Amman begins stripping state's Palestinians of citizenship

[Fozzledick]

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Jordanian authorities have started revoking the citizenship of thousands of Palestinians living in Jordan to avoid a situation in which they would be "resettled" permanently in the kingdom, Jordanian and Palestinian officials revealed on Monday.

The new measure has increased tensions between Jordanians and Palestinians, who make up around 70 percent of the kingdom's population.

The tensions reached their peak over the weekend when tens of thousands of fans of Jordan's Al-Faisali soccer team chanted slogans condemning Palestinians as traitors and collaborators with Israel. Al-Faisali was playing the rival Wihdat soccer team, made up of Jordanian-Palestinians, in the Jordanian town of Zarqa.

Anti-riot policemen had to interfere to stop the Jordanian fans from lynching the Wihdat team members and their fans, eyewitnesses reported. They said the Jordanian fans of Al-Faisali hurled empty bottles and fireworks at the Palestinian players and their supporters.

Reports in a number of Jordanian newspapers said that the Jordanian fans also chanted anti-Palestinian slogans and cursed Palestine, the PLO, Jerusalem and the Aksa Mosque.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443863400&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


I'm sure someone here can tell me why this is all Israel's fault....

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Use the all powerful google, more papers are picking this up

it is not fake

[bemildred]

2. I don't see it on NewsNow->Jordan.

It smells of hyper-ventilation. But we can give it another day to see what shakes out.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. It is trickling out

and personally they might even be using the JP as a trial balloon. Would not be the first time that happens either.

Why the JP and not Ha'Aretz... who owns the JP? that should be your answer.

But I have found it in other places already

[bemildred]

7. There seems to be something there.

But it smacks more of legal maneuvering than dramatic change, so far. It sounds like the issue goes back quite a ways, and they continue to struggle with it. I kind of want to wait and see who else picks it up and how they spin it. I would wager at this point (pending riots breaking out in Jordan) that it won't see a lot of coverage.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Coverage in the middle east? You kid me right?

google black september though, for an idea of the last time riots broke up.

Oh and it goes back a long time... at least 1500 years...

[bemildred]

15. Well, I tried to be candid with you, I won't make that mistake again. nt

[henank]

10. You have a point but...

I would wager at this point (pending riots breaking out in Jordan) that it won't see a lot of coverage.

You're probably right but don't you think the hypocrisy is breathtaking? Everyone is so concerned about the Palestinians' civil and human rights, as long as it's Israel who appears to be abusing them. As soon as it involves another country, why, it's a) from the JPost therefore couldn't be plausible, b) legal maneuvering, c) a minor internal struggle, d) whatever.

I'm comparing the reactions both here and in the general MSM to what the coverage would be if it was Israel involved. I'm picturing UN resolutions, mass violent demonstrations worldwide, calls to boycott Israel, you know the drill.

[bemildred]

16. Hypocrisy does not impress me, it is common as dirt.

If it helps any, then yes the hypocrisy is breathtaking, but it is neither original nor different.

The issue is perfectly clear, the legal status of the refugees and displaced persons from the various wars, and it seems proper enough to me that governments would be concerned about the effects of their present actions on any final political resolution of the conflict. It's a "facts on the ground" sort of issue.

[shira]

17. henank - still no international outrage at this - note the silence of the Int'l pro-Pal'n groups

proving once more this conflict isn't about human and civil rights - it's about demonizing Israel.

The "concerned" international pro-Palestinian crowd is of course choked up over all this. :eyes:

[Ken Burch]

19. This isn't an attack on Palestinians

It's about preventing the Israeli government from saying that Palestinians are Jordanians and thus don't need to come home.

[henank]

21. No, it's not about Israel at all

It's purely about Jordan stripping its own citizens of Palestinian origin of their citizenship.

[Ken Burch]

22. It isn't persecution, if that's what you meant

Stop assuming that everything is an attack on Israel. And stop assuming that anything that the Israeli government doesn't like is automatically a disaster for the world's Jewish communities. Most people in those communities don't LIVE in Israel, after all.

