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Illustrative. File. Published by Maan News
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BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The Israeli Supreme Court has ordered that Israeli police to return the body of Yaqoub Abu al-Qian, a Palestinian citizen of Israel and local math teacher, to his family for burial in the unrecognized Negev-area Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran, according to Israeli police.

Israeli police spokeswoman Luba al-Samri confirmed initial reports by Israel’s Channel 2 website that Abu al-Qian’s body would be released for burial Tuesday, adding that police would be complying with the order that the funeral take place during the day and not “during the night hours.”

According to Channel 2, the court also decided that “no restriction shall be imposed on the number of mourners,” in the funeral, while simultaneously ordering that the funeral should last no longer than two hours.

Channel 2 quoted the court decision as saying the funeral will advance from Umm al-Hiran to the nearby village of Hura during the day “in coordination with police.”

“If police agrees, the family can appoint people to keep order, and if there is a need to block Route 31 between Hura and Shawka junction for a short time, that should be done in coordination with police."

Abu al-Qian was shot and killed last week under widely contested circumstances during the violent demolition raid in Umm al-Hiran that left more than a dozen Palestinian structures razed to the ground.

While numerous eyewitnesses have insisted Abu al-Qian was posing no threat to anyone when Israeli police opened fire at his vehicle, causing him to lose control of the car and ram into officers, Israeli authorities have claimed the local math teacher was carrying out a deliberate terrorist attack in the incident that left one policeman killed.

Due to the allegations, Israel previously announced that it would impose a number of preconditions on the Abu al-Qian family to release his body, as part of the Israeli state’s policy of withholding bodies of alleged attackers on the grounds that their funerals become sites of “incitement” against Israel.

The Israeli Supreme Court convened convened on Monday afternoon to look into an appeal filed by Palestinian legal aid organization Adalah and the al-Mezan Center for Human Rights on behalf of Abu al-Qian’s wife, to demand the immediate release of Abu al-Qian’s body without preconditions.

According to Hebrew-language media, the state argued during the hearing that the body would not be returned because Abu al-Qian "deliberately ran over an Israeli police officer,” expressing concerns that clashes could break out during the funeral.

"The family refused the stipulations proposed by police for the funeral, and in light of this refusal, there are concerns that extremist groups could take advantage of the funeral to inflame clashes and violence," the state said in its response to the appeal.

Palestinian MK Talab Abu Arar of the Joint List told Ma'an in Jerusalem that the claims were “unacceptable,” and said that mourners would “maintain order during the funeral in respect for the martyr."

Palestinian MK Ahmad Tibi, who was also present at the Supreme Court hearing, said on Twitter in response to the Israeli policy of imposing preconditions on funerals that "we at least want to be equal in death," rejecting police intervention in the burial and mourning process for slain Palestinians.

A protest convoy set off Monday morning in protest of the Umm al-Hiran demolitions, as well as the demolition of at least 10 Palestinian homes in the city of Qalansawe on Jan. 10, with protesters raising Palestinian flags and black flags as a sign of mourning for Abu al-Qian.

The Abu al-Qian family has meanwhile demanded an investigation into the killing itself, and on Monday, rights groups also announced that they had appealed to the Israeli Justice Ministry’s Police Investigations Department (PID) to open a criminal probe into how and why police allegedly shot MK Ayman Odeh during the Umm al-Hiran clashes.

Odeh, who is the head of the Joint List and also leads the socialist Hadash party, said he was shot in the head by police with a sponge-tipped bullet while he and other Palestinian MKs had gathered to support locals resisting the demolitions.

Meanwhile, Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post reported on Monday that a senior police spokesman declined to say whether an officer wounded during the incident was run over Abu al-Qian’s vehicle or shot by other policemen, raising new questions about the police account.