Palestinians demand Israel return bodies of loved ones
Bereaved relatives demonstrate in Ramallah
Zena Tahhan writes in Aljazeera:
Dozens of relatives of slain Palestinians held a rally calling on Israel to return the bodies of their loved ones.
Monday’s protest in Ramallah took place before an Israeli Supreme Court session on Tuesday regarding the cases of 10 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since 2015 whose bodies have not been returned.
Under the slogan “we want our children back”, the mothers, fathers and relatives marched from Al Manara Square in downtown Ramallah holding up signs of their slain sons, chanting “freedom to our martyrs”.
“It is our right to get their bodies back and bury them. It is our right to know what happened to our boys,” Azhar Abu Srour, an organiser of the rally, told Al Jazeera.
“The occupation always tries to keep us in the dark – we cannot bid our boys farewell, or bury them with dignity,” said the mother, whose son’s body has been held the longest – since April 2016. “This is a crime and the occupation needs to be held accountable,” Abu Srour, from the town of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, added.
Her son, Abdulhameed, died of his wounds after carrying out a bomb attack on a bus in Jerusalem, a few months after his cousin was shot dead by the Israeli army.
Israel withholds bodies to use as bargaining chips in political negotiations with the Palestinian leadership. It also claims releasing the bodies leads to “incitement” at funerals.