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<h1 class="title">Rights group says Israel currently holding 19
bodies of slain Palestinians</h1>
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<div class="stamp">Feb. 9, 2018 - <font size="-2"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=779839">http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=779839</a></font><br>
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BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The Israeli government is currently holding
the bodies of 19 slain Palestinians killed in the past two
years, along with 260 bodies of those killed since 1967,
according to a Palestinian human rights group. </div>
</div>
<div>Director of the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center
(JLAC) Issam Arouri told the Voice of Palestine radio station that
Israeli forces continue to withhold the remains of 260 slain
Palestinians buried in the so-called “cemetery of numbers” in
Israel, in addition to holding the bodies of 19 Palestinians, who
were killed by Israeli forces since 2016, in morgues. <br>
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<div>The latest bodies to have been taken by Israeli forces were the
bodies of <a
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=779826"
target="_blank">19-year-old Hamzeh Zamaareh</a> and <a
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=779822"
target="_blank">Ahmad Nasser Jarrar, 22,</a> who were killed
earlier this week. <br>
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<div><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Israel dramatically
increased its policy of withholding bodies since the beginning
of a wave of unrest across the occupied Palestinian territory in
October 2015, although it has scaled back on the policy in
recent months.<br>
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</span></div>
<div>Israel has long had “cemeteries for the enemy dead,” also
referred to as “cemeteries of numbers,” where Palestinians who
died during attacks on Israelis are held in nameless graves marked
by numbers.<br>
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<div>Israel has attempted to negotiate the release of Palestinian
bodies as well as several Hamas affiliates detained from the Gaza
Strip in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers held by
Hamas.<br>
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<div>A joint statement released in 2016 by Addameer and the Israeli
minority rights group Adalah condemned Israel’s practice of
withholding bodies as "a severe violation of international
humanitarian law as well as international human rights law,
including violations of the right to dignity, freedom of religion,
and the right to practice culture."<br>
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During his interview with Voice of Palestine, Arouri said that
“Israel was the only country in the world that withholds the bodies
of slain people for bargaining purposes or sets conditions on
funerals for releasing them to their families.”
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
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