[News] After five months, Israel returns body of slain Palestinian for burial

[Anti-Imperialist News]

*After five months, Israel returns body of slain Palestinian for burial*

Aug. 18, 2016 - http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772740

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces returned the body of a Palestinian 
for burial on Wednesday night after withholding it from the slain man’s 
family for five months.

Israeli authorities returned the body of Muhammad Jamal al-Kalouti, 21, 
after midnight at the al-Mujahidin cemetery near Herod’s Gate in 
occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City.

Al-Kalouti was shot dead by Israeli police in March 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770620> alongside Abd al-Malak 
Saleh Abu Kharoub, 19, outside of the Old City after the two opened fire 
in the area.

Israeli forces were deployed at Herod’s Gate on Wednesday night, as well 
as in the neighboring Salah al-Din Street and around the cemetery, as 
they prevented people from approaching to conform to Israeli limitations 
on the number of mourners allowed to attend the funeral.

Lawyer Muhammad Mahmoud said that Israeli intelligence imposed a number 
of preconditions on al-Kalouti’s family before returning his body, 
limiting the number of funeral attendees to no more than 30 family 
members, and imposing a bail of 20,000 shekels ($5,218).

The funeral came after Israeli authorities backtracked Monday evening on 
a decision made earlier in the day to return the body of Bahaa Elayyan 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772600>, whose body has been 
held by Israel for nearly 10 months.

The reversal came after the Elayyan family refused last-minute changes 
by Israeli authorities to the preconditions they had already agreed to, 
including a reduction in the number of funeral participants and a new 
location for the burial.

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.

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 218 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis.

The families of the slain Palestinians have appealed the Israeli Supreme 
Court for months, with the court ruling in May 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=771409> that all of the bodies 
of Palestinians held by Israel be released to their families before the 
start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in June.

However, after releasing the body of Alaa Abu Jamal, Israel’s Public 
Security Minister Gilad Erdan ordered that Israeli police suspend the 
return of the bodies <http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=771623> 
just a few weeks after the ruling, claiming that the funeral encouraged 
"incitement" against the state of Israel.

On Tuesday, the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs said that 
Israeli authorities approved the release of slain Palestinian's bodies 
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772713>, in a reversal of the 
Erdan order which slain Palestinians’ families hope will remain permanent.

The bodies of at least six Palestinians from East Jerusalem are still 
being held by Israel, while Mahmoud estimated that the bodies of some 14 
Palestinians who have been killed since October are being withheld in total.

Human rights organizations have widely condemned the policy of 
withholding bodies, 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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