SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The war in Gaza has caused tensions to rise across the Middle East, including most prominently the West Bank. The Israeli-occupied territory is the most violent it has been in decades. Ayman Oghanna has this story about how one deadly incident changed the life of a young Palestinian boy.
AYMAN OGHANNA, BYLINE: In the carpentry shop in the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan, Noor Assi (ph) is at work, packaging a wooden table.
NOOR ASSI: (Non-English language spoken).
OGHANNA: Noor is only 15, but says his childhood is gone. On December 2, Israeli settlers raided his village and shot dead his father, Ahmed Assi (ph), according to the family and local officials. The Israeli military told NPR that they had broken up a confrontation between Palestinians and Israeli settlers, using riot dispersal methods, as well as live fire. They said they are still investigating Assi's death.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Non-English language spoken).
OGHANNA: In the living room of their modest home, Ahmed Assi's mother shows me bloodied clothes and a sweatshirt with a single bullet hole in the back. Assi's 5-year-old daughter, Jenna (ph), looks on. She's wearing a necklace with a picture of her dad.
NOOR: (Non-English language spoken).
OGHANNA: "When my father was martyred, I started to work," Noor tells me. "I took over my father's profession. I started working and spending on the house." Noor dropped out of school, working full time, providing for his five siblings.
NOOR: (Non-English language spoken).
OGHANNA: "I am responsible for them now," he says. "I don't let them want for anything." Noor looks young, is shy and has a boyish haircut.
(SOUNDBITE OF BUZZING)
OGHANNA: He maintains his look with regular visits to the village barber shop. As Noor gets his trim, the village's mayor, Ibrahim Assi, enters the shop. He's a distant relative of Noor's. It's a small community, and family ties are strong. A poster of Noor's dead father is plastered on a wall outside.
IBRAHIM ASSI: (Non-English language spoken).
OGHANNA: The mayor says the village is surrounded by an expanding network of settlements and outposts. About 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, according to the United Nations. The settlements they live in are deemed illegal by the international community. The mayor says that settler violence is terrifying the Palestinians who live here.
ASSI: (Through interpreter) The West Bank is currently living in a nightmare, a nightmare that has lost it its security and safety due to the violence of the ministry of settlers.
OGHANNA: On that day in December, the mayor says Israeli settlers entered his village. They damaged property, burned cars and opened fire on people. Noor's father's body was found hours later in an olive grove on the outskirts of Qarawat Bani Hassan. Back at home, Noor helps out with the household chores. He sometimes feels pangs of envy for other children his age. He no longer hangs out with friends. Instead, he devotes himself to work, faith and family.
NOOR: (Non-English language spoken).
OGHANNA: "I do get jealous," he tells me. "I sometimes feel like playing like them, but it doesn't work. I have a family to take care of."
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Singing in non-English language).
OGHANNA: It's Friday, the holiest day of the week in Islam. Prayer is important to Noor from morning to night. Fighting back tears, he says the Islamic funeral prayer for his father on the porch outside his home.
NOOR: (Non-English language spoken).
OGHANNA: "Oh, God, forgive him and have mercy on him," he prays. "Heal him and pardon him and grant him an honorable reception." Noor says that every night after prayer, he speaks to his father.
NOOR: (Non-English language spoken).
OGHANNA: "I tell him what is happening, what we are doing," he tells me. "Last time, he came to me in a dream and told me, take care of your family and your brothers." Then, after prayer, it's back to work in his father's warehouse.
Ayman Oghanna for NPR in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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