Shafik Kerem

Sept 9, 2003 - Shafik Kerem, 27, of Beit Hanina was one of seven people killed in a suicide bombing at Cafe Hillel on Emek Refaim St., the main thoroughfare of the German Colony neighborhood in Jerusalem.

Shafik Kerem, the eldest son of a Christian Arab from Beit Hanina in northeast Jerusalem, had been working as a waiter at Cafe Hillel for just under a month, and was expecting his first pay check. His father said Shafik had established a warm relationship with his co-workers, especially Alon Mizrahi, the security guard, and the two would often go out together after work. Both were killed in the blast. "We are a peace-loving family," his relatives said. "We want this bad time to end."

Shafik had worked previously in the family's souvenir shop in the Old City of Jerusalem, but had been forced to seek other work in the wake of the wave of Palestinian terror which kept tourists away. He also worked for a time as a waiter in his younger brother's Internet cafe until it closed.

Shafik Kerem was buried in the Christian cemetery on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. He is survived by his parents, two sisters and a brother.