In perfect Hebrew, Jackie (not his real name) recounts the story of how he lost his identity in a perilous game of international intelligence. As a Lebanese Druze boy of 14, Jackie would cross the border to meet his Israeli contacts. Eventually Jackie fled Lebanon and settled in Tel Aviv. However, he says the state he once served now refuses to acknowledge his existence.

Jackie, 31, has lived in Israel since 1992 - half of his life. Some of that time he spent as a homeless person, sleeping on the beach. He would use the beach faucets for water. "I can get by wherever you put me," he says. He is now trying to do just that, by preparing a law suit against the state for refusing his request for Israeli citizenship.

In 2000, he became active in the community of Lebanese exiles living in Israel - predominantly Christian families of soldiers in the South Lebanese Army, the Israel Defense Forces' former ally in Lebanon. When the IDF pulled out of Lebanon in 2000, some 2,500 SLA soldiers and their families followed, fearing retribution from Hezbollah and Syrian forces stationed in Lebanon.