Thursday, August 25, 2005

Is Jordan the next Mid-East country to practice “Disengagement”?

YnetOnline is carrying an interesting report that the Jordanian parliament is putting pressure on the government to “disengagement” the Gazan Palestinian Refugees from Jordan.
The Jordanian parliament is exerting pressure on the government in a bid to send Gaza Strip refugees living in the Hashemite kingdom back to Gaza, the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper reported Thursday. There are about 200,000 Gaza refugees in Jordan. Refugees and their descendants are not eligible for a Jordanian identity card and have no political rights in Jordan.

After meeting with Jordanian Prime Minister Adnan Badran, Parliament Speaker Abdul Hadi al-Majali said the government would do all it could to assist Gaza refugees return. At the same time, the prime minister reportedly asked for a delay on the matter.

In the coming weeks expect to hear more from Arab governments in the Middle East wishing to disengage all Gazan nationals from their refugee camps. Though I have to admit if I was a Palestinian Arab refugee living in the relative safety of the Kingdom of Jordan; I would certainly not be in a hurry to return to Gaza in the light of the ongoing power struggle by Hamas/Islamic Jihad/Palestinian Authority for control of the Gaza Strip. After 38 years what's another year or so when the bullets and kassams are flying?

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