Every year, families and human rights activists commemorate the National Campaign for the Retrieval of the Bodies of Palestinian and Arab War Martyrs on Aug. 27.
On August 30, 2021, activists and human rights defenders took to the streets of New York City and marched towards the Zionist consulate to pressure Israel and spread the Palestinian narrative. They also stood in front of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to question its “responsibility in protecting the bodies of the dead,” according to @wolpalestine on Instagram.
Activists held photos of martyrs who had been recently killed, including 12-year-old Omar Abu Al- Neel, as well as others, like Ahmad Erakat, whose bodies were still being held hostage by the Israeli occupation. On June 12, 2020, Erakat was killed on his sister’s wedding day at an Israeli checkpoint separating Abu Dis and Bethlehem. According to multiple news reports, he was shot six times and left wounded on the street with no aid or autopsy conducted afterward.
In September 2019, the Israeli Supreme Court enacted a ruling that allowed the Israeli military commander to withhold the bodies of Palestinian martyrs and use them as “bargaining chips” in future negotiations.
A national campaign was launched by the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC) to pressure Israeli authorities to return the bodies to the victims’ families. The campaign also strives to bring the fate of the missing into the light.
As of September 2020, 67 Palestinian martyrs had been held by Israeli forces and denied a funeral since 2015. Consequently, families of the martyrs have yet to honorably bury their loved ones due to the policy enacted by Israel.
The Israeli occupation has been holding 249 Palestinian martyrs’ bodies since the 1960s, according to a report published by the Palestine and Arab Occupied Territories Sector at the Arab League in 2017. The report further mentions several violations undergone by Israel including not giving the martyrs death certificates as well as not announcing their names or whereabouts nor the reason their bodies were being held.
Countless Palestinian martyrs are held in mass graves. Israel has been using “cemeteries of numbers” to bury anonymous Palestinian martyrs with only their numbers attached to their graves and imprinted on metal boards.
Through its actions, Israel is violating Article 17 of the First Geneva Convention of 1949 which asserts that states should “ensure that burial or cremation of the dead [...] is preceded by a careful examination, if possible, by a medical examination, of the bodies, with a view to confirming death, establishing identity and enabling a report to be made.”
Palestinian Ali Abu Maliha has been missing for over 50 years now. In an interview with Anadolu Agency, his brother, Mahmoud Amr, accused the Israeli occupation of his brother’s disappearance during a “struggle mission” in the 1970s. Abu Maliha’s family got in contact with both the ICRC and the Palestinian authorities with no response regarding the matter.
Along with many other missing Palestinians, Abu Maliha is still nowhere to be found. Muhammad Al-Faqih, who comes from the same town as Abu Maliha, was killed by the Israeli army in 2016. Sharing the same fate, the location of both victims’ bodies is still a mystery. Al-Faqih’s brother wishes to be able to bury his brother’s body in accordance with Islamic practices.