World Bulletin / News Desk

Israeli authorities are allowing Palestinian families to take DNA tests so they might recover the bodies of deceased relatives buried in an Israeli graveyard.

"Some 36 Palestinian families went today [Tuesday] to the Taibeh checkpoint near the city of Tulkarem in the West Bank and took the DNA test," Salem Khaled, coordinator of the National Campaign for the Retrieval of Palestinian Martyrs, told Anadolu Agency.

"Based on our experience, results will appear within two to eight weeks," he added.

Scores of Palestinians killed by Israeli troops during the Second Intifada between 2000 and 2003 were buried by Israel in a cemetery in the Jordan Valley known as "the Numbers Graveyard."

Last month, Israel's Supreme Court allowed Palestinian families to take DNA tests with the aim of identifying the bodies of departed relatives buried in the cemetery.

"My brother Amer was killed on May 24, 2002," Fathi Mohamed Shkokane, who recently took the DNA test, told AA.

"We had tried to recover his body, but the Israelis had constantly refused our request," he fumed.

"We took the DNA test and we hope we can find my brother's body in order to give him an Islamic funeral," Shkokane added.

Emad Awadallah and his brother Aed are both believed to have been buried in the graveyard after having been killed by Israeli soldiers in 2001.

"The Israelis deliberately hid my husband's body in order to make us suffer," Emad's wife, Shefa, told AA.

"But we will recover his body and bury him in an appropriate way, as a Palestinian martyr," she said.

Maan News provided the names of the 36 Palestinians expected to be delivered to their families following DNA tests.

The list details their name, place of origin, and year of death.

1. Mahir Muhyee Addin Hbeisha - Nablus - 2/12/2001
2. Muhammad Abdul-Rahim Hanbali - Nablus - 5/9/2003
3. Muhammad Abdul-Hamid Hammouda - Nablus - 17/2/2002
4. Ahmad Yasser Ahmad Salih - Nablus - 9/6/2002
5. Ahmad Hafith Saadat Abdul-Jawwad - Nablus - 28/3/2002
6. Amir Muhammad Issa Shakukani - Ramallah - 24/5/2002
7. Shadi Ibrahim Shakir Hamamrah - Bethlehem - 26/3/2002
8. Dawood Ali Ahmad Saad Abu Suway - Bethlehem - 5/12/2001
9. Jamil Khalaf Mustafa Hmeid - Bethlehem - 31/3/2002
10. Anas Banan Abdul-Karim Abu Ilba - Qalqiliya - 17/7/2002
11. Mahdi Muhammad Suleiman Qeisi - Qalqiliya - 6/3/2002
12. Abdul-Karim Issa Khalil Tahayna - Jenin - 5/8/2002
13 Raghib Ahmad Jaradat - Jenin - 10/4/2002
14. Kamil Abdullah Alawna - Jenin - 26/6/2003
15. Alaa Addin Abdul-Sattar Sabbah - Jenin
16. Nimir Muhammad Yousif Abu Seifeen - Jenin - 9/2/2001
17. Sarhan Burhan Hussein Sarhan - Tulkarem - 4/10/2003
18. Muayyad Mahmoud Ubada Salah Addin -Tulkarem - 9/11/2001
19. Sayf Addin Bashir Badran -Tulkarem - 1/1/2003
20. Diyaa Marwan Arif Dumyati - Nablus - 1/10/2002
21. Khalid Subhi Ali Sunjuq - Tulkarem - 2/12/2001
22. Fathi Jihad Fathi Amira - Nablus - 30/3/2002
23. Jalal Khalil Muhammad Mahamid - Jenin - 8/2/2002
24. Tawfiq Hashim Arif Mahamid - Jenin - 8/2/2002
25. Izz Addin Suheil Ahmad al-Masri - Jenin - 8/2/2002
26. Alaa Suleiman Zuhdi Marshoud - 17/6/2002
27. Imad Kamil Said Zubeidi - Nablus - 22/4/2001
28. Dirgham Izzat Zakarna - Jenin
29. Mahmoud Umran al-Qawasmi - Hebron - 5/3/2003
30. Mahmoud Mustafa Hasan Darabee - Hebron - 27/12/2002
31. Ahmad Ayid Ahmad al-Faqeeh - Hebron - 27/12/2002
32. Sami Fathi Bisharat - Jenin - 13/3/2003
33. Ayat Muhammad Lutfi al-Akhras - Bethlehem - 29/3/2002
34. Adel Ahmad Ismail Awadallah - Ramallah - 10/9/1998
35. Imad Ahmad Ismail Awadallah - Ramallah - 10/9/1998
36. Majdi Abdul-Jawwad Khanfar - Jenin - 30/3/2002