Last update - 00:00 24/02/2007
Body found of Israeli diplomat who disappeared in France
By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
The body of an Israeli diplomat in France who had been missing for nearly a month was identified Saturday in the Seine river, near the city of Rouen.
David Dahan, the head of the Defense Ministry delegation in Paris, went missing in late January after leaving a suicide note.
French police conducted a DNA test on the body to determine whether the body was in fact that of Dahan.
A police official said the body was found without signs of violence, and estimated that Dahan had committed suicide.
Israeli and French officials are not rejecting the possibility that hostile elements may have been involved in Dahan's disappearance, in light of the sensitive information to which his position exposed him.
Last weekend, the ZAKA organization sent a delegation of 20 members, primarily rescue divers, to search for Dahan's body.
"Being a sovereign country, France didn't want Israeli involvement in the search, and as such it was decided that the solution to the matter was to send ZAKA, an organization recognized by the UN as an international volunteer group," said Yehuda Meshei Zahav, a ZAKA spokesman.
Meshei Zahav told Haaretz that the Defense Ministry is funding the delegation's trip, which is expected to cost approximately $80,000.
Since its recognition by the UN, and even before it, ZAKA has operated around the world, primarily in searches for the bodies of Jewish people and Israeli citizens.
Members of the organization took part in searches following the terror attack on synagogues in Istanbul, and last week assisted rescue efforts at the site of an accident in Kazakhstan.