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A Palestinian man who died in disputed circumstances in Israeli custody has been given a hero’s funeral, with thousands thronging his grave and Palestinian police firing a 21-gun salute.
Palestinian officials say autopsy results show that Arafat Jaradat was tortured during Israeli interrogation, while Israeli officials said more tests were needed to determine the cause of death.
The weekend death of the 30-year-old petrol station attendant and father of two comes amid rising West Bank tensions that have prompted talk in Israel about the possibility of a new Palestinian uprising. There have also been daily protests in support of 4,600 Palestinians held by Israel.
The fate of the prisoners is sensitive in Palestinian society, where virtually every family has had a member imprisoned by Israel. Detainees are held on a range of charges, from stone-throwing to deadly attacks, and are seen as heroes resisting occupation. Israelis tend to view them as terrorists.
Palestinian and Israeli officials traded accusations on Monday, each saying the other was trying to exploit the latest unrest for political gains.
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said Israel was trying to provoke the Palestinians with what he said were increasingly lethal methods by Israeli security forces clamping down on Palestinian protests.
"However they try to drag us to that place, we won’t be dragged," said Abbas. "We won’t be dragged, but they [Israelis] have to bear the responsibility."
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev alleged that Abbas’s self-rule government in the West Bank is inciting violence against Israel. Palestinian officials have called for more solidarity rallies for the prisoners.
The harsher tones on both sides came less than a month before the expected visit of the US president, Barack Obama, to Israel and the West Bank.
A West Bank flare-up in the coming weeks would underscore the Palestinian argument that the US needs to step up as mediator. The Palestinians believe that without US pressure on Israel, there will be no progress in peace efforts.
Abbas, an outspoken opponent of the shootings and bombings of the second Palestinian uprising a decade ago, has said he would not allow an armed uprising on his watch.
But tensions have been rising in recent days, with a number of protests in solidarity with prisoners held by Israel, and then the death of Jaradat over the weekend.
At Monday’s funeral, thousands marched behind Jaradat’s body, draped in a Palestinian flag, as the procession snaked through his home town of Saeer, just north of the West Bank city of Hebron.
Palestinian police maintained order and seven officers fired a 21-gun salute near the grave.
Abbas Zaki, a senior member of Abbas’s Fatah movement, described Jaradat’s death as an Israeli crime. "I am telling Fatah members that our enemy only understands the language of force," he told the crowd in what appeared to be a call to violence. He did not elaborate.
Jaradat was arrested on 18 February on suspicion that he had thrown stones at Israelis. He died on Saturday at Israel’s Megiddo prison after several days of interrogation by the Shin Bet security service.
Israel’s forensics institute performed an autopsy on Sunday in the presence of a physician from the Palestinian Authority.
The Palestinian minister of prisoner affairs, Issa Karake, said after being briefed by the Palestinian doctor that Jaradat had been tortured. He said Jaradat was bruised over his body and had two broken ribs.
Jaradat’s brother, Mohammed, said he saw the body on Sunday and believed his brother had been severely beaten.
Israel’s health ministry said the autopsy did not conclusively determine the cause of death, but that the bruising and broken ribs were probably the result of attempts to revive the detainee. It said more testing was needed.
Amos Gilad, an Israeli defence official, alleged that Palestinian officials were jumping to conclusions. "It’s intended to incite," Gilad told Israel Army Radio on Monday. "There is a clear political purpose to stir things up."
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