Israeli Press
Israel holds 1,700 Palestinian bodies as bargaining chips, Haaretz reports
Graphic: Times of Palestine
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Israel is holding the bodies of roughly 1,700 Palestinians and intends to keep them for future negotiations, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Monday, citing two sources familiar with the policy.
Among the bodies are Palestinians who were never involved in an attack on Israelis, according to the report. The great majority, it says, are of people Israel identifies as attackers.
The policy is held in place by the Shin Bet chief, David Zini, and by the army. Its own house lawyer disagrees.
The Shin Bet's legal adviser has argued internally that Israel has no legal ground on which to keep the body of a Palestinian who took no part in an attack, the paper reported. Neither the army nor the Shin Bet answered its questions in substance.
What makes the reported figure land differently now is the state of the file it serves. Hamas holds no Israeli captive. The bodies are being kept, on this account, against a negotiation that has no counterpart on the other side of the ledger.
Israel's own count has been rising in public view. In February, Haaretz reported that the state held the bodies of 776 identified Palestinians and at least ten identified foreign nationals.
For families in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, the practical meaning is a burial that does not happen, and a number in a cemetery of numbers rather than a name on a grave.
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