[henank]

24. You're the one who mentioned Israel

I specifically said it was NOT an attack on Israel but an attack on the rights of Palestinians living in Jordan. The way some people here are wiggling to get out of that awkward fact and to avoid denouncing an Arab regime, where if Israel were doing the same thing all hell would break loose, is highly amusing.

[Ken Burch]

29. I said that in response, among other things, to shira once again dragging out the "double standards"

meme.

And the larger point is, this is about facilitating Palestinians' being able to return TO Palestine, so there isn't necessarily anything to attack the Jordanian government ABOUT on this.

[shira]

30. WTF?

And the larger point is, this is about facilitating Palestinians' being able to return TO Palestine, so there isn't necessarily anything to attack the Jordanian government ABOUT on this.

There's nothing to get all upset over when Jordan is stripping Palestinians of their Jordanian citizenship?

:wtf:

You probably don't have a problem with Palestinian refugees denied citizenship throughout the rest of the Arab world too, so long as they can be used as pawns in the big RoR fantasy - right?

WHAT makes you think Palestinian citizens of Jordan WANT to return to Palestine?

How low can you go?

[Ken Burch]

31. Exiles naturally want to return home.

And you really can't put Jordan in with CAMERA/FLAME's mythical "unrelenting Arab campaign". They made peace with Israel and I think they've even got diplomatic relations. Plus, they were always the closest thing Israel had to a friend in the Arab world before Sadat came along.

Don't try to turn Abdullah into this year's Nasser, shira.

[shira]

32. well okay then - let's have the jewish exiles of the USA given yellow cards too...they all want to

return home to Israel. Why don't we "help" them along so they can return home, Ken?

:eyes:

Do you take yourself seriously?

======

If these Palestinian citizens of Jordan want to return to Palestine, that's their choice - not Jordan's choice.

Thanks for illustrating once again how little you care for Palestinian human rights - where Jews are not involved.

[Ken Burch]

33. I'm just saying there was never going to be a time, no matter what the other Arab countries did

even if they closed the camps and let Palestinians settle(which, btw, I actually think they SHOULD do)that those exiles would just say "Ok, we accept that we're never going to go back and they had the right to kick us out". The whole Israeli line about the camps is about as plausible as the character in Michener's "THE SOURCE" who is supposed to be a Palestinian leader and actually offers, as a serious proposal, the idea that all Palestinians should move to Costa Rica!

You're assuming there's an injustice here. I'm simply not sure that there is. And besides, the main reason you want people to attack Jordan on this is that you want to use those attacks to say "See, Israel is superior and has the right to go on treating Palestinians as it does." After which, you'd once again try to slide in the "Jordan is the Palestinian state" lie.

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ken Burch]

37. I don't hate anybody, for one thing.

And I supported the WINNING side in World War II, unlike Pat.

And I detest antisemitism as much as I oppose all other forms of racism. And you know it.

You can't really be arguing that I'm obligated to be outraged by this just to prove that I don't "demonize Israel", are you? That's silly.

It's enough that I support Israel's right to exist.

You aren't interested in Palestinians in Jordan at all. The only reason you're raising this is to say "see, the Arab countries are worse".

BTW, you just violated DU rules in equating me to a known antisemite, so I WILL be alerting on this.

[shira]

38. yes, it's enough you support Israel's right to exist - Palestinian human rights mean nothing to you

I expect you to be outraged by this to show just how much you care for Palestinian human rights.

You don't care.

Haters of Israel don't care either - and that's the point.

[Ken Burch]

39. You're not sincere about "Palestinian human rights"

And I have NOTHING in common with a Nazi sack of shit like Buchanan.

I defend Palestinian human rights by supporting Palestinian self-determination.

You say you defend it and you insist on forcing Palestinians to live at the mercy of the IDF.

