Source: Reuters, 19-10-2007
JABALYA, Gaza Strip - Officially, Mahmoud Jnaid does not exist. The 25-year-old Palestinian almost made that a reality earlier this month when he doused himself with petrol and tried to set himself alight.
Jnaid is one of about 54,000 displaced Palestinians who returned to Gaza and the West Bank from abroad after an interim peace accord in 1993, but still have no identity cards because "Israel" refuses to approve them.
Following years of silence, they recently started holding weekly protests in Hamas-run Gaza to demand the documents, which they need to travel as well as for daily basics like opening a bank account or getting a driving license.
"I am Mr Nobody," said Jnaid, who, at one of the protests, doused himself in petrol and tried to set himself alight before onlookers overpowered him.
"When I poured the petrol on my body I felt life was the same as death," he said as he sat next to his wife and children.
Jnaid was born in Jordan after his family fled their home in the coastal strip after the 1967 war with "Israel". He returned to Gaza in 1995 at the age of 13 but still has no ID card.
In a stroke of bitter irony, Jnaid`s brother was finally granted identity papers two weeks after he was killed in a protest against "Israeli" soldiers in Gaza.
"It was worthless, they recognized him only when he died," Jnaid said.
"Israel" has closed Gaza`s borders to everything but humanitarian supplies since Islamist group Hamas seized control of the territory, home to 1.5 million people, in June and ousted its secular Fatah rivals. The economy is in meltdown.
"I have to take care of six children now and I am out of a job for three months," said Jnaid, an unemployed carpenter.
"GHOSTS"
"Israel" granted identity cards to some 3,500 Palestinians in the West Bank earlier this month as part of efforts to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah ahead of an "Israeli"-Palestinian conference on statehood.
But there is little hope the goodwill will extend to Gaza, which "Israel" recently branded an "enemy entity" because militants in the territory regularly fire rockets into the Jewish (Zionist) state.
Under the 1993 peace accords, "Israel" must approve all Palestinian personal documents, including ID cards.
Jnaid says living in Gaza is like being in jail. His uncle and a younger brother died a few months ago in neighboring Egypt, but Jnaid could not attend their funerals.
When he asked for permission to travel to "Israel" or Egypt for eye surgery, his request was rejected.
"Those in "Israeli" jails live in small cells, I am too a prisoner but in a large room called Gaza," Jnaid said.
Hussein al-Sheikh, head of the Palestinian Civil Affairs government office in Ramallah, which negotiates with "Israel" over the issue of ID cards and travel permits, said there was no sign "Israel" would soften their position on documents for Gazans.
Jnaid said he feels like a ghost.
"Not only a ghost, I do not exist. Everywhere I go people ask for an identification card and I do not have one."