Etgar Zeitouny

Jan 23, 2001 - Etgar Zeitouny, 34, was abducted and executed by masked Palestinian gunmen as he was dining in Tulkarem.

Palestinian gunmen abducted Israeli restaurateurs Etgar Zeitouny and Motti Dayan as they were dining in Tulkarem, took them out to a field, and summarily executed them. Israel immediately clamped a curfew on Tulkarem and vowed to capture the murderers.

The two cousins, both single, were co-owners of the "Yuppies" sushi bar on Tel Aviv's trendy Rehov Sheinkin. They had come to Tulkarem with an Israeli Arab acquaintance who owns a vegetable stand close to their restaurant, to shop for flowerpots for the restaurant. Afterwards they stopped to dine at the Abu Nidal Restaurant on the outskirts of the Palestinian-controlled town.

As they were eating, word spread through the town that Israelis were there. A short time later, the gunmen arrived and dragged the three out of the restaurant, and drove them out of town toward the villages of Iktaba and Bala'a, still in the Palestinian-controlled zone. They reportedly halted at the side of the road near the Nur Shams refugee camp, shot dead the Israeli Jews and let the Israeli Arab go. A neighbor characterized Zeitouny as "quiet, helpful, peaceful... a bohemian type." Dayan was more the restaurateur, while Zeitouny ran the business side of things, said Ro'i Spiegel, the bartender at "Yuppies".

Etgar Zeituny was buried in his home city of Haifa.