Cemetery desecrated, army doing nothing
Palestine-Israel, Local, 12/9/1997

The body of Hadi Nasrallah, son of Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, was not brought to the cemetery where Palestinian and Arab commandos are buried after their death in clashes with Israeli troops but to a different place, yet unidentified.

Hadi was killed in a clash with Israeli soldiers in the occupied zone of south Lebanon and his body was not buried in this famous cemetery out of fear that it might be taken by some elements and used for ex-governmental bargaining with Hizbullah over a possible swap of prisoners and bodies. The cemetery was lately found to be vulnerable to intruders of various motivations. It has been broken into on a number of occasions and most recently it looked entirely abandoned.

True the main gate to the cemetery is locked with a chain, but many large holes in the fences around make it possible for any person to walk in undisturbed.The burlap material which is used to cover the graves from the eyes of curious onlookers is torn and most of the barbed wire surrounding the place collapsed a long time ago. The authorities have failed to repair the fences and whoever enters the cemetery with the intention of desecrating the graves can do so without any problem.

None of those buried in this cemetery can be identified. They all are served with special numbers that are kept secret to all but the Israeli army. Therefore it is not easy to identify those buried in the cemetery. It seems that this is one of the reasons the army, which is responsible for the cemetery, is doing not enough to prevent intruders from breaking in.

A senior army officer was lately quoted as admitting that Israeli is talking about the exchange of bodies with Hizbullah but "is not guarding the bartering chips. Does someone need to steal the bodies in order for a regular cemetery to be built here?² The only comment the Israeli army spokesman had on the issue was that the cemetery is surrounded with signs stating it is a closed military zone which civilians are not allowed to enter.

Previous Stories:
  More details on the four Israelis killed 13 wounded   (10/9/1997)
  Beirut mass rally commemorates Hadi Nasrallah and companions   (9/22/1997)
  Nasrallah mourns his son who was killed by Israel   (9/15/1997)

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