'Israel mass grave must exclude Palestinians'

 

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- A group of relatives of Palestinians killed by Israel demanded Tuesday that the Israeli government exclude their remains from a state plan to bury unidentified remains.

Israel's Haaretz daily reported that 8,000 jars of human remains are to be given a proper burial, under a national program unveiled Sunday by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv.

Palestinian relatives insisted that Israel follow through on its agreement with the Palestinian ministry of civil affairs in summer 2011 in which it agreed to release nearly 200 bodies of slain Palestinians.

In a statement, the group condemned Israel's "defiance of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions of 1949, in which Israel is obligated to return victims of war to their families."

It was not immediately clear if the unidentified remains kept by Israel would include Palestinians.

The burial process will start on May 20, Haaretz reported.

Families who wish to have their loved ones' tissues and organs buried together with relatives, instead of in a mass grave, will be permitted to do so, according to the report.

Israel To Release Remains of Abu Zent , 35 Years Later

Saturday October 08, 2011 13:35 by Mais Azza - IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli authorities have decided to release the remains of Hafeth Abu Zent on Sunday at Jaljolia checkpoint near the West Bank city of Qalqilia. The body had been kept for 35 years in the so- called Israeli Cemetery of Numbers, the Ma’an News Agency reported.

Abu Zent

An official in the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Mohammad Dwiqat, reported that the Israeli authorities have officially informed the Palestinian group of the decision, after keeping the corpse since May14th, 1976.

He added that the decision was made only after all necessary examinations were completed; including a DNA test. The members of the Palestinian National Campaign for the Release of Martyrs Bodies will gather in the West Bank city of Nablus to organise arrangements regarding reception of the body, in a manner befitting Abu Zent's role in defending his land and people.

Dwiqat also said that there are 350 more bodies of Palestinian men in the Cemetery of Numbers, which is located within the Green Line.

The lead coordinator of the campaign thanked the al-Quds Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights, in facilitating the Israeli Supreme Court decision to release the remains of Abu Zent.

Abu Zent was born in the West Bank city of Nablus on May 24th, 1954, and was killed near the Palestinian Valley area, whilst conducting a military operation in response to the death of a Palestinian child.

Israel 'holding remains' of Palestinians killed in 1969

NABLUS (Ma’an) -- Israel has not returned the bodies of two Palestinians killed 41 years ago in the northern West Bank, relatives said Sunday.

Ahraf Othman, from Al-Majdal village south of Nablus, said his father Issa was killed by Israeli soldiers on 5 September 1969, and Muhammad Fazi from Qusra, north of the city, was killed on the same day 41 years ago Sunday.

The men, both Fatah operatives, died in a military operation near Jamma'In and Beit Furik, he said.

"I have an official certificate from Israeli forces proving that they killed my father, and all I want is to get his body back," Ashraf said adding that he would cooperate with the Palestinian National Campaign for the Release of Martyrs' Bodies to file a lawsuit against the Israeli government to bury his father in his village.

Last month, Israeli authorities delivered the remains of Mashhur Talab Al-Aruri to his village near Ramallah, 34 years after he was killed. It was not clear why his body was held for so long.

Israel releases Palestinian man’s corpse after 35 years

[ 10/08/2010 - 05:56 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Israeli army released Tuesday morning the body of Palestinian martyr Mashour Talab al-Arouri to his family after holding him for 35 years in the Arqam (numbers) cemetery, Palestinian sources in Ramallah said. The body was wrapped in a Palestinian flag and taken to the Ramallah Hospital after it was taken by the Israeli army to the Rantis barrier, where the body was met by a committee made up of members of the Palestinian “national campaign” to retrieve dead bodies, members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the deceased’s family. The funeral will be held Thursday or Friday in the deceased’s hometown of Aroura with a march of honor. The body was released after legal efforts led by the national campaign for the release of dead bodies and the Jerusalem Legal Aid Center. Arouri was reportedly killed May 18, 1976 along with two of his peers while leading a Democratic Front operation in the Jordan Valley. Since the time of their burial in the Arqam cemetery, Arouri’s family was active in demanding the release of his body, a struggle which ended when the Israeli army delivered the body on Tuesday after a decision by the Israeli Supreme Court. Arouri’s case was a judicial precedent, being the first of 317 missing and dead Palestinians in the Arqam cemetery to be delivered to their families. Jerusalem legal aid center attorney Haitham al-Khatib said the case required a long time and serious efforts because of delays by the attorney general and Israeli Supreme Court. Khatib emphasized his conviction for the right of the families of those martyrs held in the Arqam cemetery to retrieve their loved ones.

Campaign for release of bodies of the killed: 25 from Gaza held along with hundreds of others

08.09.09 - 16:39

Gaza / PNN – The issue of the bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and the fate of missing persons has become a major campaign with a comprehensive campaign being called organized to retrieve them.

Palestinian government Minister Magda Al Masri said today, “We do not accept the continued international silence on the subject of bodies of the killed.”

