Body of Palestinian terrorist handed over for burial

Police on Tuesday night returned the body of a Palestinian terrorist to his family for burial five months after he was shot dead carrying out a roving shooting attack in Jerusalem.

The family of Abd al-Malik Saleh Abu Kharoub, 19, accepted the conditions mandated by the police that his body be buried at night and that no more than 25 people attend the funeral.

The funeral took place in East Jerusalem without incident.

Kharoub and another terrorist, Muhammad Jamal al-Kalouti, 21, both from Kafr Aqab in East Jerusalem, opened fire March 9 on a bus near the Ramot neighborhood of the capital as they drove past in a car. No one was injured in the initial shooting.

As police launched a hunt, the terrorists drove toward the Old City where they fired on pedestrians at a light rail station.

They were both shot dead by police officers at the scene.

An Israeli man was hit in the crossfire and seriously injured.

Last week police returned al-Kalouti’s body to his family and he was buried under similar restrictions in the Bab al-Zahra cemetery in East Jerusalem.

Israeli officials argue that funerals for deceased attackers — those killed as they stabbed, shot, or rammed Israelis with cars over the past 10 months — often turn into mass rallies in support of Palestinian terrorism, and therefore withhold the bodies until relatives agree to hold subdued burials that don’t include calls for further attacks.

Earlier in August, Israel agreed to release the body of Bahaa Allyan, who was killed while carrying out a deadly attack on a Jerusalem bus in which three Israelis were murdered, if the family agreed to bury him in a private, late-night ceremony with only 15 people in attendance, the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency reported at the time. According to the Allyan’s lawyer, the East Jerusalem family declined to sign the agreement, citing the small number of mourners allowed to attend.

Israel’s practice of withholding the bodies of deceased Palestinian attackers has been implemented inconsistently, particularly as the remains of terrorists who carry out attacks in the West Bank are under the purview of the Defense Ministry, while those killed within Israel proper are under the jurisdiction of the Public Security Ministry.

The issue has become a sore point with Palestinians. Posters of the dead are plastered on walls in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and residents hold frequent demonstrations calling for the release of the bodies.

Since October, 35 Israelis and four foreign nationals have been killed in a wave of Palestinian terrorism and violence. At least 214 Palestinians have been killed, some two-thirds of them while attacking Israelis, and the rest during clashes with troops, according to the Israeli army.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.