Nizar Rayan

Nizar Rayan
Nizar Rayyan at a press conference 23 September 2005 in Gaza. (AFP)
Born	(1959-03-06)March 6, 1959 Jabalia
Died	January 1, 2009(2009-01-01) (aged 49) Gaza City
Cause of death	Air force attack
Citizenship	Palestinian
Known for	Hamas leadership

Nizar Rayan (Template:Lang-ar, also transliterated Rayyan) (March 6, 1959 – January 1, 2009) was a top Hamas leader who served as a liaison between the Palestinian organization's political leadership and its military wing. Also a professor of Islamic law, he came to be considered a top clerical authority within Hamas after the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004. Rayan was a strong advocate of suicide attacks on Israel, and is alleged to have directed the Ashdod Port attack, which killed ten civilians. His sent his son on a suicide mission in which two Israeli civilians were killed. Rayan and most of his family were killed in an Israeli airstrike during the 2008–2009 Israel-Gaza conflict. The Israeli military warned Rayan about the pending attack, but Rayan chose to stay in the house with his wives and children.

Personal life and background

Rayan was born in Jabalia, Gaza Strip on March 6, 1959. In 1982, he received a BA in Religious Principles from the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While there he was influenced by Wahhabism. He then attended the Jordanian University in Amman and in 1990 received a masters degree with honors. In 1994, Rayan completed his PhD in Islamic studies at the Omdurman Islamic University in Omdurman, Sudan. His dissertation topic was Future of Islam: Objective Analysis.

After his studies, Rayan returned to Gaza and was employed as a preacher at several local mosques, Jabalia's Imad Aqil Mosque (also known as the "Mosque of martyrs") among them. He later became a professor of Islamic law at the Islamic University of Gaza. Rayan was a leading authority on Hadith (sayings of the Islamic prophet Muhammad), and he amassed a 5,000-book library in his home. He was a strong opponent of Shia Islam and opposed allowing the Shia to create a foothold in Israel.

Rayan was one of the prominent leaders of Hamas in Gaza. He became Hamas's leading clerical authority after an Israeli airstrike killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004. He also came to be considered a spiritual leader of Hamas's military wing. Rayan regularly went on patrol with Hamas militants after delivering lectures at the Islamic University and at times partook in Hamas' training and fighting. According to the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism, Rayan initiated the scheme of placing civilians on the rooftops of Hamas targets knowing that the Israeli army will avoid killing civilians.

Rayan strongly advocated suicide bombing attacks against Israel. In 2001, he sent his son Ibrahim (either 14 or 22 years old) on a suicide bombing mission in which he died and killed two Israeli civilians at the former Israeli settlement Elei Sinai in the Gaza Strip. Rayan is alleged to have directed the 2004 Ashdod Port attack which killed ten people. He also ruled that under Islamic law, women may become suicide bombers. Hamas ceased its suicide attacks against Israel in 2005, but Rayan advocated for their renewal.

Rayan was a bitter rival of the Palestinian Authority. He was one of the principal architects of the 2007 Battle of Gaza, in which 400 Fatah loyalists were killed and dozens more were tortured and maimed. He later boasted that the battle "cleansed" the Gaza Strip of "traitors" and "CIA agents." According to a Hamas spokesperson, it's possible the Fatah-dominated Palestinian National Authority asked Israel to kill Rayan due to his role in the Hamas-Fatah clashes. He added that Rayan was one of the main reasons why many of Mahmoud Abbas's men "did not sleep well at night."

Rayan was fundamentally opposed to the state of Israel. He proclaimed, "True Islam would never allow a Jewish state to survive in the Muslim Middle East. Israel is an impossibility. It is an offense against God." In an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of Slate, Rayan said that he believed Jews are a "cursed people" and some were transformed into pigs and apes by Allah, and that Jews must pay for murdering the prophets of Islam and "closing [their] ears to the Messenger of Allah."

Rayan married four women with whom he had twelve children. His wives were Hiam 'Abdul Rahman Rayan, Iman Khalil Rayan, Nawal Isma'il Rayan, and Sherine Sa'id Rayan, and his children were As'ad; Usama Ibn Zaid; 'Aisha; Reem, Miriam, Halima, 'Abdul Rahman, Abdul Qader, Aaya, Zainab, and Ghassan.

Israeli attack

Rayan was preaching in a local mosque the day before he was killed and advocated renewal of suicide attacks on Israel, declaring, according to the New York Daily News, "Our only language with the Jew is through the gun". He also appeared on Al-Aqsa TV proclaiming, "God willing, the evil state, the Jewish state will not break the resistance. Unlike other Hamas leaders at risk of being targeted by Israel, Rayan did not go underground after the armed conflict with Israel began in late December.

Rayan was killed in an Israeli Air Force strike on 1 January 2009 during the 2008–2009 Israel-Gaza conflict. A 2,000-pound bomb was dropped on his house, also killing his 4 wives and eleven of his children.

According to a Hamas spokesperson and Rayyan's son, the IDF warned Rayan, by contacting his cell phone, that an attack on his house was imminent. However, an Israeli military spokesperson "could not give details or specify whether Rayyan's family had been warned." Rayan's son-in-law who survived the attack was asked why Rayan's wives and children did not leave the house when the IDF issued its warning. He responded, "He wanted to be a martyr." According to the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism, Rayan's family hoped that their home's underground shelter would protect them.

Israeli military sources stated that Rayan's house, at the time of the attack, was an arms warehouse and government communications center, and contained a tunnel opening. The sources also stated that the many secondary explosions immediately after the missile attack were indicative of the the weapons stockpile in the house. The New York Daily News commented that Rayan had "sacrificed his children - in a vain attempt to protect a weapons cache beneath his home." He also effectively put nearby civilians to risk.

Israeli security forces legal officials regard striking homes used for weapons storage, when sufficient warning is given to the residents, as falling within the boundaries of international law and a legitimate act of war. However, according to B'Tselem (The Israeli Center for Human Rights Information in the Occupied Territories), even if the Israeli charge that Rayan's house was a munitions warehouse were true, the large number of civilian lives taken rendered the attack "a grave breach of international humanitarian law." The advocacy group added that, given the Israeli military "knew or should have known" that civilians had not left Rayan's house, warning Rayan of the impending attack did not exempt Israeli forces from responsibility for the civilian deaths.

Rayan was the most senior Hamas member killed since Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi was killed in Israeli airstrikes in 2004. Hamas later said that Rayan's "blood is the fuel for the volcano. His martyrdom will urge thousands of mujahedin to revenge."

External links

• Video of Rayan Interview in Arabic

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