Shuv-el Zion Dikstein

July 26, 2002 - Shuv'el Zion Dikstein, 9, of Psagot, was killed in a shooting attack south of Hebron along with his parents Yosef and Hannah. Two of his brothers were injured.

At least two Palestinian terrorists waited by the side of the road near Yatta, south of Hebron, to ambush an Israeli car. Elazar Liebowitz was driving newlyweds Neria and Sara Ben-Yitzhak to Tel Rumeida in Hebron. When they reached the Zeif intersection terrorists opened fire on them, fatally wounding Elazar. The Dikstein family, on their way to Maon in the southern Hebron area to spend Shabbat with friends, approached from the opposite direction. YShuv'el Zion was killed along with his parents, Yosef and Hannah. His 12-year-old brother, Shlomo, was moderately wounded by a bullet in the shoulder, and 2-year-old Adiel was lightly injured.

Rabbi Yosef Dikstein and his wife Hannah moved with their ten children to their new home in the community of Psagot in Samaria about eight months ago. They previously lived in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Shuv'el Zion was a happy child who was to have entered 4th grade soon. He did not attend school in Psagot because there is no youth movement in the community, but everyone there knew him.

Zvi Yehuda, their eldest brother, recalled that his brother was a good friend to his siblings. He eulogized his young brother Shuv'el as a "pure child who never hurt anyone. You were smart, you loved to read. You were killed while you were reading and your head fell into the book."

Shuv'el Zion Dikstein was buried in Psagot along with his parents, Yosef and Hannah. He is survived by nine brothers and sisters: Zvi Yehuda (20), Zofia (19), Ayelet Hashahar (17), Moshe Yedidya (16), Renana (14), Shlomo (12), Benaya (7), Shir-el (4), and Adiel (2).