Swedish newspaper: Israeli soldiers harvested Palestinians' organs

Swedish newspaper: Israeli soldiers harvested Palestinians' organs

Bethlehem – Ma’an – A mass-selling Swedish newspaper has reported that Israeli soldiers harvested the organs of Palestinians after seizing them from the West Bank and Gaza.

The report in the newspaper Aftonbladet cites Palestinian sources alleging that Israeli soldiers detained young men, then returned their bodies with organs missing. Ma'an could not independently verify these claims.

The report has sparked controversy in Sweden and Israel. A rival Swedish publication has accused Aftonbladet of anti-Semitism over the report. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon denounced the article as “blood libel.”

Interviewed by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Wednesday, journalist Donald Boström said he wrote the article in a push for an international investigation of these claims. His editors said they also backed the call for an inquiry.

In one incident journalist Donald Boström discusses the case of Bilal Achmed Ghanan, 19, who was known for throwing stones at Israeli soldiers during the first Intifada (uprising) against the occupation. The article says Ghanan hid in the mountains around the West Bank city of Nablus, fearing arrest.

When he came down from his hideout, Boström said, soldiers shot Ghanan in the chest, both legs, and stomach, then airlifted him on a military helicopter.

Boström said he witnessed, five days later, Israeli soldiers returning the body wrapped in green hospital sheets. Bilal’s chest had been cut open and the organs removed. The report is accompanied by a photograph that appear to show a young man whose torso has been sliced open, then sown back together.

The article also makes a link to the recent exposure of a crime ring in the US state of New Jersey, where several American Rabbis have been charged with conspiring to broker the sale of a human kidney needed for a transplant.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=220079