Jordan criticized for stripping Palestinian rights

[Behind the Aegis]

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- A U.S.-based human rights group criticized Jordan Monday for stripping the citizenship of nearly 3,000 Jordanians of Palestinian origin in recent years.

Nearly half the kingdom's 6 million people are of Palestinian origin and Jordan fears that if Palestinians become the majority, it will disrupt the delicate demographic balance. Those concerns have been heightened by some Israeli hard-liners who argue that neighboring Jordan should become the Palestinian state and that more West Bank Palestinians should be pushed into Jordan.

Palestinians want to establish an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with east Jerusalem as their capital.

Concerned about increasing numbers of Palestinians in the country, Jordan in 2004 began revoking citizenship from Palestinians who do not have the Israeli permits that are necessary to reside in the West Bank.

Human Rights Watch said Jordan stripped about 2,700 Jordanians of Palestinian origin of their citizenship between 2004 and 2008 and urged them to restore their full rights. The trend continued last year, the group said in a report released in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

The Jordanian measure rendered the Palestinians "stateless," depriving them of passports, voting rights, education, travel, health care and jobs, said Christoph Wilcke, HRW researcher on Jordan.

more...

[proteus_lives]

1. No comments?

I'm shocked! Shocked, I tells ya!

I guess admitting that the Arab states aren't the loving brothers to the Palestinians would be too much for some posters.

[azurnoir]

2. So are you contending

that Jordan is doing this demographic reasons?

[Violet_Crumble]

3. Huh? I've been asleep for the past 10 or so hours...

I'm so sorry I can't be online 24/7 to comment on every single thing that gets posted in this forum. Anyway, not sure why you think I need to comment on this OP. I notice there's lots of OPs that you don't comment on, so what's the difference?

[proteus_lives]

4. Just remarking on a general trend.

I/P is a lot less interested in stories if they don't involve Israel in a negative light.

[Ken Burch]

5. I'll make a comment...

What Jordan is doing is wrong.

It doesn't mean that what Israel is doing to Palestinians is acceptable, however.

And it sure as hell discredits the "Jordan is the Palestinian state" meme for all eternity.

A lack of comments about this is not based on anyone saying "aw damn...this doesn't make Israel look bad".

While there are a few unpleasant crazies(the sort the rest of us go after the moment they appear on this forum)that post just for the sake of attacking Israel(and fewer still who do so because they are antisemitic shits)The vast majority of people who support Palestinian self-determination do so for honorable, progressive, and humane reasons.

And yes, you ARE "just remarking", if by "just remarking" you mean "just making a passive-aggressive and totally unjustified insinuation about those posters who support Palestinians in their struggle against oppression".

[proteus_lives]

10. It is wrong.

Jordan is making a bad move.

The vast majority of people who support Palestinian self-determination do so for honorable, progressive, and humane reasons. I think so too.

The vast majority of people who support the Israeli right to defend themselves and not be forced into an unequal peace do so for honorable, progressive and humane reasons.

I wasn't being passive-aggressive, I think the majority here are pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel. Fact of life on DU.

[azurnoir]

11. Well you can remark on this

first this issue was discussed here last July, this is a article from that thread that gives a more complete picture and a link to the thread it self

AMMAN - Authorities are not withdrawing nationalities from Jordanians of Palestinian origin in an unjustified manner, a parliamentary representative said on Thursday.

Chairperson of the House Freedoms Committee Fakhri Daoud said the committee received many complaints from people saying that authorities withdrew their Jordanian passports without cause.

“We summoned the minister of interior to clarify this issue, and found that what was said is not true,” Daoud told the press following the meeting with the minister.

“Authorities were only implementing the 1989 administrative and legal disengagement between Jordan and the West Bank,” Daoud said, adding that figures provided by the ministry this year are almost similar to the previous years.

In 1989, when Jordan disengaged from the West Bank, all Palestinians residing in the West Bank were considered Palestinian, while others in the diaspora with Jordanian passports were considered Jordanian.

The decision was made to allow the Palestine Liberation Organisation to act as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

Following the disengagement, Jordan issued yellow cards to Palestinians in Jordan and the diaspora holding Jordanian passports, which entitled these individuals to the full rights of Jordanian citizenship.

Palestinians in the West Bank who had family living in Jordan were issued green cards, which entitled them to temporary Jordanian passports to facilitate travel but did not grant them citizenship rights.

Palestinians with yellow cards who return to Palestine and receive recognition as nationals under either Israeli or Palestinian law revoke their right to a yellow card and are issued a green card when they renew their passports. Conversely, Palestinians with green cards may be granted yellow cards in certain circumstances, such as when their parents reside in Jordan and hold yellow cards.

According to figures cited by the deputy, authorities replaced 190 yellow cards with green ones and 5,130 green cards with yellow ones in the period between March 1 and June 30, 2009, compared to replacing 204 yellow cards with green and 4,139 green with yellow in the same period in 2008.

The figures also show that 244 people were issued green cards, while 2,696 were issued yellow cards in the same period of 2007.

“The rumours about this issue are the result of the political developments in the region,” Daoud quoted the minister as saying.

