Gaza's youth plagued by despair

The death of a young Gaza man who set himself on fire because he could not find a job has sent shock waves through this conservative territory and underscored growing despair among Palestinian youth.

The self-immolation of 21-year-old Ihab Abu Nada was the first in Gaza, after a series of copycat deaths in the Middle East since a Tunisian youth set himself on fire in December 2010. That case triggered protests and revolutions that have swept across the Arab world, toppling dictatorships and touching off a civil war in Syria.

Gaza, a crowded strip of land between Israel and Egypt, has never been wealthy. Unemployment has usually been over 20 per cent. Since the militant Hamas took over the territory in 2007, the economy has steadily worsened under an Israeli blockade.

Youth unemployment hovers around 50 per cent, and a lack of hope is palpable - many young Gaza men take cheap, powerful pain killers to take the edge off reality.

Abu Nada's father, Sufian, 54, said the family has been struggling to get by on his civil servant's salary of about $220 a month. On Saturday night, Sufian Abu Nada said he was arguing with his son to try find work.

"He told his mother: 'Tell my father I'm going to find work,"' a sobbing Abu Nada told a Gaza radio station Monday. "My eye is broken, my heart is broken, my love." more

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