[News] Israel backtracks on decision to return body of slain Palestinian

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  Israel backtracks on decision to return body of slain Palestinian

August 9, 2016 - http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772600

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- The Shin Bet, Israel’s internal intelligence 
service, reportedly backtracked Monday evening on a decision made 
earlier in the day <http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772574> to 
return the body of Bahaa Elayyan, whose body has been held by Israel for 
nearly 10 months.

The Elayyan family said in a statement that Muhammad Elayyan, Bahaa’s 
father, received a phone call from the Shin Bet on Monday evening 
informing the family that Israel had decided to reduce the number of 
participants allowed to take part in Bahaa’s funeral to 20 people, 
before receiving another call telling them that the burial would have to 
take place in the al-Mujahidin cemetery near Herod’s Gate in occupied 
East Jerusalem, to which the family refused.

According to the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs, the 
Elayyan family had signed an agreement with Israeli intelligence on 
Monday morning to return Bahaa's body, pending a number of preconditions

Among the preconditions that the family and Israeli authorities had 
previously agreed to were that no more than 30 people could attend his 
funeral -- an increase from its initial stipulation that only 20 people 
attend -- mandating that it take place at the Lion’s Gate cemetery in 
the Old City, and that the family pay a bail of 20,000 shekels ($5,218).

Israel’s actions on Monday evening not only reduced the number of 
funeral participants to its original number, but also changed the 
location of the funeral, causing the Elayyan family to say that the 
“Israeli police are procrastinating, torturing and playing with the 
feelings of our family.”

They added that in their opinion, Israeli police did not intend to 
return their son’s body, and that they would most likely have to wait 
until a decision was made by the Israeli Supreme Court regarding their 
appeal.

In June, Israeli police decided that slain Palestinians from East 
Jerusalem accused of "terrorism" would no longer have funerals in their 
neighborhoods or villages 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=771804>, but would instead be 
buried in cemeteries chosen by the police.

Elayyan, 22, was killed on Oct. 13 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768213> after carrying out a 
stabbing and shooting attack on a bus in the East Jerusalem neighborhood 
of Jabal al-Mukabbir, killing three Israelis.

The bodies of at least seven Palestinians are still being held by 
Israel, with Elayyan’s father Muhammad Elayyan spearheading the movement 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772124> of slain Palestinians’ 
families demanding their release.

Muhammad Elayyan was detained by Israeli forces for several days 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772042> in June over his 
involvement in protests.

Israel dramatically increased its policy of withholding bodies 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768641> since the beginning of 
a wave of unrest across the occupied Palestinian territory since 
October, in which nearly 220 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis.

Human rights organizations have also widely condemned the policy, with 
prisoners’ rights group Addameer calling it a form of “collective 
punishment” against Palestinians who had not been accused of any 
wrongdoing, also noting that it “adds to the severe grief and trauma of 
families of the deceased.”


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