TEL AVIV - Jewish law allows the transfer of Jewish graves in Gaza to prevent them from being desecrated by Palestinians, Rabbi Yakov Rujha told Ynet Wednesday.
The question of transferring the graves is a hot and emotional one. As of now, settler communities have not willingly agreed to let graves be moved.
However, Rujha noted the transfer of graves is permitted only when there is a very high likelihood that gravesites would indeed be desecrated.
Rujha, rabbi of the Tel Aviv Chevra Kadisha burial society and an expert on burial issues, said the question at hand constitutes a rare and highly sensitive issue.
"The removal of Gush Katif graves is permitted according to Jewish law," he said. "The moment there is a danger that Palestinians would violate the deceased's honor and desecrate the place…the graves must be transferred, even if the settlers and relatives of the deceased object."
Jewish law reigns supreme in such matters, the rabbi said, and individual objections must not be taken into account.
Currently, there are 47 graves in the Gush Katif cemetery, including six graves of area residents murdered by terrorists.
Settlers slam disengagement chief
On Tuesday, Gaza families slated for evacuation said they were furious, after getting a letter from Disengagement Administration head Yonatan Bassi urging them to move the graves of their loved ones to Kibbutz Nitzanim.
The letter said, however, that the decision of whether to move the graves is in the families' hands.
In the letter, Bassi praised Nitzanim officials for displaying sensitivity and agreeing that the secular cemetery in the community should be used to accommodate religious residents as well. The kibbutz agreed to divide the cemetery so that a section of it would be used to establish a new cemetery to accommodate religious ceremonies, Bassi wrote.
'This is my home'
Gaza settlers, however, were not impressed with Bassi's letter.
Neve Dekalim resident Shlomo Yulis, whose son Raphael is buried in Gush Katif, said settlers are used to the Disengagement Administration's tendency to manipulate the truth.
Yulis said he is especially upset about Bassi's claim that the matter has been discussed with the Hevra Kadisha burial society.
"They wrote false things to the families. The fact that they spoke with the Hevra Kadisha, there is no truth to it," he said.
The administration is treating would-be evacuees as if they were objects, Yulis said.
"They treat lab animals better than they do people here," he said. "They go to finalize matters before talking to us, the families? They knew there was a cemetery here and they didn't see fit to turn to us until now and address the matter? This is a case of insensitivity."
Yulis said that his son, who died 12 years ago, asked to be buried in Gush Katif.
"I have no home somewhere else," he said. "This is my home, and sadly I have a grave (here), too."
First published: 07:49, 05.04.5