By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Aug 21, 2005
On May 2, 2004, David Hatuel lost his eight-months-pregnant wife and four little girls when Palestinian Arab gunmen mercilessly slaughtered them at point-blank range as they traveled from Gaza's Kissufim Crossing to their home in Moshav Katif.
On August 21, 2005, Israeli security forces acting under orders from the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon arrived to forcibly evict Hatuel from that home in preparation for handing the victims' land over to their Muslim killers.
They were met by heart-wrenching scenes.
Hatuel placed five empty chairs in his front yard, one each for his wife and four daughters, as hundreds of neighbors gathered in tears to watch the bereaved husband and father light memorial candles for his murdered family.
Tali Hatuel and her four daughters - Hila (11), Hadar (9), Roni (7) and Meirav (2) ? were, along with her unborn son, labeled the first victims of Sharon's ?disengagement? plan.
The Palestinian Authority publicly hailed the killers as ?heroic martyrs? (they were hunted down and killed by IDF soldiers) on its Voice of Palestine radio station.