Two rights groups ask UNHRC to probe Israel’s withholding bodies of deceased Palestinians

London/Jerusalem (QNN)- Two human rights groups have requested the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate Israel’s withholding the bodies of deceased Palestinians, stressing this practice is “systematic and discriminatory, and is in violation of international law.”

On July 20, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) and the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre (JLAC) submitted a joint communication on behalf of eight Palestinian individuals, to the Special Procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council, regarding the Israel’s withholding the bodies of their deceased relatives.

The Communication was sent to the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967; the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief; the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights; and the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers.

Israel’s ongoing policy of withholding the bodies of deceased Palestinians, the two groups said in a press release, is “practice which can be found to be systematic and discriminatory, and is in violation of international law.”

The groups added, “It is underpinned by official organs of the State, including the judiciary, which is complicit in enabling impunity for those responsible in implementing the policy.”

“To this day, the policy has prevented the families in this Communication from burying their loved ones in a prompt and dignified manner in accordance with their religious beliefs. “

The Communication was submitted days after it was reported that dozens of Egyptian soldiers, who were killed during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, were buried in mass graves beneath what is now a tourist attraction, so-called “Mini Israel Park”, (a park built over the lands and ruins of the Palestinian destroyed village of Latrun).

The number of bodies the Israeli occupation has withheld over the years cannot be estimated accurately, as the exact number of bodies withheld and returned since 1967 is unknown, the ICJP and JLAC noted in the press release.

However, according to estimates, the number of deceased Palestinians withheld by ‘Israel’ since its occupation in 1967 is in the hundreds, whereas between 1991 and 2007, around 405 Palestinian bodies were released after being used for negotiations.

Over the years, the policy has been criticised by the international community, including the United Nations (UN).

In 2016, the UN Committee against Torture stated that ‘Israel’ should “take the measures necessary to return the bodies of the Palestinians that have not yet been returned to their relatives as soon as possible so they can be buried in accordance with their traditions and religious customs, and to avoid that similar situations are repeated in the future.”

The ICJP and JLAC have also urged the UN Special Rapporteurs to take active steps to investigate the violations highlighted in the Communication.

Haydee Dijkstal, instructed Counsel (External) for ICJP stated, “The information submitted to the Special Rapporteurs as to the violations committed against eight Palestinian individuals and the pain these violations have caused clearly highlights the cruelty of Israel’s documented practice of withholding bodies.”

“It is important to recognise that the experience of these families is not unique but part of a systematic pattern of denying Palestinians the fundamental right to grieve and honour their loved ones through their religion, culture and traditions, and must be viewed in the context of Israel’s obligations to ensure and protect these rights.”

Issam Aruri, JLAC’s General Director also said, “Detaining Palestinian bodies is a compound crime as it may conceal potential crimes such as extrajudicial killing, and prevents the possibility of carrying out forensic autopsy. In addition, this policy is in contempt of the dignity of the dead, and is considered as a collective punishment that includes the families of the victims, and may amount to torture.”

“As long as the occupation’s accountability is absent for the grave violations of International Humanitarian Law, these crimes are likely to increase, and will lead to more frustration and despair amongst Palestinians, fuelling violence and hatred in the region…”

Since 1967, ‘Israel’ had also established cemeteries of numbers in closed military zones where it held the bodies of Palestinians and Arabs who were killed during the war or the struggle against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, eastern part of Jerusalem and Gaza Strip.

‘Israel’ is still withholding the bodies of 104 Palestinian martyrs killed by its forces since 2015, including the bodies of nine detainees, according to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees.

Al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights group, says “the withholding of Palestinian bodies is a standard practice long used by Israel which violates its obligations as an Occupying Power under international law. Customary international humanitarian law stipulates that parties to an armed conflict must respect the dead who “must be disposed of in a respectful manner.” It further obliges parties to the conflict to return the remains and personal effects of the dead to their families. In addition, Article 17 of the Second Geneva Convention requires that the deceased must be held in accordance with the religious rites that they belong to.”