[News] Palestinian families campaigning for Israel to return their children's bodies

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeastmonitor.com
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220814-palestinian-families-campaigning-for-israel-to-return-their-childrens-bodies/>
Palestinian families campaigning for Israel to return their children's
bodies
August 14, 2022
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Around 20 years ago, Mohammad Nassar, 62, lost his son, Shadi, who was
participating in resistance activities against the Israeli occupation
during the second Palestinian intifada, *Anadolu Agency* reports.

Nassar has since been in a constant struggle to retrieve Shadi's body from
Israeli authorities.

"I want to bury him with full dignity, I want to rest in peace with the
knowledge that he has a marked grave," Nassar told *Anadolu Agency*. "I'm
62 years today and I have never stopped struggling for this for nearly 20
years, continuously."

Since 2008, Nassar has been a central figure in the National Campaign for
the Recovery of Martyrs' Bodies.

Parents of the deceased Palestinians are members of the campaign and are
fighting to have known locations for the graves of their children.

"Our memories together linger in every corner of this house. His name is
never absent from our daily conversations," said Nassar.

He said five of his grandchildren are named Shadi, a tribute to their uncle
who did not return home.

*102 bodies detained*

As many as 102 bodies have been detained by Israeli authorities since 2015,
according to Hussien Shejaeah, the campaign's coordinator.

Eight are Palestinian prisoners who died inside jails but Israeli
authorities have refused to release them to their families. Ten children
and three women are on the list.

Documents by Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre (JALIC), which
started the national campaign, show that there are 256 bodies in the
cemeteries of numbers, named after a numbering system that replaces names
on graves.

"The detention of the bodies is a collective punishment policy that
controls life after death for the Palestinians. It's a punishment for the
families that dug a grave for their son, and their hope just to know where
his grave is, to visit it on special days. One of the Palestinian mothers
told me every time this is an injury which is not able to be healed,"
Shejaeah told *Anadolu Agency*.

Mohammed Shehadeh from the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said Israel is
flagrantly violating absolute prohibitions under customary international
law on three crucial levels.

Its policy violates the four Geneva Conventions vis-a-vis the return of the
dead to their families, he told *Anadolu Agency*.

Withholding Palestinian bodies constitutes a policy of collective
punishment by Israel which is prohibited under the Hague Regulations of the
Fourth Geneva Convention.

And the policy is contrary to the prohibition on torture and inhuman or
degrading treatment, which is outlined in the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights. It violates the Fourth Geneva Convention which
prohibits taking hostages, including holding bodies as hostages or
bargaining chips.

Israel's policy of indefinitely holding the bodies of Palestinians as
bargaining chips brings enormous harm and pain to bereaved families seeking
closure and a final look at their loved ones before giving them a dignified
burial.

"Denying Palestinians the right to mourn loved ones is another example of
the extent of Israel's dehumanization, brutalization and torment of the
millions under its occupation," said Shehadeh.

He highlighted that his group has consistently urged Israeli authorities to
immediately and unconditionally release the bodies of Palestinians and has
raised the issue with the UN Human Rights Council and several of its
agencies.

"We have also brought the issue to the attention of the European Parliament
and External Action Service to demand they pressure Israel to end the
brutal and harmful policy. Our persistent advocacy and campaigning for this
cause will continue until the release of all 103 Palestinian bodies," he
said.
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