The Only Survivor of the Dawabsheh Family

This past week, the five-year-old Ahmad,  the only survivor of the Dawabsheh family, was released from hospital.  Ahmad’s  home in Douma, in the Nablus area of the Palestinian  occupied territories, was burnt by Israeli settlers on July 31, 2015.    His 18-month-old baby brother was scorched to death and died immediately after the attack,  while  his parents died later on in the hospital  where they were being treated for their severe burns.    Ahmad was at a complete loss searching for his parents as his grandfather and the extended family gathered to welcome him back home, where there was no more a home.

At his young age, Ahmad is already  a football fan.  And with a welcoming initiative from the Real Madrid football team, Ahmad’s  grandfather accompanied the little boy to Madrid to meet Christiano Ronaldo, who is very popular and well known among the Palestinian football fans.  Ahmad had a warm welcome in Madrid not only by  Ronaldo, but by the rest of the team and their Manager, the French retired player  Zinedine Zidane, who seemed to have worked behind the scenes to arrange for Ahmad’s visit.    

Our local TV station showed Ahmad last evening enjoying his visit and running around the field while the team were signing their names on his special Real Madrid shirt with his name on its back, and which he was  wearing with pride as the signatures were being added.  The team also presented him with a football,  signed by its members,  which I am sure he will cherish for the rest of his life.  I just wonder what the future will hold for this little boy who still needs to go back to hospital for further medication and follow up. 

 I am also  wondering what is going go in the mind of this little boy.  Is he aware of the brutal death of his family.  Or will he see the good in people who made this special visit to Madrid a memorable one.  It is a blessing his grandfather is still around to take care of him.  But crimes like that of the Dawabsheh family should never happen to anybody anywhere,  otherwise  there will be  no room for humanity anymore.  So much has happened since July 2015, and more than two hundred children have been killed by the occupation forces.  Only last week Israel’s Air Force killed 10 year old Yassin Abu Husa and his sister Asra 6 in Gaza,  supposedly in retaliation to a rocket fired from Gaza by a splinter group, that fell on an open field and hurt no one.  Yassin and Asra were certainly not carrying knives or being a threat to the security of the soldiers.   

When will this occupation and its brutality ever come to an end so that  the young people can enjoy their childhood, and have fun going to school and playing football??