By <a href="mailto:baruchk@haaretz.co.il" class="tUbl2">Baruch Kra</a> and <a href="mailto:ratner_d@haaretz.co.il" class="tUbl2">David Ratner</a>, Haaretz Correspondents
Second Lieutenant Amir Ben-Aryeh, 21, from Reut, and Staff Sergeant Idan Suzin, 20, from Kiryat Tivon, were killed by two Palestinian gunmen who opened fire and threw hand grenades at their base close to the West Bank city of Nablus overnight Wednesday. They were taken to hospital by IAF helicopter, but died of their wounds en route.
Second Lieutenant Amir Ben-Aryeh Second Lieutenant Amir Ben-Aryeh, 21, lived in Reut from fifth grade. He is survived by his parents, Irit and Pini, and one brother, Yaniv. His father is a former professional military man.
A close friend of his, Moran, said Ben-Aryeh was the perfect commander. "He was completely kindhearted and full of love," she said. "He was the glue that held different groups of friends together."
Ben-Aryeh had recently decided to join officers' course and sign on as a professional soldier, because of "the ideals and the challenge," Moran said. "He was a leader, full of quiet charisma."
Staff Sergeant Idan Suzin Staff Sergeant Idan Suzin, 20, told his mother on the phone Wednesday night that he was organizing a special bus to take him and some friends from their Nablus base to the Holon cemetery for a memorial ceremony in honor of his best friend, Staff Sgt. Lee Akunis, who was killed by a Palestinian sniper at a roadblock near Ramallah last February. On Thursday morning, those friends went to Akunis' memorial ceremony, and then headed over to the Tivon cemetery for Suzin's funeral.
Suzin met Akunis in the sniper's section of the paratroop unit, after joining the army two-and-a-half years ago. Suzin "joined the army a short time before the Intifada began," his mother said. "In effect, he was in the territories all the time. I worried a lot and told him, 'You have four months left - find a less dangerous job.' And he told me, 'You taught me to be Zionistic and to finish what I start. How can I ask to leave now?'"
Suzin is survived by his parents, Bracha and Aryeh, his sister Zohar, a student in the Technion, and his brother Assi, an 11th grader in Kiryat Tivon, where the family moved when Idan was six
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