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August 26, 2001
Couple shot dead in ambush, children lighly hurt
MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
Two Israelis were killed, one critically wounded, and two lightly wounded late last night when terrorists shot at the vehicle they were driving along the Givat Ze'ev-Modi'in road, near the Dor Energia gas station.
Sharon and Yaniv Ben-Shalom, of Ofarim in western Binyamin, were killed, and their children - one and two - were lightly wounded. Sharon's brother, Zion Sabiri, was critically wounded in the attack.
Shortly after 10:30, on receiving reports of a shooting, Magen David Adom teams pronounced one of the parents dead. The second died shortly afterward, and ambulances brought the critically wounded man and the two children to Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer.
Police said the terrorists either set up an ambush at the side of the road or fired from a passing vehicle, near the village Beit Ghur e-Tahta, not far from the army roadblock at Maccabim. Bullets hit the right side of the Ben-Shaloms' car.
The Al-Aksa Martyrs' Brigade claimed it had perpetrated the attack.
Security forces at the scene immediately sealed off access roads to and imposed curfews on the surrounding Arab villages. They also began searches.
Security forces did not rule out the possibility that terrorists could have fled toward Ramallah.
August 27, 2001
Ben-Shaloms buried, brother dies from wounds
MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
Cpl. Doron Sviri, the brother of Sharon Ben-Shalom, who herself was gunned down with her husband Yaniv on the Jerusalem-Modi'in road late Saturday night, died yesterday of critical wounds he sustained in the shooting.
Security officials yesterday estimated that Force 17 officials had been involved in the shooting, noting that it was not the first time members of Arafat's personal bodyguard were involved in terrorist activities.
In January, Israeli security forces arrested members of a Force 17 terror cell that had operated in the area and was involved in a number of shooting incidents on the highway.
The young couple from Ofarim was buried yesterday afternoon at the Segula Cemetery in Petah Tikva, with hundreds in attendance. The couple's two infant daughters, eight-month-old Shahar and 20-month-old Efrat, who were lightly wounded in the attack, remained in Sheba Hospital at Tel Hashomer. Relatives gathered around the two, comforting them. 'We will look after them and do the best we can,' said one relative, adding: 'All they need are parents.'
Initially security officials had thought that Sharon's father, Zion Sviri, had been wounded, as the car was registered in his name. Only later it became apparent that her brother, Doron, an off-duty soldier, had been hit.
Among those attending the funeral was Industry and Trade Minister Dalia Itzik, the government representative, and OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Yitzhak Eitan, who described the murder as cruel and said the army would do its utmost to capture the perpetrators.
Yesterday additional IDF troops and tanks were deployed along the highway, and lookouts set up to monitor traffic. Access to the surrounding Arab villages was blocked, and curfews imposed following the shooting remained in effect.
Eight bullets penetrated the family's Volkswagen, and the terrorists used M-16 and Kalashnikov rifles in the attack. According to initial findings, police believe the terrorists fled towards Beit Ikkiya and then to Ramallah.
Yesterday residents of the 250-family community Ofarim in the western Binyamin region were shocked and pained over the death of the young couple everyone loved so much.
Edna Sapir told The Jerusalem Post that Yaniv set up and taught the Talmud Torah class in the community, and was also involved in alternative medicine. Sharon worked as a medical secretary for Kupat Holim Leumit.
'They arrived here two and a half years ago to build their home and lives here at Ofarim,' she said. Residents traveling to and from the community use the Shoham-Petah Tikva road and not Highway 443, she said.
'We are talking about one of the main arteries that link Jerusalem to the coastal area; it is not just residents of Ofarim who should be concerned but the entire Israeli public,' Sapir said.
She said that the IDF bombing of Palestinian security installations in response to the attack was not enough. 'We only seem to respond when something happens instead of taking the initiative. So they destroyed a Palestinian Police post, so what? Tomorrow there will be another shooting attack and then what,' she said.
In Memoriam
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