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Jan. 13, 2004
Father of five slain by terrorists in shooting attack
Margot Dudkevitch
The funeral of Roee Arbel, who was murdered when terrorists shot at the vehicle he was travelling in as near Talmon in Samaria will take place Wednesday at 1 PM, leaving the Talmon synagogue for the cemetery at Dolev.
Arbel, 29, the father of five was killed and two other travellers injured Tuesday night. The two injured Israelis are expected to be released from hospital later this morning.
Soldiers searched the area for the perpetrators, who are believed to have fled toward Ramallah.
The attack was claimed by the Fatah’s Al Aksa Martyr’s Brigade
At the site of the ambush, soldiers found eight bullet casings from a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
Arbel is the first terrorist fatality from Talmon since the outbreak of Palestinian violence in September 2000. He was riding home with fellow Talmon resident Yaron Solomon from work at the Motorola plant in Ramat Gan.
Also in the vehicle was Shuli Horowitz, 34, who suffered a leg wound. Horowitz, lightly to moderately wounded, was taken to Hadassah-University Hospital in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem. Solomon was treated for shock and scratches by paramedics.
Magen David Adom paramedic Pini Greenberg said his crew reached the car within minutes. "We met them at the entrance to Talmon; after the shooting, the driver alerted the authorities and headed for the community… The car was riddled with bullets."
Pinhas Wallerstein, the head of the Binyamin Regional Council, said that the shooting proves that talk of dismantling settlements does not deter terrorism.
The Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip said:"Tonight’s murderous attack proves that the campaign against terrorism has not yet been completed.
"All discussions of withdrawal and dismantling communities and encampments transmit weakness and invite further terrorism."
Roee Arbel worked for Motorola Semiconductors in Herzliya Pituah.
Ya’acov Ansbacher, a spokesman from Talmon, said the community was devastated. Roee and his wife, Hagit, moved there two years ago, he said, and moved from their mobile home into a permanent home only six months ago.
"They have five children: two daughters, aged five and three-and-a-half, and triplets who were born three months ago," he said.
The residents were notified of the tragedy and planned to convene a meeting to discuss the situation, he said. "We are shocked. He is the first resident to be murdered in a terrorist attack since the violence erupted, and now we join the rest of Israel who have been touched by terrorism."
Arbel’s funeral is to leave from Talmon at 3 p. m. this afternoon for burial at the Dolev Cemetery. On Tuesday afternoon, the IDF wound up its widespread operation in the Tulkarm refugee camp and pulled out after arresting 14 fugitives and two would-be suicide bombers, Khaled Elwishi and Rami Ghanem.
The operation was launched early Monday due to warnings of planned terrorist attacks.
Twelve fugitives were arrested early Tuesday morning in various parts of the West Bank. In the afternoon, a soldier was lightly wounded when shots were fired north of Nablus. Shots were also fired at soldiers near Kadim.
In the Gaza Strip, soldiers shot and killed an armed Palestinian after he opened fire and threw grenades at them.
Shots were fired at soldiers deployed near Gadid in Gush Katif and two mortar shells landed harmlessly in the industrial zone of an Israeli settlement in Gush Katif.
In Memoriam
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