Testimonies

Intesar Abu 'Issa, mother of four

I was born on 14 September 1977, in Deir al-Ghusun. There were nine people in our family including me. My father didn't take the trouble to register me in the population registry, over which Israel had responsibility. On 20 April 1983, when I was five, my father obtained a birth certificate for me from the Civil Administration, but it didn't have an identity number.

When I was six, I started school in Deir al-Ghusun, where I studied until the end of middle school. Over the years, my father went a number of times to the Civil Administration and the Palestinian Ministry of the Interior to obtain an ID card for me, but it didn't help.

In 1995, when I was 18 years old, I married Iyad 'Aqab 'Issa. My husband, too, tried to obtain an ID card for me, but because I didn't have an identity card number, the clerk said it was impossible.  

On 13 September 2005, my husband went to the Palestinian DCL and submitted a request for internal family unification. I have not yet received a reply.

Life without an ID card is very hard. When my son Majdi was four, he suffered face burns and needed cosmetic surgery to remove the facial scars and distortions. We planned to go abroad for the operation, but I couldn't go because I didn't have an ID card. He was a small child and very dependent on me, and we had to cancel the trip. Majdi did not get the treatment he needed.

Two years ago, my mother needed to go to Jordan for medical treatment, and I couldn't go with her.

I can't visit other towns in the West Bank because I am unable to cross checkpoints. When the army makes an incursion into my village, I worry they will arrest me because I don't have an ID card.

Intesar 'Abd al-Fatah Raja Abu 'Issa, 31, married with four children, is a homemaker and a resident of Deir al-Ghusun, Tulkarm District. Her testimony was given to 'Abd al-Karim Sa'adi at the witness's home on 30 March 2008.