Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Move over! That’s My Grave!

They are all-too familiar arguments here in the Middle East: which land belongs to whom, accusations of occupation. But this time it’s a bit different.

Yamna Shushan of Kiryat Malakhi in Southern Israel bought a plot of land and has the documents to prove it – but it’s been occupied. And there’s no talking to the occupier – she’s dead.

The land in question is a cemetery plot that 77-year-old Shushan bought 11 years ago for around $1,000. She’s very keen to be buried there as it’s next to the resting place of her late husband Moshe. But last summer she discovered that another woman has been interred in her plot. It appears to have been the mistake of the burial society.

“I am not prepared to give up my burial spot, it is mine,” she told {Haaretz]( http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/a-grave-error-woman-sues-after-finding-stranger-buried-in-her-plot-1.345321) Why is it that people here have to fight for a grave that belongs to them?”

According to Haaretz, Shushan has taken the matter to court, and is imploring judges award her 50,000 shekels ($13,500) compensation and demand that the burial society removes the woman from her plot and reburies her elsewhere. The case, at Ashdod Magistrate’s Court, is likely to be drawn out as many rabbis cite serious religious problems with reinterring bodies.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.