JERUSALEM, September 13, 2017 (WAFA) – The Israeli prosecutor informed the High Court that four Palestinians recently killed by Israeli forces have been buried in the numbered cemeteries in the north of the country apparently at the requested of the political leadership, according to attorney Mohammad Mahmoud from the Prisoners Affairs Commission.

The four were identified as Mohammad Faqih, Abdul Hamid Abu Srour, Mohammad Tarayreh and Rami Awartani.

He said this step was in violation of a High Court order that had ruled against disposing of the bodies until it decides on the matter.

The High Court, which  convened in West Jerusalem on Wednesday to look into a petition calling on the police and army to release the corpses of nine Palestinians they have been holding for weeks and months, postponed its decision until a later date, according to Mahmoud.

However, he said, regardless of the action to bury the four in the numbered cemeteries, the final High Court ruling will include them as well.

Israel’s leadership had ordered the army to bury the four West Bank Palestinians in the numbered cemeteries to improve its bargaining conditions with Hamas when they talk about exchange of prisoners or corpses, believes attorney Mahmoud.

Hamas holds a number of living and dead Israelis whom it is hoping to release in a large exchange deal that would set free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

In addition to the nine bodies that have been held in Israeli morgues (four of them already moved to the numbered cemeteries), Israel is holding remains of 249 Palestinians killed by its forces many years ago in the numbered cemeteries. The graves are identified by numbers rather than names, which is the reason they have been dubbed as numbered cemeteries.

Palestinian non-governmental organizations are seeking through legal means to have all the remains of the Palestinian fighters to be released so that they can have proper burial by their families in their hometowns.

M.K.