Israel als Schurkenstaat 115

Jordan braces for possible influx of up to 50,000 Palestinians

Suha Philip Ma’ayeh, Foreign Correspondent

• Last Updated: April 25. 2010 9:25PM UAE / April 25. 2010 5:25PM GMT

AMMAN // Jordan is deeply concerned that a recent Israeli military order facilitating the deportation of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank could lead to another wave of forced migration to the kingdom.

Jordanian politicians and analysts estimate that nearly 50,000 Palestinians could be deported here in the wake of Israel’s military ruling, which took effect on April 13, that anyone caught in the West Bank without an Israeli permit could face expulsion within days or be sentenced to up to seven years in prison.

Despite assurances from Israel that the decision targets only foreign nationals, the measure, an amendment to a 1969 ruling, is open to interpretation. The new rules allow the expulsion within three days of anyone without a valid permit and raise the maximum prison sentence for transgression to seven years. The orders do not stipulate what a valid permit is, and the wording is so vague that human rights organisations have said they could be used against anyone in the occupied West Bank.

“If the Israeli right-wing extreme government manages to implement its racist expulsion decision, the Palestinian people living in their homeland will face the third largest and most serious forced displacement after the 1948 and 1967,” wrote Oraib Rantawi, a political writer with Addustour daily newspaper. “This decision will have the effect of a spark that will be set an entire field ablaze not only in Palestine, but also in countries that are supposed to receive these refugees,” he added.

Jordan originally opened its doors to Palestinian refugees who flooded into the country in two waves in the wake of the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948 and 1967. Half of Jordan’s nearly six million population is of Palestinian origin.

Between 1950 and 1967 Amman controlled the West Bank, but in 1988 it severed its legal and administrative ties with the territory to allow the Palestine Liberation Organisation to act as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinians.

Jordan does not want to serve as an alternative homeland for Palestinians, which right-wing politicians in Israel have advocated for years. Also, there are fears that another wave of immigrants would threaten to upset the kingdom’s demographic balance and render Jordanians from the eastern bank of the river a minority in the country.

“The reason Jordan is anxious about this measure is because Amman is increasingly convinced that Israel is either actively working to revive the alternative homeland scenario, and at the very least is pursuing policies vis-à-vis the West Bank that have an inexorable momentum towards such an objective,” Moiun Rabbani, a senior Middle East analyst based in Amman, said.

The composition of the current Israeli government, in combination with the effective collapse of the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas’s legitimacy, adds to Amman’s anxiety, he said.

“Since Abbas came to office, you no longer have a Palestinian leadership whose legitimacy is invested in, and at least partly derives from, rejection of the Jordanian option,” Mr Rabbani said.

Hamas had also rejected the option of a homeland in Jordan. The group’s leader Khaled Mashaal was quoted by the Dostour newspaper in October as saying that “politically, Palestine is Palestine and Jordan is Jordan”.

Israel’s decision comes at a time when ties between Jordan and its Jewish neighbour are colder than ever. The minister of state for media affairs, Nabil Sharif, told reporters on Wednesday that Jordan will not allow the Israeli authorities to deport Palestinians from the West Bank or East Jerusalem to the kingdom.

“Jordan reserves all diplomatic, political and legal choices in dealing with this decision which we consider as null and void because it was issued by an occupation authority,” he said.

The government has this month summoned the Israeli ambassador to Jordan, Dani Nevo, to protest against the decision, according to Petra, the state-run news agency.

Some politicians suggested that Jordan should not be very concerned about the deportations.

“The decision should not affect us because we are a sovereign state,” said Fayez Tarawneh, a senator and a former prime minister. “Israel should not frighten us and not every decision it makes is the end of the world. We can confront it and we can take measures that protect our sovereignty,” he said.

For now, some argue that Jordan could resort to sealing it borders to prevent Israel from deporting Palestinians to the country.

“We can be very strict in guarding our entry and exit points,” Marwan Dudin, a politician and a senator, said “[These are] Israeli illegal unilateral measures, which actually are in complete contradiction with international laws and all the Geneva accords after the Second World War.”

smaayeh@thenational.ae

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100426/FOREIGN/704259928/1002