Israel’s parliament advances bill on withholding return of bodies of Palestinians to their families

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israel’s Knesset, or parliament, approved the preliminary reading of a bill Wednesday that would prohibit the return of the bodies of Palestinians killed while carrying out attacks against Israelis to their families.

The bill mandates their burial in Israel's “Cemetery for the Enemy's Victims” or the “Cemetery of Numbers.”

The legislation emerged amid a wave of measures targeting Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and within Israel’s 1948 borders under a government dominated by far-right parties.

According to Israel’s Maariv daily, the bill was introduced by lawmaker Michel Buskila and received 40 votes in favor out of 120 Knesset members, with eight voting against it.

It now moves to the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for further deliberation. If approved in three additional readings, it will become law.

The proposed legislation stipulates that “individuals who die while carrying out attacks would be buried in designated enemy cemeteries within Israel.” It grants the prime minister discretionary power to release a body to the deceased's family under exceptional circumstances.

The bill justifies itself by claiming that “the funerals of terrorists (referring to those who carry out operations) are used to express support for terrorism, with many cases witnessing banners, chants and speeches inciting further terrorist acts.”

The Cemetery for the Enemy's Victims is a burial site owned by the Israeli military designated for burying the bodies of individuals involved in armed operations and soldiers from enemy armies.

It holds hundreds of bodies of Palestinians, Egyptians and other Arabs killed by the Israeli army over decades, with their remains withheld from their families for political reasons.

The graves are marked with numbers instead of the names of those buried, while Israel retains information about their identities, according to human rights sources.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio