PLO urges wide pressure on Israel to release withheld bodies

Secretary General of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Saeb Erekat called Sunday for international intervention on the release of bodies of Palestinians withheld by Israel.

He pointed out that refusing to return the bodies for this long is causing more tension, as it bans the Palestinian people from their basic rights, including burying their children with respect and dignity.

Erekat issued identical letters to the UN, the European Union, the U.S. and Russia in which he called on them for "immediate movement to exert needed pressure on Israel to release immediately all withheld bodies without conditions."

The letter, which was circulated by email to reporters, calls on Israel to disclose a complete list of all withheld bodies with information about their place of burial and to return them all, including the bodies of Arabs, in order to let them rest in peace.

Erekat described this Israeli practice as flagrant aggression of Israel "controlling Palestinians bodies dead or alive," he said, assuring that the motives behind this step are political and inhumane and aims at concealing the real reasons of their death.

Erekat said that it shows Israel's interest in "controlling the death of Palestinians and the circumstances of sorrow, grief and burial, where the bodies of Palestinians have become an open space for hegemony, pushing the borders of the conflict towards the borders of death."

He pointed out that article 130 of the Geneva Conventions clearly stated that the occupying power must respect the circumstances of burying the deceased with dignity.

He also said that "the Geneva Conventions and the international laws oblige Israel to establish an official body to collect data about the deceased including information about the bodies, the burial and the reasons of death."

Israel is currently withholding bodies of 307 Palestinians since 1967, including 20 who were killed last year, according to Erekate's letter. Endit