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<h1 class="title">Israel backtracks on decision to return body of
slain Palestinian</h1>
<p>August 9, 2016 - <font size="-2"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772600">http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772600</a></font><br>
</p>
<p>JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- The Shin Bet, Israel’s internal intelligence
service, reportedly backtracked Monday evening on a <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772574">decision
made earlier in the day</a> to return the body of Bahaa Elayyan,
whose body has been held by Israel for nearly 10 months.</p>
<div>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.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>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<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>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).<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>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.”</div>
<div><br>
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. <br>
<br>
In June, Israeli police decided that slain Palestinians from East
Jerusalem accused of "terrorism" would <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=771804">no longer
have funerals in their neighborhoods or villages</a>, but would
instead be buried in cemeteries chosen by the police.<br>
<br>
Elayyan, 22, <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768213">was killed
on Oct. 13</a> after carrying out a stabbing and shooting attack
on a bus in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukabbir,
killing three Israelis.<br>
<br>
The bodies of at least seven Palestinians are still being held by
Israel, with Elayyan’s father <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772124">Muhammad
Elayyan spearheading the movement</a> of slain Palestinians’
families demanding their release.<br>
<br>
Muhammad Elayyan was <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772042">detained
by Israeli forces for several days</a> in June over his
involvement in protests.<br>
<br>
Israel <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768641">dramatically
increased its policy of withholding bodies</a> 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.<br>
<br>
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.”</div>
<p><br>
</p>
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