Majdy Halabi

(1985 - 2012)

Majdi Halabi was an Israeli Druze Israel Defense Forces soldier who was born in Daliyat el-Karmel in 1985. He disappeared while on duty near Haifa on May 24, 2005 (age 19) and for the next several days, over a hundred volunteers searched in vain for Halabi in the Mount Carmel area. He was declaired Missing in Action on June 6, 2005 and was found dead in October 2012 near Isfiya.

In 2007, the Jerusalem Post interviewed Halabi's uncle Samih Halabi, who believes his nephew was abducted by an Islamic terrorist organization and is being held in Syria, Lebanon, or perhaps in Nablus or Jenin.

On July 2, 2008, an inmate in Damon Prison said Halabi was being held in Nablus but police officials said the inmate had no substantial information about Halabi's disappearance.

On October 11, 2012, Halabi's remains - confirmed by a DNA test at the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine - were found in a forest near Isfiya. Police continue to investigate the circumstances of his death. He will be buried on October 12, 2012 in Isfiya's Military Cemetery.

Sources: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Wikipedia; Ahiya Raved, "Body of IDF soldier Majdy Halabi found," YNet News, October 11, 2012.