Middle East: Terrorist bombs do not discriminate between Jews and Palestinians, or even Jews and Christians. Michael Jansen reports from Beit Hanina
Shefiq Karam, a Palestinian who was also a Christian, had worked at the Hillel Cafe in west Jerusalem for just one month when the bomber struck on Tuesday night.
"He was so excited because he was going to collect his first salary," his grieving father, Mr Yehya Karam, said last night. "He never touched it."
Shafiq was 27. "He was a good boy, very gentle. He went to Bethlehem University for a year to study economics but left when he found all the students joining different political groups. He was not interested in politics at all, he just wanted to live.
"After he left \ he worked with me. When things were going well he spoke of finding a girl and getting married."
The Karams live in a two-storey stone house in a garden. We walked beneath the canopy of a grape vine to the front porch where Mr Karam was receiving condolences from male friends and relatives.
He took my friend, Dyala, and me upstairs to his sister's flat to sit for a while with his wife.
The custom in the Middle East is for men to mourn with men, women with women. Most of the furniture had been removed from the room.
Ranged along the walls were straightbacked chairs for the mourners. When we arrived most were young women in deep black. Mr Karam sat at the corner of a faded chintz divan, red-eyed, deeply shocked. No one spoke. For this family the world had stopped turning on its axis when Shefiq, the eldest son, had died.
Having expressed our sympathy, we met Mr Karam on the enclosed veranda. We took seats on the soft blue sofa; he sat on a chair, a picture of Jesus Christ above his head on the wall. The Karams are "Latins," Roman Catholics.
Clearly under great stress, he explained why Shefiq's death was such a shock and tragedy for them all.
"It all began 40 days ago. My two sons, Shefiq and Tewfiq, used to run an Internet cafe on Jaffa Road [in west Jerusalem]. We took over a shop which had been rented by a cousin whose souvenir business failed after the Intifada [erupted in 2000]. We had many customers, mostly Jewish students from America. My sons and I speak good Hebrew. We had no trouble..
"No one even knew we were Palestinians. But we could not afford the high taxes and the high rent. We fell behind, and I thought of leaving the country, starting over.
"So I went to Kiev to set up an Internet cafe with a friend. I received phone calls from home saying that our creditors had seized our computers and other equipment. The landlord demanded his rent. I did not have the money to give him. So we lost the business."
Mr Karam raised his hands. "I have good hands and a good mind. I can do anything in electronics. I even invented a few things, but I have no money and no backing. No banks will lend me money at reasonable rates."
The tax people seized the family television set and Shefiq's car, and even detained Tewfiq for a few hours.
"We borrowed money from our family and he did not spend a night in jail," Mr Karam said. "Then our cousin's son drowned, my sister had a car accident, I broke a bone in my hand . . . it was a nightmare.
"We had 40 days of one catastrophe after another. I had no job, Tewfiq had no job, my daughter's husband is unemployed, we have no income. Shafiq decided to find a job. It seemed that our financial circumstances pushed him to this place."
As the time approached for the television news, several women came out to watch.
The lead item was the bombing at the Hillel Cafe. Shefiq's picture flashed on the screen, a young man with thin, clean shaven face and short dark hair, dressed in a red and white football shirt.
"He was good with computers," Mr Karam remarked. Shefiq's grandmother burst into tears.
"I gave an interview to the television this morning," Mr Karam said. "I have a message I want people to hear.
"I just want to say, it's enough killing. I don't want to see my grandchildren killed like my son. I accept his death if this will stop the killing. Killing will bring us nowhere."
As we took our leave other family members crowded the veranda to see if Mr Karam's message was broadcast on the Hebrew news.