Palestinian PM Accuses Israel of Using Withheld Palestinian Corpses in Experimental Labs

Ramallah, MINA – Israel is using withheld corpses of Palestinians for use in laboratories of medical schools in flagrant violation of human rights on Monday said Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.

“The (Israeli) occupation authorities are augmenting the pain of the families bereaved at the loss of their children by withholding the corpses of their children and using them in the laboratories of medical schools in Israeli universities in flagrant violation of human rights, values, principles and scientific ethics,” said Shtayyeh in remarks at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting held in Ramallah.

He called on universities around the world to boycott those Israeli universities involved in the withholding and the exploitation of the corpses of Palestinians killed by Israeli army gunfire in order to put pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities to show respect for the dead Palestinians and to immediately release the dozens of withheld corpses so that their families can bid them farewell in a manner that befits them and respect their feelings, WAFA reported.

The Prime Minister said that the Israeli terrorism against the Palestinian people does not stop as the number of people killed by Israeli army bullets since the beginning of this year has reached 78, including 15 children, the last of whom was Kamel Alawneh, 17, from the village of Jaba, and the prisoner Saadia Farajallah, 68, who died while she was held in an Israeli prison.

Shtayyeh also said his government categorically rejects the settlement work carried out by the Israeli occupation authorities in the occupied city of Jerusalem.

He said that the occupation authorities aim to extend their control over Palestinian-owned lands in the occupied holy city, especially those near Al-Aqsa Mosque, stressing that his government will not accept these acts.

In another context, the Prime Minister indicated that the occupying power continues to undermine the foundations of the Palestinian state by seizing more of the lands and controlling the West Bank.

He explained that last year, the occupation authorities seized or extended seizure orders of about 25,000 dunums of land, uprooted, burnt or contaminated about 18,000 trees, and destroyed and threatened to demolish 179 wells with a capacity of about 34,000 cubic meters of water used to irrigate 2,800 dunums of farmlands and destroyed, razed or burnt about 3000 dunums, as 74 Israeli settlements continued to pump their wastewater into Palestinian farms flooding more than 2000 dunums of land planted with 6,360 fruitful trees.(T/R3/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)