Cpl. Ronald (Roni) Berer

January 23, 2003 - Cpl. Ronald (Roni) Berer, 20, of Rehovot, was one of three Lavi Battalion soldiers killed by terrorists who ambushed their night-time patrol south of Hebron.

The three soldiers were patrolling on foot in an area near the main Beersheba-Hebron road in order to secure the road for Israeli motorists. As they approached the Kevassim intersection, two terrorists, who had apparently been lying in wait for motorists, opened fire at the soldiers from close range, killing two of them outright. The third managed to fire several shots at the attackers before succumbing to his wounds. The terrorists escaped.

Berer immigrated with his mother from Russia nearly 14 years ago, when he was seven. Despite his mother's opposition and his automatic exemption from combat duty as an only child, he was determined to serve in a combat unit.

"From the age of 15 he asked me to sign a waiver so he could join a combat unit, because he's an only child," said Berer's mother, Dora. "I explained to him that I couldn't sign, because he's my whole world.

"Then he would stubbornly say to me: 'Mother, look, they are killing little children, killing women. Someone has to protect you. If I don't do it, who will?' "

Berer graduated Rehovot's ORT high school, where he majored in computers and biothechnology. In eleventh grade he would ride his bicycle several times a week to Rishon Lezion to participate in an IDF pre-induction course.