JERUSALEM, February 16, 2011 (WAFA) – Israeli authorities Wednesday handed over the body of Hussam Rweidi to his family for burial at a Jerusalem cemetery under strict conditions, according to family members.

Rweidi, 24, was stabbed by Israelis in West Jerusalem while he was on his way to work early Friday morning. He later died in hospital of his wounds.

The Israeli authorities has kept Rweidi’s body and refused to hand it over to family unless they agree to bury him in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The family refused saying that they are from Jerusalem and their son should be buried in the city.

The body was later turned over to the family after it agreed to the Israeli terms forbidding them from conducting pre-burial religious prayer services at Al-Aqsa Mosque and to bury him in the middle of the night in the presence of a specific number of relatives.

The family held the prayers at a mosque outside the Jerusalem city wall before taking the body for burial at the Muslim cemetery below the wall.

Israeli forces closed all entrances to the cemetery during the burial. The family had to bury him using lamps because it was still dark.

Several Palestinians were able to join the burial ceremony despite the Israeli closure of the area shouting angry slogans.

T.R./M.A.