Israeli settlers force Palestinian family to exhume and rebury their father
NPR • • general
Key Points:
- Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank forcibly exhumed the grave of 85-year-old Palestinian Hussein Asasa, compelling his family to remove his body from their traditional village cemetery near the Sa-Nur settlement.
- The family had obtained Israeli military permits for the burial, but settlers protested the grave's proximity to the settlement and disrupted the funeral, later digging up the grave despite soldiers being present.
- The Israeli military confiscated digging tools and remained at the scene but did not intervene to stop the settlers from exhuming the body, drawing criticism from the UN Human Rights Office for failing to protect Palestinians.
- Since the October 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank has surged, with limited accountability for perpetrators and increased settlement expansion.
- The Asasa family ultimately reburied Hussein in a nearby town's cemetery after being forced to comply with the settlers' demands, highlighting ongoing tensions and challenges faced by Palestinians under occupation.
