Li Peizhong

Jan 5, 2003 - Li Peizhong, 41, of Weifang in eastern China, was one of 23 people killed when two suicide bombers blew themselves up on a pedestrian mall in Tel Aviv's Naveh Sha'anan neighborhood near the old central bus station.

Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack, which apparently was assisted by Islamic Jihad.

Li came to work in Israel through the Shandong Changda Construction Company. He was on his way home from work when he was killed. Another Chinese worker was killed and seven Chinese were wounded in the attack, one of whom, Zhang Minmin, later died of her wounds.

Li's roommates in their Tel Aviv apartment heard about the explosion and tried unsuccessfully to reach him on his cellphone. "They called me to help translate and we began searching for him everywhere," said a friend. "All the while we kept trying to reach him on his cellphone, then suddenly someone answered who didn't understand the [Chinese] language."

That person was a policewoman, who came and took Li's friends to identify his body. They related that he was working at various odd jobs in order to save up enough money to return to China.