[custom_adv] RAFA, Palestinian Territories: There is only one known Iranian in Gaza -- an ageing former bodyguard to longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat who dreams only of returning home, but finds himself stuck in the enclave. [custom_adv] "I just want to get out of here and die in Iran," Qassem Sheyasi -- known by his Arabic nom-de-guerre Abu Hashem -- told AFP, making it clear that he is no longer in the Gaza Strip by choice. [custom_adv] Feeble, impoverished and sitting on a mattress laid on the floor, Abu Hashem flicked ash from his cigarette into a tin can with a gentle tap of his index finger as he recounted how he became trapped. [custom_adv] He said he left the Iranian capital 40 years ago to join Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization, then based in Beirut, which was one of several armed actors in Lebanon's civil war. [custom_adv] "In Beirut, I met Abu Ammar (Arafat), who asked me to stay with him," said Abu Hashem, who sometimes sprinkles his Arabic with Farsi."I became a bodyguard for (Arafat) and Abu Jihad," he recalled, referring to Khalil al-Wazir, the former head of the PLO's military wing who was killed by Israeli commandos in Tunisia in 1988. [custom_adv] Security sources with Hamas, the Islamist movement which has controlled Gaza since 2007, said Abu Hashem was the only known Iranian currently in the territory. His age is a subject of some uncertainty. His Palestinian papers put him at 70, his Iranian documents at 78 but, as far he is concerned, he's been around for nearly 100 years.
