Palestinians without ID cards, illegal in their own country, protest for 36th week

Date: 03 / 02 / 2008 Time: 15:42

Gaza – Ma'an –

Hundreds of Palestinians who do not hold identification cards rallied outside the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) headquarters in Gaza City on Sunday demanding a solution to their problem.

Palestinians without ID cards have been holding a weekly demonstration at the PLC for 36 weeks.

Since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA) after the Oslo Accords, thousands of exiled Palestinians returned to the Palestinian territories on visit permits issued by Israeli authorities. Many of those visitors remained in Palestine after their permits expired, becoming and illegal immigrants in the eye of Israel.

With the passage of time and Israel's ongoing refusal to allow exiled Palestinians to reunite with their families, the problem of ID-less Palestinians has persisted.

Undocumented Palestinians are pursued by Israeli authorities on a daily basis, meaning that they have to move with caution from on area of Palestine to the next. If discovered at one of Israel's many checkpoints, they risk immediate deportation.

Complicating matters, many undocumented Palestinians are married to other Palestinians, and some have had children who cannot be registered with the Palestinian interior ministry. These children are born into a legal limbo, even in their own country.

The spokesperson of the Palestinian Committee for Defending Citizenship, Rajae Abu Duqqaa, told Ma'an, "This problem should be seriously addressed, and we will not give up our right to get a Palestinian ID regardless of any agreements on the crossings."

"We have to be able to visit Jerusalem and pray at Al-Aqsa mosque, and that needs an ID," he added.

The spokesperson of the Palestinian Committee for Defending Citizenship Rajae Abu Duqqaa told Ma'an, "This problem should be seriously addressed, and we will not give up our right to get a Palestinian ID regardless of any agreements on the crossings." We have to be able to visit Jerusalem and pray at Al-Aqsa mosque, and that needs an ID, he added.

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