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July 29, 2003
Missing soldier found murdered
By DAVID RUDGE
The body of Cpl. Oleg Shaichat, 20, of Upper Nazareth, was discovered on Monday morning - a week after he went missing - buried in an olive grove near Arab villages not far from his home.
Volunteer Beduin trackers discovered Shaichat's body under a fresh mound of earth in the grove between Kafr Kana and Mash'had village, with a few spots of blood nearby. Police said the murder appears nationalistically motivated.
Internal Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi said the proximity of Arab villages to the scene of the murder made the possibility that Shaikhet was kidnapped and killed by Israeli Arab terrorists among the lines of inquiry being conducted by police.
'It is a possibility that exists among other scenarios and has been considered since the disappearance of the soldier, because it occurred near Kafr Kana and other Arab villages in the area,' Hanegbi told reporters.
'The distance between the spot [at the Beit Rimon junction] where the soldier was dropped off by a driver who gave him a lift, and his home, is only a few kilometers,' he said.
Hanegbi stressed, however, that it would be wrong to jump to conclusions, or to make any generalizations about Israeli Arabs or those living in the area.
The atmosphere in Kafr Kana, home of Sheikh Kamal Khatib, the deputy head of the radical northern faction of the fundamentalist Islamic Movement, was reported to be extremely tense. Residents were staying off the streets.
The local council held an emergency meeting and issued a statement condemning the murder which happened so close to the village, and reiterating the desire of local residents to continue to repair harmonious ties with their Jewish neighbors in Upper Nazareth. Those relations were badly damaged as a result of the riots that swept the Arab sector in October 2000, in which 13 Arabs and a Jew were killed.
In Upper Nazareth, some local residents demonstrated, angered by the fact that Shaichat was only a few kilometers from his home when he was snatched and killed.
Northern Region police chief, Cmdr. Ya'acov Borovsky, said items found in the area between the Beit Rimon junction where Shaichat was last seen and his home in Upper Nazareth on Friday and Sunday had strengthened the initial assessment of police that it was the logical place to look.
He also said that the evidence indicated that Shaichat had shown resourcefulness during the kidnapping. Shaichat apparently managed to drop the items, as instructed by the army in cases of kidnapping in order to leave a trail. It is also believed that he fought with his kidnappers and that he was killed on the day of his abduction.
Details of the items cannot be divulged, nor the precise location of where he was buried or how he was killed, because of a publicity ban imposed by the Nazareth Magistrate's Court on Friday. The ban was only partially lifted on Monday after the discovery of the body.
No Palestinian terrorist organization, apparently, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping or tried to make a ransom demand. This fact, coupled with the location of the body, seemed to indicate that the perpetrators could have been from the area.
Nevertheless, Borovsky said police were not ruling out any line of inquiry, including the possibility that the murder was committed by Palestinians staying in Israel illegally.
'A unit composed of volunteers, including trackers from [the Beduin village of] Beit Zarzir, as well as soldiers and others, searched an area that had already been searched and close to where some items had been discovered previously, and which indicated that the soldier was in the area,' Borovsky told reporters.
'As a result of a difference in the composition of the earth [in a certain area] enabled the [volunteer] trackers to point to the location [of the body], and it transpired that was where Oleg had been buried.
'We believe that from the moment of the kidnapping, Oleg naively took a 'lift,' but that a few kilometers from the Beit Rimon junction, he apparently realized that something was wrong and he acted with a great deal of resourcefulness - although I can't go into details.
'In the area of Mash'had, going toward Upper Nazareth, the car turned onto a dirt track and in one of the places, between Kana and Mash'had, the murder took place. We now have no doubt that it was nationalistically motivated,' said Borovsky in an interview with Army Radio.
He noted that there had been general warnings about the possibility of attempts by terrorists to kidnap Israelis - including soldiers, police, and other members of the security forces - and he advised people to be extra careful.
The IDF specifically bans all soldiers from hitchhiking, but this does not stop them from doing so because, as in the case of Shaikhet, it is often the quickest way to and from their bases and homes.
A delegation of IDF officers went to the Shaichat family's home in a small, fourth-floor apartment in a housing development that overlooks the olive grove where Shaichat's body was found.
Cries of grief from Oleg's mother, Olga, could be heard from the apartment as the news was broken to her. A short while later, Oleg's elder brother Adam, 25, came downstairs and issued a short but poignant statement on behalf of the family.
'We have received the worst possible news and the family is grieving and feeling the pain. I want to take this opportunity to thank all the people of Israel - all those who helped us, the [security] forces, and all the volunteers,' said Adam, his voice breaking with emotion.
His cousin, George Siydyan, said he will not rest until the 'beasts' who killed Oleg are captured. Siydyan's mother and Oleg's mother are sisters. The two families immigrated to Israel from Ukraine eight years ago and have stayed close ever since.
Shaichat's commander, Maj. Ronen Lapid, said every officer would have been proud to have a soldier like Oleg, who volunteered for tasks and helped others during his spare time, including assisting children of former South Lebanese Army soldiers and giving aid to new recruits.
'It was clear when he did not appear at the place and time we had determined that something had happened to him,' Lapid told reporters after meeting the family at their home.
Upper Nazareth Mayor Menahem Ariav was with the family when they received the news about the discovery of Oleg's body.
'Residents [of Upper Nazareth] are in a state of shock. We have gone through the three difficult years of the intifada, but we never suffered something like this,' Ariav told reporters.
'We are in a state of mourning. We share the grief of the family and are trying to envelop them with warmth and love and give them everything they need. We are a strong community and together we will get over this terrible tragedy.
'There is one problem: At the same time that the prime minister is in the US and is making [good will] gestures in accordance with the government's decision, which I respect, we are burying a young soldier, a flower of a young man.
'The nation has to wage an unremitting war against the degenerates who are harming innocents... It is known that there are problems in Kafr Kana, and we had problems with residents there during the intifada. I don't accuse all the residents, but it is clear that the police and security forces have to ensure the safety of all residents of the area and enforce law and order.'
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz urged patience, and said it would be wrong to jump to any conclusions because the murder was committed close to Arab villages. He noted that the security forces had prevented several kidnapping attempts recently and these efforts are continuing.
The United Arab List party called the murder 'inhuman,' with party head Taleb a-Sanaa calling on the public not to blame the entire Arab population for the soldier's murder.
Hadash condemned the killing, saying it is a crime that seriously harms both Jews and Arabs.
In Memoriam
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