Family of missing soldier Oleg Shaikhet fears the worst

Jerusalem Post ^ | Jul. 25, 2003 | DAVID RUDGE

[yonif]

Fears mount over fate of missing soldier

Hopes of finding missing soldier Oleg Shaikhet, 20, of Upper Nazareth, alive and well are fading, security sources said on Thursday after a third day of searches ended without any concrete information over his whereabouts.

Police did receive one lead from a woman IDF officer who said she had hitched a ride with Shaikhet from the Amiad junction, north of Tiberias, where he had alighted from a bus on Monday evening.

The officer said she got off at the Golani junction, but understood that Shaikhet went on with the lift as far as the Beit Rimon intersection, where there is a turnoff from the main Tiberias to Haifa road that leads through Arab villages, including Kafr Kana, to Nazareth and Upper Nazareth.

The information was publicized via the media on Thursday and, as a result, the driver of the vehicle who gave the two a lift contacted the police, which gave no further details about his testimony. The driver is not a suspect.

Meanwhile, widespread searches for the missing soldier continued unabated and focused between the area where he was last reported seen and his home town, Upper Nazareth, where police have set up a forward command center to collate information and coordinate activities.

Police are investigating all aspects, including the possibilities that Shaikhet has been kidnapped or even killed by hostile elements, said Internal Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi.

National police chief, Inspector-General Shlomo Aharonishky, who visited the center on Thursday, said there were no specific leads, but police were receiving information all the time and it was being processed.

"I have just finished an assessment of the situation that was submitted by (senior officers of) the Northern region and all the activities that have been conducted until now and we agreed on those in the future," said Aharonishky.

"At the moment we cannot point precisely to the details that led to the disappearance of the soldier. We are checking all angles and until we can rule out some, we can't point to the clear one.

"We are also doing operational, including searches, as well as investigatory and intelligence work. We have some of the best units (in the field) as well as many volunteers, in addition to close cooperation with the IDF and the Shin Beit.

"We are at the stage of checking all the possibilities and information we receive and investigating all the telephone calls, with the ultimate aim of finding the soldier and bringing a happy end to this case."

Aharonishky confirmed that the last information they had received about the whereabouts of Shaihket was at the Beit Rimon junction and that they were collating and checking all the details.

He stressed, however, that inquiries were being conducted over a much wider area than that where the searches were being focused.

Hundreds of police, aided by tracker dogs, as well as mounted police, volunteers and IDF soldiers, scoured designated areas on Thursday as part of the ongoing search operations.

The extent of the open terrain around Nazareth and Upper Nazareth, however, as well as all the towns and villages in the region, raised questions about the effectiveness of the searches.

Nevertheless, the volunteers were not dismayed and said they were determined to continue their work. "I heard about the searches and I called my superior and asked if help was needed and here I am," said Sivan, from a Kibbutz in the Jezreel Valley who described herself as a long-time police volunteer.

"I help with whatever I can. We survey the area we are given by our commander and look around if there is anything suspicion, like a building that could harbor a person.

"We also help with the administration and, for instance, we took a person to hospital, who broke his leg while searching. We came here at 8 am and will stay and come back to help as long as necessary," she said.

In the meantime, senior security sources admitted that time was working against them and every day that passed without discovering his whereabouts raised the level of concern about the fate of the missing soldier.

Shaikhet is described as being 1.78 meters tall, with short blond hair, glasses, and has a scar behind his left ear. He was wearing his army uniform and carrying his rifle when he went missing.

His parents and elder brother have barely moved outside since he went missing, staying in their fourth floor apartment in Upper Nazareth waiting for the phone to ring, while dreading the news it might bring.

"I see the family and how they are all suffering, especially the mother who is in a very bad way. She is not well and she is sitting at home and all the time asking where is her son," said George Siydyan, a cousin of Oleg.

"If something has happened we would be able to deal with it, but all we can do is sit and wait and still nothing seems to be moving in terms of finding out something. . . It's as if the ground opened and swallowed him.

"The time that passes without us knowing anything is like a knife that's digging in deeper and the more time that elapses the worse it gets. . . We don't know what's happened to [Oleg], but for certain it is not something good."

Siydyan noted that they were a small family and had always lived close to the Shaikhets since immigrating to Israel from the Ukraine several years ago.

"There are only eight of us. [Oleg's] mother and my mother are sisters. There is my mother, me and my sister and there are his parents, the two brothers and their grandmother. We don't have virtually anyone else in Israel," he said.

Nevertheless, the outpouring of assistance from the authorities and from hundreds of volunteers who are helping in the massive search operation for Shaikhet has proved a source of support for the family.

"Despite the circumstances and the terrible atmosphere, I really want to thank all those who are helping - the police and the security forces and the volunteers, and I know there are hundreds of them," Siydyan told The Jerusalem Post.

"If anyone else thinks they can help, in whatever way, they would be very welcome because Oleg is not just our boy - he's a son of our nation."

Siydyan attended a police briefing on Thursday at the forward command center, set up in Upper Nazareth to collate information and coordinate the search operations, and then went straight back to the family's home to update them.

The family does not let journalists into their apartment in order to preserve a semblance of privacy, but Oleg's brother Adam Shaikhet stepped outside to speak to the 'Post. "It is naturally very difficult for me but especially for my parents, who are finding it hard to comprehend and come to terms with what is happening to them," said Adam.

"The worst thing of all is the uncertainty. Nobody really knows what happened and there doesn't appear to be any leads - nothing. We just sit at home and wait for updates from the police. There's nothing else we can do, except stay by the phone and the more time that passes, the more the situation deteriorates.

"We fear for his life because we know the situation in the country, that the region is still not quiet and stable and that anything can happen. We also know that there have been warnings recently about possible attempts by Palestinian terrorists to kidnap soldiers and Israelis.

"We try not to talk about it too much at home and especially not in front of my parents. . . It is especially difficult for my mother but she has help from a doctor who comes to check her and is in touch regularly, as well as from social workers and counselors, and of course there is a police representative with us all the time.

"She can't help thinking and fearing the worst, however, and it is in the nature of things that the worst scenario comes to the forefront of her mind, as well as ours," said Adam, who noted that his mother suffers from diabetes, as well as high blood pressure.

Despite the warnings about possible kidnap attempts, Oleg Shaikhet continued to hitch rides on his way between home and his army base, because it usually proved quicker than using public transport.

"There is no direct bus route from Safed to Upper Nazareth so he hitchhiked," said Adam, 25, who also served in the IDF. "We tried to persuade him to use the buses but he said that it would take him four or five hours to get home and, besides, he said all the other soldiers hitched rides.

"He is very responsible and it is inconceivable that he would have gone somewhere and not told us. He knows that our parents would worry and he would at least have called me to say what he was doing - that's why I fear the worst.

"The thing is, he truly believes in peaceful coexistence and he is very moderate, liberal, in his views. If, God forbid, something has happened to him (at the hands of Palestinian terrorists) it would be the most illogical thing of all - because of who he is and what he believes."

The phone started ringing inside the apartment and Adam apologized. "I have to go and answer it - just in case," he said.

Anyone with information that might help in the efforts to trace Oleg Shaikhet or wishes to assist in the search operations is asked to contact their local police station or call the special information line on 04-6578000.