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August 31, 2003
Fatah cell murders Homesh man. Wounded wife gives birth in seventh month
By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
Shalom (Shuli) Har-Melech, 25, was killed and his seven months' pregnant wife, Limor, 24, seriously wounded when they were shot by Fatah al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades terrorists south of the Alon highway junction near Kochav Hashahar on Friday.
Three terrorists are believed to have fired more than 25 bullets with Kalashnikov assault rifles at the couple's car. A military doctor who reached the scene shortly afterward pronounced Shalom dead.
Limor, who suffered gunshot wounds to the face and left arm, was taken by military ambulance to a Magen David Adom intensive care mobile unit at the entrance to Kochav Hashahar. Paramedics worked furiously to stabilize her condition on the way to Hadassah-University Hospital in Jerusalem's Ein Kerem.
Fearing for the unborn baby's life, doctors at the hospital performed a cesarean section and delivered a healthy baby girl. The premature newborn was transferred to Hadassah-Mount Scopus where her condition was described as stable.
The couple had dropped off their 14-month-old son, Ahuvia, at Shalom's parents' house in Kochav Hashahar and decided to spend Shabbat with them. They were returning to their home in Homesh to pick up clothes, neighbor Etty Rozenblat told The Jerusalem Post. Rozenblat, who has lived in Homesh for 18 years, said the couple moved to the community two years ago, a month after they married. 'We adopted them, they were like our own children,' she said.
Shalom, who studied at the yeshiva in Homesh, taught at a school in Kedumim and was also a volunteer MDA ambulance driver. Originally from Kochav Hashahar, his parents are one of the founding families of the community, she said. Limor had just completed her studies and was also to begin teaching at Kedumim, Rozenblat said.
'Everyone is shocked, they were a lovely couple, I cried and cried and still can't believe what has happened,' she said. Shalom is the fourth resident of Homesh to be killed in a terrorist attack since the outbreak of the violence three years ago, she said.
Hundreds attended Shalom's funeral late Saturday night at the cemetery in his hometown.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, paratroopers in Nablus arrested three Palestinians affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who planned to perpetrate a suicide bombing. They were identified as Muhammad Samir Abu Raba, Yusef Fuad Halifa, and Ibrahim Halil A-Radah. Palestinians reported that all three are in their twenties and are students.
On Saturday, border policemen deployed near Oranit south east of Tulkarm chased and arrested two Palestinians, who carried Kalashnikov rifles and ammunition in a bag. Security officials believe the two were on their way to perpetrate a shooting attack.
Earlier in the day, security forces arrested three Palestinian fugitives in Saida east of Tulkarm. On Friday, seven Palestinians suspected of terrorist activities were arrested by IDF troops in raids in Nablus, in the Hebron district and in Tulkarm.
The same day near Anza south of Jenin security forces blew up a 20 kilogram bomb planted by Palestinians. Judea and Samaria police officers together with soldiers arrested two Palestinians in Halhoul after uncovering a large laboratory used to forge identity cards and work permits. Police confiscated computers, scanners, special machines that make the plastic covers for the documents, and computer programs used to fake the documents. Security officials said the laboratory had been operating for a number of months and that the ring made millions of shekels in selling the forged documents to Palestinians seeking to work in Israel and also to terrorist organizations. Police officials said such documents sold for NIS 1,800 to NIS 2,000. In recent months security forces have arrested scores of suspects and uncovered a number of laboratories used to forge documents in the Binyamin district, Samaria, and the Hebron area.
In Memoriam
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