Prisoners’ affairs researcher, Abdel Nasser Farwana said that Israeli authorities have been holding the bodies of 25 martyrs from the Gaza Strip since May of 1994, the post-Oslo era and the introduction of the Palestinian National Authority.

These bodies are not among the missing, but are instead in known cemeteries with the Israeli administration having refused to hand them over to the PA. There are hundreds of killed and missing in addition to these bodies, with part of the campaign for retrieval being from unnamed, numbered graves.

Families are working to retrieve the bodies of their sons in order to bury them in accordance with Islamic law in Islamic cemeteries.

Sixteen of the bodies from Gaza were killed after the beginning of the Al Aqsa Intifada in September 2000. They are considered a small portion of the hundreds of bodies of martyrs held for decades by the occupying authorities.

Ferwana referred to the Israeli policy as “continued punishment after death.”

Farwana: "All facts on the ground prove Swedish report correct"

Saturday August 22, 2009 00:05 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Former Palestinian detainee, researcher Abdul-Nasser Farwana, stated that all facts on the ground, since decades, prove that the Israeli occupation executed Palestinian detainees after they surrendered and refused to hand their bodies to their families. Hundreds of bodies were transferred to the families days, months or even years after the fact, and when the bodies were sent back, they were missing vital internal organs.

Bilal AhmadGhanan, 19,Photo: Donald Boström

Farwana added that the Swedish report, written by Donald Boström and published by Aftonbladet Swedish paper, regarding illegal trafficking of body parts of Palestinians is directly connected to the execution of Palestinians after they surrendered to the army, and is connected with the arrest of 40 well-known figures, including Rabbis in New Jersey for money laundering and corruption, in a scheme that involved sales of Israeli kidneys in the US and other corruption rackets.

Farwana added that one of the illegal acts carried out by Israel is having secret detention facilities in which dozens of detainees were imprisoned and never heard of anymore. This is in addition to the “Numbers Graveyard” in which “unknown” Palestinian and Arab fighters are buried.

He said that Israel still denies it is holding hundreds of Palestinian and Arab fighter, and refuses to cooperate with the Red Cross on the issue.

The researcher added that Israel is the only state that had a policy of detaining the bodies of slain Arab and Palestinian fighters, and that some 300 fighters are buried in the numbers graveyard.

Hundreds of bodies were returned during prisoner-swap deals, including the latest swap-deal between Hezbollah and Israel in which some 200 bodies were moved to Lebanon.

Farwana further said that dozens of detainees died in Israeli prisons, some due to torture, and their bodies were not immediately sent to their families, but instead were moved to forensic center, and some of their body parts were removed before bodies were sent back to the Palestinians.

He said the Swedish paper said in its report that Palestinians youth were abducted by the Israeli army from their homes, were killed later on, and when their bodies were return, they were cut open and vital organs were missing.

Rabbi Levi Yitzhak Rosenberg, who was recently arrested in New York, is believed to be involved in illegal trade of organs, and that he sold Kidney to patients in the United States for 160.000 USD.

The Aftonbladet report placed the Israeli-Swedish relations at odds, and some Israel officials demanded Sweden to officially apologize, while other officials said that this report in part of the efforts to demonize Israel and the Jews.

This is the link for the full Aftonbladet report, in English, with pictures attached http://www.tlaxcala.es/pp.asp?reference=8390&lg=en

Sweden’s Foreign Ministry summons Israel’s ambassador

Saturday August 22, 2009 05:20 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

As the Israeli-Swedish relations stand at odds over an article regarding Israeli soldiers killing Palestinians for their organs, and Israel’s demand for official apology, the Swedish government summoned the Israeli Ambassador for talks on the issue.

Swedish Ambassador in Israel - Carl Bildt

Israeli officials reported that comments made by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman also caused anger in Sweden as he said that Sweden did nothing while the Nazis were killing the Jews.

Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported that the meeting was scheduled even before the article was published, but would now focus on it as its causing tension between the two countries.

Lieberman said that this article is part of what he described as “defamation of the Jews”, and connected to the Swedish stance during World War II “When it failed to intervene”.

Israel demanded the Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, to condemn the article, but he refused to issue an official statement in this regard.

Bildt said that the article was published because Freedom of Expression is part of the Swedish Constitution.

He said that he can understand why the article is causing this anger and emotions in Israel, but it is part of the freedom of speech.

Israel says that the article is racist, but Sweden said that the only issue that united the Swedish parliament at all times is the condemnation of anti-Semitism.

Haaretz said that the Israeli Foreign Ministry knows that it is unlikely that Sweden would publish a condemnation, and therefore it is studying a number of measures including canceling the visit of Bildt who is expected in Tel Aviv after 10 days.

Another idea is to allow Bildt into the country but have him publicly slam the article and to have Israeli officials refusing to speak to him on any issue except the article.

Israel insists on a public official apology from Sweden while several Israeli officials said that there is no other way to resolve the issue.

