Police arrested an East Jerusalem resident Friday on suspicion of murder and involvement in the disappearance of 61-year-old Fatma Rajabi, who had been missing from her home since the beginning of the week.
Later Friday, officers located the body of a woman in East Jerusalem. Police said the body had been transferred to the National Center of Forensic Medicine for identification and an examination of the circumstances of her death. They have not yet formally confirmed that the body is Rajabi’s.
Fatma al-Rajabi and the last footage of her
Hundreds of volunteers, including many East Jerusalem residents, took part in searches for Rajabi throughout the week. Large police forces also conducted an extensive and unusual search operation in open areas near Mevaseret Zion, with investigators indicating that they suspected a criminal background to the disappearance.
Rajabi’s son sharply criticized the police response, claiming substantial search efforts began too late.
“On the first day, they didn’t take it seriously. Only afterward did they really start searching, and we felt the police were doing something just so they could say, ‘Look, we’re searching too,’” he said.
“If she had been a Jewish woman, they would have acted within the first hours after she disappeared and found her,” he added. “We went to the police station and gave them everything they needed, but we didn’t feel the sensitivity and urgency we expected.”
Shalem police station commander Lt. Col. Shalom Cohen rejected the family’s allegations, saying the investigation had begun immediately after the missing-person report was filed and had proceeded on several fronts simultaneously.
“This is one of the missing-person investigations in which the greatest effort and technological resources have been invested,” Cohen said. “We worked from the first moment, and there is no connection to the missing woman’s background.”
Police said the suspect, an East Jerusalem man in his 60s, was being questioned on suspicion of murder. He is expected to be brought before the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Saturday, where police will seek an extension of his detention.
A gag order covering the investigation has been partially lifted, allowing publication of the arrest and the discovery of the body. Other details of the case remain under a publication ban.