Special Permit

Nader al-Masri runs through the streets of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip April 6, 2008. [Agencis]

Masri is set to be joined by three others -- sprinter Ghadeer Ghroof from Jericho and swimmers Hamza Abdu from Jerusalem and Zakeya Nassar from Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.

Travel abroad is a problem for Gazans due to the Israeli-led blockade and Masri has just been granted a special permit to go to Beijing after missing eight international athletics meetings.

He gets only $100 a month from the Palestinian Athletics Federation -- a sum he says is insufficient for the multi-vitamins, nutritious food and quality running shoes needed to compete at the highest level.

He trains on the streets or at Gaza's soccer stadium, whose main use has been for rallies by Palestinian factions rather than sporting events.

Athletics federation chairman Nabil Mabrouk said sports funding was scant from a government focused on peace talks with Israel.

Despite the bitter dispute between President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction, which holds sway in the West Bank, and Hamas, which controls Gaza, the Palestinians will send a team representing both territories.

Masri, who finished runner-up in a half-marathon in Jordan in 2006, dreams of being the first Palestinian to bag an Olympic medal.

"When I began running in the streets of Beit Hanoun, people laughed at me saying I was thin and running would make me only thinner," Masri said. "Now they cheer as I pass them and I do not want to let them down."