Palestine Urges Israel to Return 51 Bodies of Martyrs

Jakarta, MINA – Palestine urges Israel to repatriate 51 bodies of Palestinian martyrs who have been held in refrigerators since October 2015.

The call was made by the First Secretary of Palestinian Embassy to Indonesia, Muamar Milhem, at a press conference on the national campaign for repatriation of Palestinian martyrs in Jakarta on Wednesday, September 4.

Based on national campaign data for the repatriation of Palestinian martyrs, Milhem said Israeli authorities had detained more than 260 Palestinian bodies since 1967, including 51 bodies in refrigerators since October 2015.

“This national campaign decided to step up protest measures in all Palestinian cities to pressure Israeli government and international organizations, including the International Red Cross, to immediately intervene to release the bodies of Palestinians,” Milhem said.

According to reports, Israel stole Palestinian corpses and traded them. That clearly violates all laws and human rights.

“From this forum we want to send a message to the world that the repatriation of the bodies of martyrs is a very important issue for us,” he said.

Milhem said Israel continued to maintain a policy of detaining Palestinian corpses for years in an effort to pressure Palestinian leaders. During this time, he continued Israel detained the bodies of Palestinian martyrs in “Grave of Numbers” (Tombs of Numbers).

The tomb is a military grave and closed to the community. The bodies of Palestinians are marked with a number plate.

“Palestinian families and human rights institutions are prohibited from entering the cemetery,” Muamar Milhem said.

Because of this, Muamar asked all Muslims to unite to pressure Israel to release the bodies of Palestinian martyrs. The bodies must be buried properly in accordance with their respective beliefs. (T/Sj/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)