Sara Blaustein
May 29, 2001 - Sara Blaustein, 53, of Efrat, was killed in a drive-by shooting on the Jerusalem-Gush Etzion (tunnel) road, just north of Neve Daniel.
Sara Blaustein, a new immigrant from New York, was traveling by car to Jerusalem with six others, when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on the car. Blaustein's husband, Norman, and Samuel Berg, one of Sara's three children by her first marriage, who was visiting them, were both wounded in the attack. Another passenger, Esther Alvan, 20, was also killed.
Norman was to fly to New York that night to check in on the computer business he still owns; he had adopted a ritual of praying at the Western Wall prior to each trip away from Israel.
Sara and Norman Blaustein were retired, with three children each from previous marriages, and a 14-year-old daughter, Atara, from their own.
They immigrated to Israel in August 2000 with their daughter, realizing a lifelong dream. Atara was not in the car at the time of the attack.
In New York, Sara had managed the Ateret Cohanim Yeshiva's office for five years. In Efrat, Sarah busied herself with volunteer work, and had attended numerous funerals of victims of the Palestinian violence in recent months.
The US State Department spokesman condemned the latest shootings, noting that an American citizen who recently immigrated to Israel had been killed. "We condemn all such incidents and call upon Palestinian Authority officials to do what they can to end these attacks," said Phil Reeker.
Sara Blaustein was buried at Kibbutz Kfar Etzion.