Israel rejects petition to release body of slain Palestinian

Israel's Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a petition to release the body of slain Palestinian civilian Ahmed Erekat to his family.

Erakat, a 27-year old Palestinian, was shot and killed by occupying Israeli forces at the "container" checkpoint in the occupied East Jerusalem town of Abu Dis, June 2020 on his way to his sister's wedding.

Video footage shows Erekat's car crashing into a checkpoint and knocking over an Israeli officer. Israeli forces are then seen shooting the man when he is outside his car and does not appear to pose a threat to the soldiers.

His body has been held by the Israeli army since his killing, with lawyers and human rights watchdogs consistently calling for his release.

On Wednesday, Israel's Supreme Court rejected a petition filed by Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel to release Erakat's body -- filed on the behalf of his father, behalf of Mustafa Erekat.

In the judgment, the two justices in the majority, Neil Handel and David Mintz, ruled that Israeli defence regulations allow the military commander to make decisions regarding the burial of the bodies of "terrorists or enemy casualties", as bargaining chips to negotiate the release of bodies of Israeli soldiers.

However, Justice Yitzhak Amit, who was in the minority, ruled that the initial decision to hold the body was illegal and made without official authority since the army acted without a decision of the government.

Amit added that he was unconvinced by the "secret materials" presented by the army to the court in a closed hearing, to negotiating the return of prisoners and bodies of Israeli soldiers from Hamas.

Adalah deplored the court's ruling as inhumane and in violation of international law.

"Israel's policy of holding Palestinian bodies 81 people since 2015 - is inhumane and degrading, and a blatant violation of international law, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court," Adalah said in response to the ruling.

"The Court's decision today gives a free hand to the military, without governmental authority, and retroactively approves such an illegal practice. Israel must immediately return the dozens of Palestinian bodies it currently holds," the legal centre added.

Israeli Supreme Court approves continued holding of my cousin #Ahmed_Erekat' by military.
Israel is committing #WarCrimes by holding Palestinian bodies as hostages. This is collective punishment, my cousin’s body is withheld for 14 months now…all we ask for is #Justice pic.twitter.com/d8vsIb95Av

— Dalal IRIQAT دلال عريقات (@DalalIRIQAT) August 18, 2021

Erekat's family began campaigning for his body's release just days after his death.

His late uncle, Saeb Erekat, also General-Secretary of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) called for help in pressuring Israel to release his body.

"For the 5th day the Israeli authorities still jail Ahmed Erakat's dead body not allowing us to bury him like what all humans do when their loved ones die," he tweeted.

The late General-Secretary died of coronavirus in November 2020.

'Inhumane psychological warfare'

Israel routinely withholds the bodies of Palestinians its forces shoot dead. The practice has been regularly denounced by Palestinians as inhumane, saying it is a form of psychological warfare and collective punishment.

Israel is thought to keep the bodies of Palestinians as bargaining chips.

In September 2019, a Palestinian group that campaigns on the behalf of the families of Palestinians who have been killed and held by Israel wrote to the United Nations Secretary-General, urging him to pressure Israel to release the bodies.

The National Campaign for Retrieval of the Bodies of Palestinian and Arab War Victims sent a letter to Antonio Guterres, calling on him to take urgent action to release Palestinian corpses.

"Since 1967, Israel has applied an inconsistent policy of refusing to deliver the mortal remains of hundreds of Palestinian combatants to their families," the letter said.

"Israel's ongoing refusal to undertake the necessary process to identify those buried in the cemeteries of numbers violates United Nations Security Council Resolution 2474, which requires member states to prevent individuals from going missing as a result of armed conflict in territories under their jurisdiction," the group added.

Rights groups have also accused Israeli forces of using "unnecessary and excessive force" and carrying out extrajudicial killings against Palestinians.