Abdul Rahman Mari’s three sons, aged 6, 9 and 11, sat quietly on the family sofa with their grandmother, Aziza, 62, in the small town of Qarawat Bani Hassan in the northern West Bank. In silence, they listened as she told the story of their father, who died in November 2023 at age 34 in an Israeli prison after seven months of pre-trial detention. He had been accused of firing on settlers with a hunting rifle, a charge he denied. Two detainees described the artisan’s final moments – to both the family and the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, saying he was likely beaten to death by his jailers in the neighboring cell.
Rahman Mari’s family was not allowed a funeral. He was never buried. For the past 26 months, Israeli authorities have withheld his body, citing “security” reasons. “The children ask where their father is, they ask where his body is,” his grandmother choked out. “We do not have the courage to ask for him again because we are afraid of the occupying army,” she continued.
Rahman Mari’s case is not unique. It reflects one of the most sordid aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where the bodies of the deceased – abducted or held by Hamas on one side, or by Israel on the other – are used to punish and torment the opposing side, and then as bargaining chips in negotiations. Hamas, for example, abducted more than 30 bodies of Israelis killed on October 7, 2023, among the 1,200 victims of the terrorist attack, and took them to Gaza.
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