Adalah responds to Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett's order to withhold all Palestinian bodies

Today, 27 November 2019, the new Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett ordered all bodies of Palestinians, who attacked or who are alleged to have attacked Israelis, to be withheld and not returned to their families. According to a representative of the families, Mr. Muhammad Alyan, since April 2016, 51 bodies of Palestinians are being held by Israel.

Adalah's General Director, Attorney Hassan Jabareen, stated that, "The instructions issued by the Defense Minister Bennett are an attempt to trade in the bodies of deceased persons, who are entitled to respect and burial. No country in the world allows itself to hold and to use bodies as a card for negotiation and political bargaining. These practices violate international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law, including the UN Convention against Torture, which absolutely prohibits such cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment."

Adalah represented family members of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and who are being held by the state before the Israeli Supreme Court. Adalah stressed that, "We will challenge this decision and work to rescind these instructions before Israeli courts and internationally, including through the UN human rights treaty bodies and other forums."

On 9 September 2019, the Israeli Supreme Court, in a 4-to-3 decision reversed an earlier judgment and ruled that the State of Israel may continue to hold the bodies of Palestinians as bargaining chips. The ruling confirmed that Israeli emergency regulations permit the Israeli military to order the interim burial of bodies designated as deceased enemies, based on considerations that take into account state security, civil order, and the need to negotiate for the return of the bodies of Israeli soldiers. The Supreme Court had ruled previously on 14 December 2017 that the state has no authority to hold the bodies of Palestinians as bargaining chips, and that it must transfer bodies to the families of the deceased for burial. The reversed this decision following the state's 2018 request for a second hearing.

In Adalah's view, the 2019 Supreme Court ruling was one of the most extreme judgements since 1948 and marked "the first time in history that a court – anywhere in the world – authorizes state authorities to hold the bodies of individuals under its control, to which international laws governing occupation apply, and to use them as bargaining chips. It undermines the most basic principles of universal humanity, and violates both Israeli law and international law.