Ala Abu Dehein had an unremarkable life, by all accounts. But he will be remembered in death as either a martyr or a terrorist, depending on your political and religous idealogy.

He entered the Merkaz Harav yeshiva, a school for Rabbinic students, with an AK-47 and an automatic pistol and began firing. When he was done, eight students would be dead. The bodies of some of the students would be found laying among copies of the Torah, the Talmud and other religous works.

The gunman was from East Jerusalem and carried an identification card that allowed him into Israeli terrorities. He was able to enter the school, which has some 700 students and is in a crowded residential neighborhood, without setting off an alarm.

Ala Abu Dehein was shot to death by an Israel Defense Force officer. No group has claimed responsibility and he may have been a lone gunman.

Israel's Foreign Ministry issued a statement "Israel expects the nations of the world to support it in its war against those who murder students, women and children, by any means and with respect for neither place nor target."

President Bush evidently agreed "I condemn in the strongest possible terms the terrorist attack in Jerusalem that targeted innocent students at the Merkaz Harav yeshiva. This barbaric and vicious attack on innocent civilians deserves the condemnation of every nation."

In disagreement, Libya, now a new member of the United Nations Security Council, said "We see the killing, the bloodshed in the Palestinian territory. ... For us, the human lives are the same. We judge the incident itself. When we have to condemn the killing of the Israeli civilians, we also have to look at what's happening in Gaza." Because of Libya's position on the Security Council, the UN was unable to reach consensus to condemn the act as terrorism.

If you don't follow events in the Middle East, you may be unaware that Israel has launched attacks against Hamas terrorists in the region, who have been firing rockets into Israel. Both Israel and Egypt have blocked supplies and electricity from reaching the 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza. Egypt has rebuilt and strengthened the wall separating Gaza from Egypt. There is no electricity for hospitals, sewage cannot be processed and the British group Care International UK has termed the situation a humanitarian crisis.

"Gaza has suffered from a long-term pattern of economic stagnation and plummeting development indicators," according to the report issued by the group. "The severity of the situation has increased exponentially since Israel imposed extreme restrictions on the movement of goods and people in response to the Hamas takeover of Gaza and to indiscriminate rocket attacks against Israel."

As I have stated before, Hamas has no real interest in peace as that would remove their reason for existence. Condelezza Rice visits the area in an effort to acheive peace, Hamas responds by firing rockets into Israel, Israel responds by military action, terrorists commit new acts of violence....repeat forever.