Israel's exploitation of Palestinian corpses

Israel shows callous disregard for the deceased and their families

- ELMA ROSS

A DISPLACED Palestinian boy stands on the ruins of destroyed buildings in the Bureij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip. Kidnapping corpses is also an activity that Israeli forces engage in. The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories recorded on October 22, 2019 that the ",Israeli High Court green lights holding Palestinian bodies as bargaining chips", says the writer. | AFP

(AFP)

IN JUNE 2023, an article by Nevis Kallepalli was published in The Nation, "In Israel, Palestinian Imprisonment Continues Even After Death".

It shared the story of Asha's Abu Srour, who regularly visits the grave of her son Abed. Not that he is in the grave, because Israel has been keeping the corpse, making it impossible to gain closure.

Abed's body lies buried in grave 141, on an Israeli military site. Since 2016. His body is kept in Postmortem Detention. Thereby, the family is collectively punished.

Even when bodies are returned, as in the case of Mustafa Arabat who died due to torture in the Israeli prison in 1992, burials take place under strict conditions. Arabat had to be buried in the middle of the night, with only immediate family attending.