Lieberman had already instructed Foreign Ministry employees not to grant press cards to Aftonbladet reporters, and to refuse to assist in covering news from Israel.

Israel is also weighing the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the author of the article, Donald BOSTRÖM.

Annual day set to garner release of remains of those killed in the field and prison

18.08.09 - 10:37

Bethlehem / PNN - Minister of Detainees and Ex Detainees Affairs, Issa Qaraqe’, said today that 96 people were killed in Israeli prisons since 1967.

The last was Mousa Juma of Jerusalem who died due to medical negligence.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the former director of Bethlehem’s Palestinian Prisoner Society, Qaraqe’ said that the highest number of those killed fell during the past 10 years.

Regarding other deaths, Qaraqe’ noted that the official number of bodies that the Israelis are holding on to post-mortem is 300, while there are hundreds more Palestinians missing from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

For its part, the Israeli government refuses to hand over the remains to bereaved families for burial and closure.

Qaraqe’ made his statements during his visit to the family home of Shadi Al Darwish on the twentieth anniversary of his death.

“Shadi was one of the heroes of the movement and its captive leaders. On the twenty-seventh of July, 1989 he was able to escape from a prison in Hebron. He lived in the Hebron area, haunted and hunted. He was killed in a clash with Israeli special units on the sixteenth of August.”

The Israeli government kept his body for five years, until giving it back to the family on 31 August, 1994 after human rights institutions intervened. Shadi Darwish was arrested by the occupation authorities on 28 June, 1988 on charges of participating in the activities of the first Intifada.

Qaraqe’ revealed that 47 percent of the Palestinians killed within the Israeli prisons die from the torture they undergo during investigation, while the others died due to medical negligence and murder in the prisons and detention camps.

He pointed out that more than 200 executions were carried out in the field by the Israeli army and special units after they had been arrested. The injured are not given medical treatment and often die from blood loss before seeing a prison.

Qaraqe’ said that many of those who were executed outside the scope of the judiciary could have been arrested instead of killed, and a number of the martyrs were executed after they were handcuffed shackled.

The prisoners’ minister also noted that by keeping the bodies of the killed, the Israelis increase the suffering of Palestinian families and show that “Israeli figures are a blot on the conscience of humanity and the principles of human rights. These are war crimes.”

He said, “The government of Israel is still holding hundreds of bodies of the martyrs, as they have been for many years, with a notable surge during the last Intifada where the bodies of the dead and abducted are put in the tombs that lack of minimum humanitarian norms of religious cemeteries. These are closed military zones to prevent the citizens and journalists from gaining access.”

The tombs of which Qaraqe’ speaks are not named, instead they are numbers, and what is marked is eroding, according to sources.

Of his homes town, Qaraqe’ said, “Israel has been holding 18 people from the province of Bethlehem for seven years.”

The twenty-seventh of August is the annual day, says Qaraqe’, to push for the release of the bodies of the martyrs, whether they died in the field or the prison.

300 martyrs' bodies in the Zionist prisons

17-08-2009,14:37

Al Qassam website - The minister for prisoner affairs, Issa Qaraqe said that 96 Palestinians killed in Zionist prisons since 1967. The last martyr was Jumaa Mussa from Jerusalem, who martyred because of medical negligence.

Qaraqe said that the largest number of them fell during the last ten years and pointed out that 300 martyrs' bodies are still blocked in the military Zionist figures graves of the population of the West Bank and Gaza.

Qaraqe statements made during his visit to the family home of Shadi Darwish in the twentieth anniversary of his martyrdom.

Qaraqe revealed that 47% of the martyrs were a result of torture of prisoners in the cellars of the investigation, and the rest were due to medical negligence and murder in the prisons and camps, noting that more than 200 executions carried out by the Israeli army and special units against the prisoners after their arrest or bleeding after leaving the injury to death.

It was noted that many of those who were executed outside the scope of the judiciary could have been arrested instead of killed, and the number of martyrs executed, after arrest, referring that the Zionist approach, based on the detention of the bodies of Palestinian martyrs in the tombs of the Zionist figures for many years as punishment, is a blot on the conscience of humanity and the principles of human rights and a war crime.

He said: The Zionist Government is still holding hundreds of bodies of the martyrs for many years, where the bodies of the dead are abducted in closed military zones to prevent the citizens and journalists to access.

Qaraqe noted that Zionist sources revealed that these tombs, which hold numbers rather than names of the martyrs, are eroding from dogs and wild animals and erosion during the winter, pointing out that the Zionist occupation is holding 18 martyrs from Bethlehem, in this cemetery since 7 years.

Qaraqe said that many of the bodies of prisoners detained in prison after the martyrdom for many years, including Al-Jaafari, who was martyred in the Nafha prison in 1980 and detained 15-year-old body, and called for the revival of the national day to recover the bodies of the martyrs, which was adopted by the Council of Ministers and to be considered as the 8-27 a national day to recover bodies of the dead captured.