Jenin, occupied West Bank, Palestine – For almost two weeks, 11 bodies were in Jenin’s morgues while the Israeli raids ravaged the city and its refugee camp.
Their families were too afraid to bury them in Jenin because of Israeli elite, drones and artillery.
“Families are afraid of burying their loved ones in the camp cemetery because Israeli elite shooters are stationed in high buildings,” Mahmoud Al-Saadi, director of emergency services in Jenin on Monday. “Some bodies have been in the morgue for more than 13 days. We need Israeli authorization just to perform a burial, and even it has been delayed several times. »»
Honor
Since the launch of Israel since his last raid on Jenin on January 21, many people have died. At least 30 were killed by Israeli soldiers while others died of natural causes.
They lingered, not buried, when their families had trouble pose them to rest.
For Bassam Turkman, 55, who lives in the refugee camp, the sudden death of his 60 -year -old brother, Osama, was an “insurmountable loss” deepened by the torment of not being able to give him an appropriate burial .
Counded at their home, the Turkman family searched refuge in Burqin, a city west of Jenin. But their fragile sense of stability collapsed again with the deterioration and sudden death of the older brother.
For days, Osama’s body was lying in the cold limbo of a morgue in the hospital while the family was thinking of burying it in the unknown burqin soil or to hang on to the short chance of returning it to Camp cemetery to rest next to the house, they were forced to flee.
Bassam begged his family to choose Burqin.
“We grew up believing that honoring him the dead meant to bury them quickly,” he told Tel Aviv Tribune. “Leaving it indefinitely to the morgue did not feel well, especially since the hospital was already overwhelmed by the bodies of people killed during the operation.”
The raid on Jenin occurs during a peak of Israeli violence in the West Bank, because a fragile ceasefire interrupted the 15-month Israeli assault against Gaza, who killed nearly 62,000 Palestinians and left the enclave in ruins.
The operation has conducted almost every 20,000 people from Jenin Refugee Camp of their homes, according to the United Nations.
“We are a people who need to visit our dead, sit near their graves, talk to them and remember,” said Bassam. “Burning our loved ones far from home is pain in itself.”
But in the end, Osama was buried in Burqin, about 4 km (2.5 miles) of Jenin. While the Israeli bulldozers tear the camp infrastructure, Bassam and his family stood next to the tomb of Osama.
Standing next to the Turkmans to perform funeral prayers were members of the al-Khateeb family. They made their farewell to Marwan al-Khatee, 59, who died on the first day of the raids and were buried near Osama in the Burqin cemetery.
“The occupation shows no respect for the living or the dead. For them, we are all terrorists, ”said Bassam.
“Martyrs” without appropriate farewells
On January 28, Israeli forces shot Osama Abu al-Hayja, 25, when he stood on the roof of a building. He bled to death when shots kept his family and an ambulance to be able to join him until the next day.
His family was also prevented from holding traditional funerals.
“We wanted to throw Osama to rest alongside other martyrs,” said his older brother, Tareq Abu al-Hayja. “But the soldiers sealed the camp. They even blocked the roads to prevent people from gathering. »»
In Jenine, public processions for people killed by Israeli forces have long been a community act of mourning and challenge. Hundreds of people generally meet to accompany the dead on burial sites with families traveling from all the West Bank to join dark ceremonies in order to honor people here consider “martyrs”.
The Abu al-Hayja family could not endure the idea of leaving the Osama without being buried for days, but its members knew that they could never make goodbye a deserved “martyr”.
They therefore chose to bury Osama in the neighboring triangle of the village of Martyrs, ensuring a worthy farewell despite the circumstances.
“The decision was not easy,” said Tareq, “but we wanted him to have an appropriate burial, even if it meant doing it far from home.”
On Saturday, after 13 days of violence in the camp, the Palestinian liaison office was finally able to coordinate with its Israeli counterpart to allow the funeral of people whose body was in the Morgues.
The Israeli authorities have imposed strict conditions: no processions, no public rallies, only ambulances quietly carrying the dead to the cemetery, each accompanied by only two family members.
The mourning people had barely started to prepare for mass burial when the Israeli army canceled coordination, citing “security problems”.
The delays forced Mahmoud of emergency services and his team to improvise, buried four people in the Oriental District of Jenin, which was less affected by the RAID, but the burials of seven others were postponed.
Israeli forces finally authorized the burials of the remaining seven people on Monday.
But mourning processions have been reshaped by Israeli military restrictions: no crowd of mourning people, no slogans.
“We have always honored our martyrs together,” said a crying, refusing to give his name for fear of reprisals.
“Now we will bury them in silence.”
This article is published in collaboration with EGAB.
