This Week
Faces Of Death
Victims of terrorists share low rank on economic ladder.
board the bus. Ostinsky left a wife, two children and
two grandchildren.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Some observers noted that, given the terrorists'
Jerusalem
propensity to blow up buses because tf the high num-
ast Friday, on the way to work from Pisgat
ber of casualties, the price of attacks is being paid by a
Ze'ev, my home neighborhood in Jerusalem, particular socio-economic sector that can't afford other
I noticed an armed guard standing by bus
means of transportation. One bereaved Israeli said this
stop No. 6. At last, I said to myself, people
became acutely clear to him during a recent visit to his
can board a bus in Jerusalem with a sense of security.
son's grave, which is located in a section of the Haifa
Two days later, a suicide bomber managed to board cemetery for victims of terrorist attacks.
bus No. 6, killing seven and
"I looked around me, and
wounding 20. Within a 48-
what did I see? Graves of new
hour span beginning Saturday
immigrants, children and sol-
night, 12 Israelis were mur-
diers," said Yossi Mendelevitch,
dered in three suicide attacks
whose son Yuval, 13, was killed
and dozens were wounded.
in a bus bombing in Haifa ear-
Terrorism was back on the
lier this year.
scene, a sad reminder that its
„,
But the terrorists don't dis-
apparent absence in recent
tinguish by age or race; they
Moyal
Perov
Tawil
months was only an illusion
murder Arabs, too. One of the
born of the army's success in preventing attacks.
victims was Ghaleb Tawil, 42, a resident of the Shuafat
The thing about terror attacks is that you don't
refugee camp, located within Jerusalem's municipal
really grasp the horror unless you have witnessed
boundaries.
one, or until you hear the stories of the victims' fam-
Tawil was on his way to work at the Hadassah
ilies. This makes the tragedies more real.
Medical Center in Ein Kerem. Though he had experi-
Pisgat Ze'ev borders a number of Arab neighbor-
ence as a construction worker, he preferred to work as a
hoods. Most of its residents are new immigrants
cleaning man at the hospital: It made it easier to be
from the former Soviet Union, young couples who
close to his 12-year-old daughter, who was often hospi-
can't afford to buy apartments closer to downtown
talized due to leukemia.
Jerusalem. The terrorist who murdered the passen-
"Many nights, he wouldn't
gers on bus No. 6 aimed to hit the poorest of them
come home, in order to sleep by
all, those who can't afford a private car, those who
her," a family member said.
get up early in the morning to make a decent living.
Tawil left two wives and nine
Yitzhak Moyal, 63, was on his way to the distribu- children. "The suicide bomber
tion center at the central post office. His wife, Rina,
was a merciless killer," one wife
recalled that before going to sleep Saturday night,
said. "Who will feed the
orphans now?"
they discussed the latest news — the murder of
Gadi Levy, 31, and his pregnant wife, Dina, 37, of
On Monday, a bombing at a
Kiryat Arba, by a suicide bomber in Hebron.
shopping mall in Afula took the
lives of yet another Arab —
"He was not afraid of anything," Rina Moyal said of
her husband, who had immigrated to Israel from
Hassan Tawat'ha, 41, of Jisser a
Zarka, a fishing village near
Morocco in 1960 with his nine brothers and sisters. "He
was a strong believer that whatever will be, will be."
Zikhron Ya'akov. "After every
Moyal left six children and 12 grandchildren.
terrorist attack, I hear the fami-
lies say, 'Let this be the last vic-
tim,'" said Tawat'ha's brother.
The Empty Lot
"Now it is Hassan. The terror-
Shimon Ostinsky, 67, used to come to work in a park-
ists do not distinguish between
ing lot near the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem's Old City,
an Arab and a Jew."
arriving 15 minutes before the lot opened. He never
Other victims included
missed a shift, thankful for the opportunity to be
Marina Tsahivershvili, 44; Nelly
employed at his age — even though back home in
Perov, 55; Olga Brenner, 52,
Kiev he had been a lecturer in economics.
whose daughter was also serious-
"Despite this, he was happy," his wife said. "He
ly wounded; and Roni Yisraeli,
34, all residents of Pisgat Ze'ev.
loved Israel very much and was proud of this place.
Friends and family of Perov
When his boss heard from a customer that the lot
was still closed, he understood that something had
recalled at her funeral how
death was so incongruous for a
happened to Ostinsky. He then heard of the bomb-
woman so full of life. Just the
ing, and understood that Ostinsky had been on
GIL SEDAN
L
5/23
2003
18
night before, she had celebrated the third anniver-
sary of her immigration from Kazakhstan. She had
come to Israel following her daughter Lana, a
Hebrew University student who immigrated on the
Jewish Agency's "students before parents" program.
Perov also is survived by her son, Andrei, 35.
The New Job
In Monday's bombing in Afula, the terrorist —
believed to be a woman — arrived at the shopping
mall shortly after 5 p.m. She approached Kiril
Sheremenko, the guard at the entrance. Sheremenko,
23, whisked the woman with a magnometer, which
started whistling loudly.
He signaled to Hadar Gitlin, a female guard standing
behind him, to help him search the woman. But the
woman detonated her bomb, killing Sheremenko in his
first day at work — his first hour, in fact. "He replaced
me a quarter of an hour before the attack," his col-
league Oleg Pohovitz said.
The third victim was a customer, Avi Zarihan, 36.
Gitlin, 20, was seriously wounded.
Gitlin had lost her job at the shopping center three
days before, after she failed to identify a suspect in a
drill in which a person carrying explosives entered the
center. On Monday, her employers gave her another
chance, and she was beside herself with joy.
She was not supposed to be on guard duty at 5 p.m.
but had volunteered to stay longer to replace a col-
league who had not shown up for work. An hour later,
she was in the hospital, fighting for her life.
Gidin's parents, who had heard on the radio that a
female guard had been killed, were sure Gitlin had died
in the blast. Only later in the evening did they learn
that she had survived. "She's in bad condition," Gidin's
father said, "but at least I still have a daughter." El
Seen through
shattered glass,
an Israeli rescue
worker cleans up
blood and body
parts after a
Palestinian
suicide bomber-
blew herself up at
the entrance to a
mall in Afitla on
Monday. Three
Israelis were killed
and at least 70
were injured.