Keren Shatsky

Feb 16, 2002 - Keren Shatsky, 15, of Ginot Shomron was one of three teenagers killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up on Saturday night at a pizzeria in the shopping mall in Karnei Shomron in Samaria.

On Saturday night Keren went to the local Yuvalim Mall in Karnei Shomron to meet friends, eat pizza, and talk. Since its opening six months ago, the mall has become a popular meeting place for local youth. She was killed in the blast.

Keren was the youngest daughter of Chava and Shabtai Shatsky, who immigrated to Israel from the US in 1984 and moved to Ginot Shomron in 1986. Keren attended the Lehava Ulpana in Kedumim, and had gone to the mall with friends.

Keren was a student at the Ulpana Lahava in Kedumim, where her mother is chairman of English studies. Teachers at the school described Shatsky as a polite, intelligent, and happy girl, she said. "She was one of the nicest people I ever met," said Noa Roitman, a classmate. "She was friendly with everyone and always smiled." Roitman had studied with Shatsky since first grade. "All the pictures I conjure up in my mind of Keren are of her smiling," she said.

Rachel Ben-David, a teacher at the school and a family friend who lives in the same neighborhood, home to 100 families originally from the US and Canada, said Shabtai Shatsky was to have travelled to the US on Saturday night to visit his father, who is ill. "Instead his parents will arrive for the funeral," she said.

Keren Shatsky was buried in Karnei Shomron. She is survived by her parents, three sisters and two brothers.