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Dov Parmet fought for Israel in 1948 and died in combat on June 5 of that year, during the war with neighboring Arab countries that did not recognize the newly established state, founded in May in the territory then known as “Mandatory Palestine.” Since then, the location of his remains had been unknown. They have now been found in a mass grave near the Jordanian border, about 100 kilometers from where he was killed, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Wednesday.
“After years of intensive efforts to locate his remains and bring them back, a special investigative team was established in 2020. This team carried out various efforts to determine where Parmet had been buried,” the IDF said, as quoted by *The Times of Israel*. The team used “document analysis, interrogations, soil analysis, and archaeological surveys,” they added.
The search for Parmet’s remains, who had been listed as missing in action, led investigators to a mass grave containing the remains of 16 other soldiers. In 1948, these 17 soldiers died fighting for Israel at the hands of a Syrian-Lebanese force in Malkia, about 100 kilometers from Maoz Haim.
Dov Parmet’s family was informed of the discovery on Tuesday night by Edna Ilia, one of the officials leading the investigation. In a statement, the family said the discovery represents “an ‘exodus’ from the uncertainty and darkness of years without information” about the location of his body.
Shmuel Bernstein, Yaakov Leibovitz, Shmuel Moldavsky, Yitzhak Glick, and Shlomo Kron are among the soldiers who also died in Malkia whose bodies have yet to be found, the newspaper reports.
The IDF announced that an official ceremony will soon be held to place a headstone bearing Parmet’s name at the Maoz Haim military cemetery.
Credit: Observador
