Palestinians live as "ghosts" in Gaza

Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reuters, 19.10.07. JABALYA, Gaza Strip, Oct 19 (Reuters) - 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 licence. 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 state. Under the 1993 peace accords, Israel must approve all Palestinian personal documents, including ID cards