Scottish Friends of Palestine أصدقاء فلسطين الأسكتلنديين

Bodies of dead Palestinians as bargaining chip

WAFA  9/09/19

The Israeli High Court today gave the Israeli military the green light to keep bodies of Palestinians killed by Israelis as a bargaining chip in any future exchange negotiations, according to the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC). It said an expanded High Court hearing of seven judges ruled 4 to 3 in favor of giving the military governor the power to withhold bodies of dead Palestinians and bury them for a period of time and use them in the future as a bargaining chip. The court said that Israeli emergency regulations permit the Israeli military to order the interim burial of bodies designated as deceased enemies, based on considerations that take into account state security, civil order, and the need to negotiate for the return of the bodies of Israeli soldiers, according to Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.. The new ruling overturns an earlier decision by a regular High Court which said the military ruler does not have the power to keep the bodies of the dead Palestinians.