In a
highly unusual ruling, one of Israel’s chief rabbis has allowed a Palestinian Arab man to be buried in a special plot, reserved for those without religious faith, in the Jewish
Har HaMenuchot cemetery in Jerusalem.
At issue is the decision of Aryeh Stern, the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, to enable the West Bank-based family of Ala’a Qarash (also spelled Alah Kirsh) to bury him at the Jewish cemetery as an “
exception” because the “Muslims themselves are unwilling to bury him” and he was a “righteous gentile” who “
showed good will” to Jews.