JERUSALEM – Four Jewish Israelis were killed when gunmen opened fire on the car they were riding in at the entrance to Kiryat Arba, near Hebron.

Tuesday night’s attack in the west bank comes on the eve of the opening of peace talks in Washington between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

NEW YORK – A Jewish woman from Fair Lawn died in a plane crash in Nepal on her 30th birthday.

Irina Shekhets reportedly traveled to Nepal on a spiritual journey and was heading to a hiking trip to a Mount Everest base camp when the 15-seat, twin-engine plane crashed Aug. 23 about 50 miles south of Kathmandu. Fourteen people were killed, including four Americans.

Shekhets was a graduate of Brooklyn College Law School and recently had taken the bar exam. She was on leave from her job as an analyst for JP Morgan Chase.

Volunteers from the ZAKA International Rescue Unit left Israel Monday night to assist in the recovery and identification of Shekhets’ badly charred remains.

The decision to send a team was made in cooperation with Chabad House in Katmandu, which is coordinating the recovery efforts with local authorities, and the Israeli Foreign Office’s situation room, which assisted the team in obtaining the necessary visas.

Israeli backpackers will join the ZAKA volunteers in their search of the crash site.

JTA

Scott L. Albin, 58, of Wayne, died on Aug. 3.

He earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in civil engineering from the Newark College of Engineering.

He is survived by his children, Sharon Albin and Giedrius Albin; and a sister, Lisa Radimer (and her husband, Mark).

Contributions may be sent to the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapels in Fair Lawn.

Joyce Platt, née Taub, of Fair Lawn, formerly of Paterson, died on Aug. 4 at home. She celebrated her 80th birthday last week.

She was a lifelong member of the Fair Lawn chapter of Hadassah and a former member of the Fair Lawn Jewish Center.

Surviving are her husband, Gerald; two sons, Dr. Steven J. Platt of New York City and Kevin Platt of Fair Lawn; and a sister, Gloria Taub, of New York City.

Donations may be sent to Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, 383 Main Ave., Norwalk, CT 06851.

Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel, Fair Lawn.

Dr. Elliot M. Schrero, known as Mitch, died of pneumonia Aug. 9 in Englewood. He had recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of his wedding to Ruth Lieberman Schrero and his 88th birthday.

A Teaneck resident, he was a native of Chicago and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Chicago, where he also earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in English literature. He worked as a creative director in advertising at SCI and McCann-Erickson in advertising in New York City for many years before he returned to academia, where he was a tenured full professor of English at Rider University.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his daughters, Elizabeth Schrero Cooper (and her husband, Jeffrey A. Cooper) and Maggie Schrero D’Arcy (and her husband, Keith D’Arcy); a brother, Stanley Allen Schrero; and two grandchildren, Arielle Jae Cooper and Daniel Benjamin Cooper.

Donations in his honor may be made to the University of Chicago. Services were by Eden Memorial Chapels in Fort Lee.

JERUSALEM – Rabbi Morris Kipper, the founder of a high school in Israel program, has died.

Kipper, who in 1972 founded the Alexander Muss High School in suburban Tel Aviv, died at his home in Miami, Fla. He was 79.

The longtime Miami resident founded the Hod Hasharon school with his wife, Lenore, and in partnership with the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.

NEW YORK – History scholar and writer Tony Judt, a vocal critic of Israel after having lived there, has died.

Judt, who had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, died last Friday at his home in New York, New York University announced. He was 62.

Judt, a London native, had been a professor at NYU since 1987. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his 2005 book “Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945,” a 900-page history of modern Europe.

Helen Walkes, née Gordon, 94, of Westfield, formerly of Jersey City, died on July 31 at Overlook Hospital in Summit.

Born in Jersey City, she retired 25 years ago from her position as deputy clerk for Jersey City.

Predeceased by her husband, Sol, she is survived by a son, Bruce (and his wife, Bonnie) of Atlanta, Ga.; a daughter, Susan Koslowsky (and her husband, Dr. Seymour) of Westfield; a brother, Irwin Gordon, of California; five grandchildren, Lori, Jay, Marc, Beth, and Amy; and 11 great-grandchildren, Jake, Max, Lily, Sophie, Jack, Luke, Ava, Maya, Gracie, Joshua, and Alyssa.

Arrangements were by Eden Memorial Chapels in Fort Lee.