into homes, they are really kind.. and certainly there is no logical justification for the death of the child Ryan because of fear!

In fact, I did not seek in this article to refute the occupation army's report on Rayan's death, simply because it was a weak report and did not provide any evidence of its findings. However, I wanted from this article to clarify the policy of double standards pursued by Western countries.

We all remember the laws adopted by some European courts, especially the French, to ban the veil in public places because the veil "scares children and exposes them to nightly obsessions." Here, I am not talking about the morality or immorality of the niqab, but I propose, on the other hand, an approach for these 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 the niqab, how about the children of Palestine when they see an army armed to the teeth violating their right to a decent life and security?