Israeli police to set places to bury slain Palestinian attackers from East Jerusalem

 Palestinian attackers from East Jerusalem will not be buried in their villages but where the Israeli police would determine, in order to battle "incitement to violence," the Israeli police said on Wednesday.

According to the new decision by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, set to be implemented by the Israeli police, the burial of bodies of East Jerusalem attackers who were killed following attacks against Israelis will be take place in Muslim cemeteries determined by the Israeli police, police spokeswoman Luba Samri told Xinhua.

The decision comes after a funeral of a Palestinian attacker, Alaa Abu Jamal, in the East Jerusalem Palestinian village of Jabel Mukaber in late May, in which around 200 Palestinians shouted slogans praising Abu Jamal and "inciting" against Israel.

According to the Israeli police's protocol, bodies of East Jerusalem attackers are returned at night, and funerals are limited to a time period of an hour and the attendance of thirty family members.

Attorney Mohammad Mahmoud, representing two families of attackers from East Jerusalem, appealed Wednesday's decision to the Supreme Court, the Hebrew-based Ynet news website reported.

In late May, following Abu-Jamal's funeral, Erdan ordered police to stop returning the bodies of Palestinian assailants from East Jerusalem, two weeks after Israel backtracked on the controversial measure.

The Israeli police still holds on up to 17 bodies of Palestinian attackers, 11 of them from East Jerusalem. While bodies of attackers from the West Bank are usually returned to their families within a short time by the military, but the police had stalled their return.

A wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians started in October, claiming the lives of 28 Israelis, killed in stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks by Palestinians, and 205 Palestinians, some of whom were killed after allegedly trying to or carrying out attacks.

Israel claims the wave of violence is the result of the Palestinian Authority's incitement to violence, whereas the Palestinians charge it is the result of 49 years of Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip territories, where they wish to establish a state.

Israel annexed East Jerusalem, home to 300,000 Palestinians, in 1981, in a move not recognized by the international community. Therefore the Israeli police is the force in charge of East Jerusalem.

Israeli authorities have deployed and are seeking to deploy further measures to deter future attacks, among them the demolition of houses of Palestinian attackers, and pondering relocating families of attackers to different parts of the West Bank or to the Gaza Strip, to the objection of Israeli human rights groups and the Palestinians

source : xinhua