Prisoner to receive payment in return for lead to missing soldier’s grave

“My son is alive,” Majdi Halabi’s father said after Israel’s media reported on Monday that the police had a lead to his grave. Halabi, an IDF soldier missing since 2005, is at the center of a deal being brokered between the state and Israeli prisoners.

The deal involves three prisoners, two of whom would receive an early release in exchange for information leading to the grave of Halabi, a Druze soldier who was last seen near Haifa in May 2005.

A third prisoner, Mordechai Moshe, is willing to supply the information in return for a large sum of money. Moshe was sentenced to two life sentences for a double homicide and is in the process of appealing the verdict. He will not be released in the deal.

Moshe claims he saw the burial happen, and can say when and where it occurred.

Nazmi Halabi, Majdi’s father, said he didn’t believe his son was dead. In the past prisoners tried to lie to the family, he told Ynet News. “My son is alive. I have no information to suggest otherwise.”

Halabi’s uncle Jamal Halabi told Ynet News the family was trying to process the information of his death. “We’re not sure how to handle this situation,” he said. Another relative said that the investigation should have borne fruit years ago, but at least now the family knows what happened.

According to reports, Moshe will give the information to Amos Nahum and Elias Dali, who are approaching the end of their terms. Nahum served 22 years out of a 32-year sentence for murder, and Dali is at the end of a 16-year sentence for drug trafficking.

The family of Yaacov Lahav, one of Moshe’s victims, said they would do everything in their power to stop the deal. An official complaint to the authorities was being written, they told Army Radio.

In response to extensive media reports, an IDF spokesman said Monday afternoon that the body’s identity could not be confirmed.

Halabi started his military service in the Air Force’s engineer school, and after his physical profile was lowered he transferred to the Ordnance Corps. He was last heard from on May 24, 2005, and was initially considered AWOL.

Only when his commanding officer came to his house to speak to him and his parents did everyone realize he was missing. After searches went on for 10 days with no results, the IDF declared Halabi as MIA on June 6.

Over the years there were rumors about his whereabouts, including reports that he was being held in Nablus and in Damascus, but the police and military dismissed them.