48th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council
Item 4 - General Debate
Joint Oral Intervention by
Al-Haq, Law in the Service of Man, NGO in special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council
Date: 27 September 2021
Speaker: Said Hamayal, father of Mohammad Hamayel, 16, who was killed by the Israeli occupying forces on 11 June 2021 in the context of a peaceful protest against settlement expansion
My name is Said Hamayal, from the village of Beita in Nablus. My family struggle with the Israeli occupation started when I was two years old. They killed my father, my brother and my sister. They [punitively] demolished our home in 1988. I was arrested and wounded [by the Israeli occupying authorities].
We have been trying, as a family, to overcome our pain, but in 11 June 2021, with the killing of our son Mohammad [16 years old], we lost all our hopes and dreams. We have been living with mere bodies without souls. Mohammad was shot by an Israeli occupying sniper, although he was not a threat to them.
In Beita, six Palestinians were killed, and 4000 others were injured by the Israeli occupying forces. Despite this, we will continue to resist, until the Israeli occupying forces and settlers leave Sbeih Mount.
I call upon the international community to protect us and our children. We don’t want mere documentation; we want them to provide us with real protection.
