TO HIS friends, Aladin Abu Dheim was a fine young man who had just started a job as a taxi driver and was about to get married and raise a family.
But the devout young Palestinian from a well-to-do family had a secret. He had chosen the path of "martyrdom".
Last week, Abu Dheim, 25, walked into the Mercaz HaRav Jewish religious seminary in West Jerusalem and showered gunfire on students, two
of them 15-year-olds, using an assault rifle and handgun. Eight people were killed in the deadliest terrorist attack in Israel in two years. Abu Dheim was slain by an off-duty soldier.
"He was a regular man, extremely normal," said a relative, who yesterday broke the family's silence about Abu Dheim in an interview with The Scotsman in Jebel Mukaber, the East Jerusalem neighbourhood where he lived.
"He was very quiet, very kind. No-one believed he would do this," the relative said.
When the relative last saw him about a month ago, Abu Dheim spoke mostly about his new job. He was exactingly honest about his expense reports to his company, which reimbursed him for petrol.
Abu Dheim kept to a strict prayer schedule despite the demands of driving. "He would pray at the correct moment. He would know the right time to pray and anywhere he was he would pray. He wouldn't say, I will make another 50 shekels (£7) and then pray. He would go to the nearest mosque."
At the mourners' tent set up by the family in view of Israel's West Bank separation barrier, posters of the smiling, chubby-faced killer applauded his "heroic operation".
Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, has praised the attack, although it has not claimed responsibility for it. Abu Dheim's father, Hisham, sat alone on a plastic chair yesterday, fingering worry beads. He looked stunned and lost.
The relative said the main topic of conversation with Abu Dheim in recent months had been the timing of his wedding. An apartment in his parents' large white house was waiting for the couple.
"I asked him if he was ready to get married," said the relative, who asked not to be identified. "He said, 'Not yet. I'm looking to furnish the bedroom'."
Despite the appearance of normality, Abu Dheim may have decided some time ago to carry out an attack, the relative said. He believes pictures of the carnage from Israel's recent operation in Gaza, in which 120 Palestinians, including many civilians, were killed "pushed him to martyrdom", he said.
"Most people definitely see this as an honour to his family and see him as a hero."
The full article contains 450 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