[shira]

41. you defend Palestinian self-determination which does _______ for Palestinian human & civil rights?

so long as they have their own state, that's all you care about right?

you don't care about their human and civil rights under Hamas or Fatah leadership.

that's "freedom" according to your "progressive" viewpoint?

that's pretty fucked up, Ken - after all, people in Zimbabwe and the Congo have self-determination....what does it matter what civil/human rights they enjoy under their leadership - right?

:eyes:

you're hopeless.

[Ken Burch]

43. No one is ever freer under military occupation than they would be with independence

Hamas can't be stopped while the Occupation remains in place. It's the tactics of the IDF that keep Hamas alive. I hate Hamas and want a democratic secular Palestine-and we both know no country under military occupation can actually be genuinely democratic. And, since we both know the Palestinians are not morally equivalent to the German citizens who had cheered on Hitler, we both know they can't be said to DESERVE to be under military Occupation.

[shira]

44. but if it were up to you and the occupation continued another 20 years, you STILL would allow Hamas

...to shit all over Palestinians and say/do nothing about it.....because that somehow equates to you being "for" occupation. Yes, in your world, criticizing Hamas and standing up for Palestinians against Hamas means you are pro-occupation.

:eyes:

you don't see how irrational that is?

What's your excuse for Palestinians stripped of their citizenship in Jordan or Palestinians suffering in refugee camps elsewhere throughout the Arab world? Why not speak out and stand up for their human and civil rights? Oh yeah, doing that makes you pro-occupation and settlements too?

unreal.

[Ken Burch]

45. I'm against Hamas

What you want is for me to say "Hamas justifies everything Israel does".

And the reason you demand all these "condemnations" about all these things is that you want to use them to say "see, everyone agrees that Israel is better than all the Arab countries and this proves Palestinians must never get a state". You just want well-meaning words to twist.

I've proved I'm not an antisemite and not even an antizionist. I just disagree with you about some things.
And, since you've shown yourself to be utterly irrational and to be driven solely by hate and nationalism, I am now putting you on ignore. I'd have been glad to have a real discussion with you, shira, but you never wanted that. You just wanted to "win". Therefore, on this, you have now lost.

[shira]

46. no, what I want from you is consistency

Hamas and Fatah treatment of Palestinians is a MAJOR part of the I/P conflict. Addressing the problem will go a long way to resolving the conflict. There can be no peace, even if a deal is signed, with Fatah and Hamas continuing on. And there's ZERO reason to believe a Palestinian state will successfully deal with Hamas and Fatah in order to bring about a real secular democracy. There simply isn't enough interest from the "pro-Palestinian" progressives to see that such a thing happens.

[LeftishBrit]

26. They're not attacking Israel. They're playing games ..

in a feud with Israel, but mainly harming the nearest pawns: the Palestinians.

[shira]

23. ken, you're okay with Jordan stripping Palestinians of citizenship?

[peacetalksforall]

3. Raise the warning flag if it is coming from the Jerusalem Post and has anything

to do with Palestinians.

[Behind the Aegis]

4. Raise the flag...Jordanian Times says:

The saga of withdrawing or rescinding the Jordanian nationality of people of Palestinian origin continues amidst confusion about the exchange of the so-called yellow cards with green cards and vice versa of those affected.

While understanding the urgent need to regulate citizenship rights of Jordanians and former Jordanians who were residents of the West Bank in the wake of the 1988 decision to sever legal and administrative relations with the former Jordanian territory, we are at a loss as to why this regulation cannot be spelled out by law in no uncertain terms instead of resorting to administrative complications and the issuance of coloured cards.

This yellow and green card phenomenon must be replaced with another legislative mechanism to end, once for all, the confusion arising from the 1988 decision to sever all administrative and legal ties with the occupied West Bank. Normally granting and withdrawing citizenship is regulated by law and not by administrative procedures as seems to the case in our country.

