Defense Minister and Prime Minister-designate Benny Gantz wants Israel to adopt a stricter policy on returning the bodies of terrorists to the Palestinian Authorities, Israel Hayom has learned.
Gantz intends to present his revised policy to the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet sometime in the next few weeks.
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In meetings at the Defense Ministry, Gantz said that the issue of Israel's MIAs and captive civilians must be made a top priority, and announced that he intended to change the existing policy.
On July 16, the Defense Ministry submitted a response to a petition filed with the High Court of Justice by relatives of the terrorist Ahmad Erekat, who wanted his body returned. Erekat – a close relative of senior Palestinian Authority official Saeb Erekat -- tried to run over Border Police troops on duty at a checkpoint near Abu Dis last January and was subsequently shot and killed.
According to a 2017 policy decision, because Erekat was not a member of Hamas, the government had no grounds to refuse to return his body. The Diplomatic-Security Cabinet decided that bodies of Hamas terrorists would not be returned to families, but rather be buried on a dedicated site in Israel. The policy also stipulated that bodies of terrorists who commit attacks defined as "exceptional" would not be returned.
At the time, the Prime Minister's Office noted that the policy was put in place to facilitate the return of two Israeli civilians being held captive in the Gaza Strip, as well as the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers Lt. Hadar Goldin and Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul.
The ministry's response to the High Court petition also said that "The issue was discussed in a meeting between the defense minister and the attorney general."
Last week, the High Court issued a temporary injunction that postponed a ruling on the matter of Israel returning Erekat's body to the Palestinian Authority.
Gantz wants to present new, more stringent criteria for the return of terrorists' bodies. These criteria would not apply to the case of Ahmad Erekat.
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