Ra’ed Ghazi Na’san

Ra'ed Ghazi Na'san was born into the rocky hills and olive groves of Al-Mughayyir village, where the rhythms of Palestinian rural life collided daily with the harsh realities of military occupation. The 21-year-old grew up watching Israeli settlements expand across his community's farmland, witnessing how the apartheid wall sliced through generations of agricultural tradition. Like many young men in his village, Ra'ed became accustomed to the sound of midnight raids, the blinding glare of army spotlights sweeping through homes, and the ever-present threat of violence that defined existence under occupation. Though not affiliated with any armed faction, he stood with his neighbors in resisting the slow suffocation of their village through nonviolent protests and steadfast presence on the land.

On that final Tuesday of November 2022, the familiar nightmare returned as dozens of Israeli soldiers stormed Al-Mughayyir in another punitive raid. The crack of live ammunition mixed with the metallic ping of rubber-coated bullets and the hiss of tear gas canisters as young Palestinians faced off against one of the world's most powerful militaries. Ra'ed found himself in the line of fire - multiple bullets tore through his chest in an act of disproportionate violence that typified Israel's suppression of dissent. As he bled on the ground, soldiers obstructed medics in those critical first minutes, a cruel practice Palestinians know too well. Rushed first to a bare-bones village clinic then to Ramallah's better-equipped Istishari Hospital, Ra'ed's journey between medical facilities mirrored Palestine's fragmented geography under occupation. Doctors pronounced his death shortly after arrival, adding his name to that day's grim toll of four Palestinians killed across the West Bank.