Seventy-five-year-old Amina Yousef Ali has been waiting to receive the remains of her son Mashhour for 34 years. In lieu of a grave site, she keeps his clothes pristine in the closet, just like he left them before he was killed.

Mashhour left Palestine in 1975 to to study in Jordan, where he joined the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and got involved with their armed wing. On a resistance mission Mashhour snuck into Palestine from Jordan along with two other fighters, Hafez Abu Zant from Nablus and Khaled Abu Zayyad from Yafa. They entered Palestine on 17 May 1976 en route to Nablus.

On the way they were involved in clashes with Israeli forces at the Al-Jiftlik military post east of the city and all three were killed.

“Whenever I miss him I smell his clothes, its the only thing I have left," his mother explained.

Though she heard news of his death from a relative living in Kuwait at the time, two weeks after he was killed. She still waits for news as to where his remains were buried.

Friends and relatives said he was likely buried in Israel's 'cemetary of numbers', a series of mass graves, marked and unmarked plots of mostly Palestinians killed by Israeli forces over the past 60 years.

Seeking release

The family, from the Aroura village north of Ramallah, has been seeking the return of their sons remains for decades. A few years ago the family hired a Jerusalem lawyer to petition for the release of his body from the Israeli government.

The lawyer had previously asked the Israeli High Court to allow the family of Mashhour to visit the grave they believed was his, and to have DNA tests done to secure proof of identity. If the body was indeed that of Mashhour, he requested the body be released so his family could bury him according to Islamic tradition.

When the request stalled in the court, the lawyer asked for permission for the family to visit the grave periodically and perform prayers, as well as issuing a death certificate for the young man.

Good News

Last month a lawyer with the Al-Quds Center for legal aid, Ali Haitham Hatab, had a petition for the release of Mashhour's body approved by Israel's military chief.

"When I heard, it was like I was transported back 34 years to the day I learned of his death," Amira said. "But even so, I am relieved."

She said receiving her son's body would help heal the deep wound his death inflicted.

A spokesperson from the Al-Quds center cautioned the family, calling the approval for the release of Mashhour's body a "step" but not the last one.

Source: Maan News Agency