Choose life

By Ethel C. Fenig

Almost three years ago an eight month pregnant mother and her four young daughters ranging in age from 2-11 were driving in Israel when they were slaughtered

at point-blank range by Islamic Jihad terrorists, who launched their attack from abandoned buildings

As David Hatuel, the grieving widower and father explained, according to Jewish tradition

he had two options: to fall and let the tragedy destroy him, or to choose life.

Although he was later evicted from his home that he had shared with his wife and children as part of the unilateral Israeli disengagement process that was to bring about peace but has encouraged more Arab hostility, he followed the tradition and remarried last year. And now the new couple has been blessed with a baby daughter.

Obviously the infant is no replacement for the ones so brutally murdered; they and the horror will always be a part of him. But she is a step to the future.