By Ryan Jones
Sep 26, 2005
The body of an Israeli man kidnapped and executed by Hamas terrorists last week was recovered by security forces near the PA-controlled Samarian town of Ramallah Monday.
Sasson Nuriel, 55, was reported missing by his wife last Wednesday evening after he failed to return home from work.
Nuriel worked in a factory adjacent to the Judean town of Ma'aleh Adumim, and had good relations with the neighboring Arab communities, which he visited often for business related matters.
?He used to walk around Arab towns like he lived there,? Udi Wertheimer, one of the factory owners, told Ynet. ?He had excellent business relations with the Palestinians, he knew how to get things, he would walk around the villages buying and selling. He was a real workhorse, worked late into the night.?
An Arabic speaker, Nuriel is said to have often mediated between his fellow Arab laborers and the factory management.
Wertheimer recalled that Wednesday afternoon Nuriel said ?he was going out to inspect some raw materials, but he just disappeared. We never saw or heard from him again.?
On Monday morning, General Security Service (Shin Bet) agents arrested a Hamas man who confessed his group had abducted Nuriel, killed him and dumped the body, which showed signs of severe torture, in an industrial area near Ramallah.
Nuriel, a resident of Jerusalem's northern Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood, was buried in the capital Monday evening. He is survived by his wife and three children.
The Palestinian Authority tried to play down the incident by claiming the murder was ?criminally motivated? and not a terrorist attack. Israeli security officials indicated they received no assistance in finding Nuriel from their PA ?partners.?