The remains of Sgt. David Manos, an Israeli soldier missing for 18 months, were buried at the military cemetery in Petach Tikva Friday, a day after captured El Fatah terrorists who admitted to his murder led police to a cave in the West Bank where they had hidden the body.
The terrorists, arrested in Dir Balut near Nablus last week, re-enacted the kidnapping and murder. Manos was last seen alive on November 6, 1984, hitchhiking home from Haifa where he had been attending military courses. His killers picked him up near Ben Gurion Airport.
Manos’ disappearance coincided with the disappearances of other Israel Defense Force personnel and massive searches were conducted in the areas where they were last seen. A woman soldier whose body was found in a wooded area of Mt. Carmel was evidently raped and murdered.
But police were not certain at the time that Manos was a victim of foul play. It was suggested in the media that he was a drug user or trafficker, that he had been seen in the company of male and female prostitutes after he was reported missing and that he was involved with criminal elements.
Those rumors added to the anguish of his family. But Manos, it turned out, had been an exemplary soldier and was buried with full military honors.
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