Finally returned, the 17 bodies arrive one at a time in 17 separate ambulances. Hundreds of Palestinians stand in solidarity with the families as each body is lifted and carried above the crowd. (Photo: Christian Peacemaker Teams)
On New Year’s Day here in Hebron, after months of painstaking waiting and deliberations, the parents of 17 slain Palestinians finally received the bodies of their children. Killed by US-backed Israeli armed forces in and near Hebron over the course of the last three tumultuous months of 2015, and held by the Israeli government without explanation, the bodies of the Palestinians were finally brought to Hebron’s al-Ahli Hospital in the early evening of January 1. Amid hundreds of fellow Palestinians who waited in solemn solidarity, the families of the deceased took the bodies of their loved ones home in order to prepare them to be honored and buried the next day. (According to Islamic law, burials should happen as soon as possible following the time of death.)
For months now, in conversations initiated by international human rights workers, journalists and the occasional audacious tourist in Hebron, one question has flowed and continues to flow like a steady stream: Why did Israel refuse to restore the bodies of 17 slain Hebronites to their families for a period, not of days, not of weeks, but of months? It’s a question that doesn’t arise in conversations between Palestinians, however. When it comes to the Israeli occupation, after all, Palestinians know that the unanswerable is standard protocol.