The funerals of the two Chinese workers killed in an April 12 suicide bombing in Jerusalem were held yesterday in Putian in East China's Fujian Province according to local traditions.
Distraught family members of 34-year-old Lin Chunmei and 32-year-old Cai Xianyang yesterday bid farewell to their loved ones at the funerals. At each funeral were a diplomat from the Israeli Embassy in Beijing, provincial government officials and senior staff from the Fujian Chongfu Foreign Labour Co-operation Company, which had employed the victims.
Ilan Mor, the minister sent by the Israeli Embassy in Beijing, said he attended the funerals as a mark of respect and to send condolences to the victims' families on behalf of the Israeli Government and Israeli people.
Mor said the Israeli Government has an obligation to take care of the parents, wives and children of the deceased.
The minister yesterday offered a down payment to Lin's mother and wife as well as to Cai's parents and wife.
"I came here to bring the families the first support from the Israeli Government. It is only the beginning. We have an obligation to support the families according to the law," he said.
The victims' spouses and parents each got US$1,000, according to the two families.
Cai Xianzhong - Cai Xianyang's 35-year-old brother - and his 52-year-old uncle Cai Feibao told China Daily that a human life cannot be compensated by money.
(China Daily April 27, 2002)
