If ever there was an unlikely hero, he is Ahmed Musa Mustafa Daqamseh.
On a still morning in March, Daqamseh, a sergeant in Jordan's army, aimed his automatic rifle at a group of Israeli schoolgirls on a field trip and kept shooting until his weapon jammed; by then, he had killed seven schoolgirls, ages 12 to 15.President Clinton denounced the attack, and King Hussein called for the death penalty. Hussein piloted his own helicopter to Israel and kneeled in front of the victims' parents.
Over the summer, a Jordanian court sentenced Daqamseh to life in prison, but the story does not end there.
Dozens of defense attorneys in Jordan have taken up his cause, without pay. Across the country, many people say they feel sorry for Daqamseh. And there are even reports that a shadowy terrorist group in Lebanon has taken Deqamseh's name and is trying to kill Israeli officials.
In a chilling statement to reporters, Najib Rashadan, Jordan's former chief justice and the leader of the Popular Committee for the Defense of Ahmad Daqamseh, recently called the killer a "hero." He justified the killings by saying the girls would have eventually gone into Israel's army.
The transformation of the 26-year-old Daqamseh from villain to object of sympathy, and perhaps even martyr, is a telling symbol of the failure of the peace process in the Middle East.
"There is tremendous support for Daqamseh," said Layth Shabeilat, an opposition leader in Amman. "He was subjected to the most injust trial . . . condemned by the king from the very first , and nobody wanted to listen to his side of the story."
The support for Daqamseh, although hard to gauge, is puzzling to some Jordanians.
"I can understand being frustrated with Israel and . . . the peace process, but to champion someone who shoots girls, I just don't understand," said Malik Mufti, who teaches political science at Tufts University.