Interior officials have defended the procedures saying that they are meant to counter Israeli policies to “empty the Palestinian lands from their legitimate residents”.

http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=18480&searchFor=citizenshi

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=124&topic_id=281667

also here is HRW's press release on this issue which makes no mention of the demographic question as the numbers given 3000 out of 3,000,000 would be 1/10 of 1 percent hardly a dent in demographics making that something interjected by the OP's author for whatever reason, but still I would comend HRW for taking up this issue and hopefully there will be justice for the people affected

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/02/01/jordan-stop-withdrawing-nationality-palestinian-origin-citizens

[Violet_Crumble]

13. Nah, you got it all wrong there...

It's got nothing to do with whether Israel or the Palestinians are shown in a negative light, but comes down to a couple of factors like whether one or two posters who are just like Energiser Bunny automatons turn up and whether people are inclined to play with them. That can blow a thread right up to over a hundred posts real quick, whether someone comes along and dares to utter the word apartheid, which can again blow a thread out to hundreds of posts, or whether one poster in particular who kicks their own threads and replies to their own posts is in action or not.

Seriously, I wouldn't have even posted in this thread if I hadn't spotted yr post, partly coz a very similar thing was posted last year, and also because there's just some 'participants' in this forum who I generally don't waste my time with if they start a new thread. I've never been backwards in saying what I think of the shit way Palestinians are treated by the Arab states, and if some of the 'supporters' of Israel here said even a fraction in the way of criticism when it comes to the way Israel has treated Palestinians, then I wouldn't think they're pretty hypocritical sorts :)

[Ken Burch]

6. What would such an admission mean?

It does NOT mean

1)That those Arab states who support a Palestinian state are insincere in doing so;

OR

2)That mistreatment of Palestinians by other Arabs somehow discredits the Palestinian cause.

[proteus_lives]

9. Well.

1. They've been using the Palestinians as cannon fodder and political footballs since the '40s.

2. It doesn't but I think Palestinian/Arab relations should be considered a lot more around here.

[LeftishBrit]

12. It doesn't mean the second, but does to an extent mean the first...

Or at least that the local Arab governments have little real interest in helping Palestinians and engage in a lot of hypocrisy of any sort. (Hypocrisy is the name of the game for most governments of any sort.)

[17breezes]

7. Two words

Black September

[Ken Burch]

14. Black September was thirty-seven years ago. Why would Jordan punish Jordanian Palestinians NOW?

Are you here to do ANYTHING but demonize Palestinians?

[Behind the Aegis]

15. Did you even read the article?

[Ken Burch]

16. Yes. And the article doesnt even MENTION Black September

So there was no justification for Breezes to bring Black September up as if mentioning it somehow explains everything.

I oppose Jordan doing this. It goes without saying that pretty much anybody else who supports Palestinian self-determination AND peace in the Middle East feels the same.

[Behind the Aegis]

17. Maybe Jordan isn't "punishing" the Palestinians.

Read the article, the clue is there.

[Ken Burch]

19. My point wasn't even actually in response to the article

It was in response to Breezes raising that issue.

Leave it at that.

[Alamuti Lotus]

8. King Playstation cares more about serving US/Israel than the majority population?

Shocked, shocked I say! My sincerest apologies for not being around to post this earlier (apparently on command); attacking a servile Arab dictator is no problem for this humble narrator.

[Douglas Carpenter]

18. The Hashemite dynasty and the Palestinians have always had a very questionable relationship

From the very beginning there has been a history of collusion between the Zionist movement and Israel and frequently hostility toward between the Hashemite dynasty and the Palestinian national movement. In fact, here is the title the title of one of Avi Slaim's books:

Collusion Across the Jordan: King Abdullah, the Zionist Movement, and the Partition of Palestine

http://books.google.com/books?id=GpptAAAAMAAJ&q=Avi+Shlaim&dq=Avi+Shlaim&cd=6

Unfortunately, the books is now out of print - and would be extremely expensive to order

In fact one of the founders of the current, modern Hashemite dynasty, Faisal bin al-Hussein bin Ali al-Hashemi - was the only Arab leader to endorse the Balfour Declaration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faisal_I_of_Iraq

And of course there on the eve of the 1948 War there were two secret meetings in Amman between Golda Meir and King Abdullah to work out some general understandings even though officially Jordan was entering into war against the new Israeli state:

Israel and the Arab Coalition in 1948: Part 3, The Road to War
by Avi Shlaim, 2001

http://www.fathom.com/course/72810001/session3.html

Needless to say there has then and now been a very frosty and uncertain relationship between the Hashemite Kingdom and the Palestinians - especially considering that the Palestinians make up the vast majority of residents of Jordan. Equally there is still a certain degree of mutual fear and suspicion between Jordanians of Jordanian family origin and Jordanians of Palestinian family origin. This relationship has been over the years and still remains somewhat tense and uncertain. On the other hand, the Hashemite Kingdom is the only Arab country that granted citizenship to the majority of Palestinian residents. But since residents of Palestinian origin are in the majority and the indigenous Jordanians were primarily of Bedouin origin,the Hashemite Kingdom needed them as well - given that the Palestinians offered a population basis for a very under-populated Trans-Jordan, with a people more accustomed to business and commerce and relatively higher educational, business and technical skills.