The problem originally ensued from the 1988 decision to sever all administrative and legal ties with the former Jordanian territory west of the River Jordan. It was basically politically necessitated by the Arab and Palestinian decision to allow the Palestinians and their representatives to speak for themselves on how best to pursue their national rights and establish their own independent state on Palestinian soil.

more...

[peacetalksforall]

5. Sounds like debate commentary between legal and administrative - in other words the 'how'.

[Behind the Aegis]

9. Then...

House panel backs ministry procedures on ‘citizenship revocation’

By Khetam Malkawi

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.

more...

[Scurrilous]

11. From the JordanTimes:

"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."

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


Looks like a lot more Palestinians gained citizenship then lost it.



And oh yeah, look over there...a soccer riot!!1!

[azurnoir]

12. Hmmm

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

but I am sure that did not refer to the Jpost article, I mean JPost wouldn't trumpet something like that for political ends would it?

[LeftishBrit]

13. The Palestinians - everyone's pawns for 60 years

It's indeed high time they got their own state.

[shira]

14. it's still about destroying Israel via RoR....note how Abbas and the PA will not fight against this.

[shaayecanaan]

18. What a cunning plan, eh?

I am sure that Hamas had a hand in that soccer riot. Possibly they used a new mood agent to excite the Jordanians that was devised by Ahmadinejad himself, and then smuggled to Hamas via Hezbollah. Obama would have known about it all along, being a Muslim of course.

[shira]

27. it's difficult to admit for you, isn't it?

Jordan is doing the same things all Arab states have done the past 61 years - using Palestinian refugees as pawns in their fantasy RoR fantasy - and you apparently don't have a big problem with it either.

Nice.

[shaayecanaan]

28. No you fool...

Zey are not using zee Palestinians as pawns, zey are making zee Soylent Green out of zee Palestinians and zen feeding dem to zee little kids in America.

Because of dat, zere will be no Christmas zis year!

[Ken Burch]

34. And, of course, Christmas is a HUGE thing in Jordan

:sarcasm:

[Ken Burch]

35. The problem is, we know what your game is, here.

You're just bringing this up to revive the "It'a all the other Arab countries fault, Israel is innocent, and if it wasn't for the bad, bad, evil baby-eating Arab leaders all the Palestinians would've been perfectly happy being exiled forever" lie.

[shira]

40. ken, if Palestinian human rights are an issue to you - why are you okay with Jordan's behavior?

some of us here are right, aren't we?

namely, this isn't a human rights issue - it's a vehicle for you to demonize Israel.

[Ken Burch]

42. No, you're wrong. I don't demonize Israel, and you're violating DU rules by repeating that slur

I don't know that this is actually that big of a deal.

And if anyone is demonizing here, it's you-you're using this to demonize Jordan, a country that's actually been one of Israel's best Arab friends. It appears that you're acting like this proves they're just as bad as Libya when Qaddafi was still riding high.

Furthermore, I'm not even sure that Palestinians in Jordan are even angry about this.

I don't demonize Israel-I'm critical of the Israeli government-and there's a huge difference between those two things.

[Ken Burch]

20. Jordan is going to be ruled by the Hashemites forever

There's never been a case for the Likudnik "Jordan is the Palestinian state" meme. Give it a rest. This doesn't harm Israel at all.

Palestinians are not monsters.

[shaayecanaan]

25. Christ, I hope not...

But aside - to a large extent, the political mood in Jordan has turned due to the large influx of refugees that have recently arrived from Iraq. Jordan absorbed close to a million refugees, many of whom were neither Arab nor Muslim (Chaldeans, Assyrians and so forth). The government has made it clear they dont want any more.

From my point of view, the greater hypocrisy is on the part of the United States, which pressures Jordan to absorb a refugee wave that the US itself created and is unwilling to absorb itself.

It should be noted that the whole green card, yellow card mess pertains to dual PA passport/Jordanian passport holders. Israel tried to pressure Jordan to withdraw the yellow card in 2006 because it was annoyed with all the people flowing back and forth across Allenby bridge (Jordan refused).

There's more I'd like to write on the situation, but its late.