Refugees in Jordan

Friday, December 7, 2007

Today I had an opportunity to ask Nuhad, the executive director of the Middle East Council of Churches, about Palestinian refugees in Jordan, and we met with 2 Iraqi refugees who reported on the situation of Iraqis in Amman.

There have been several waves of Palestinian refugees moving into Jordan. The first was in 1948 when the Zionists of the Haganah and Stern gangs forced Palestinians out of their homes. The Palestinians who came at this time were assimilated into Jordanian society and became Jordanian citizens. Their children completed their educations, and they were able to find employment. The second wave was in 1967 when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza. Some, but not all, of these refugees were accepted by the Jordanian government. By 1987

over 150,000 people were without Jordanian citizenship.

In 2003 a new wave of refugees came from Iraq. About 650,000 crossed into Jordan with and without passports. Because these people are not recognized by the Jordanian government as refugees, they cannot receive refugee aid from the United Nations. The government is calling them "guests." A refugee doctor and a Christian pastor, who are in Jordan legally, have been arranging for these families, including some Muslims, to receive food, clothing, furniture and other needed items. They must do this in secret so that the Jordanian government will not find out about the assistance.

We have been told by several people that no one, including "guests", in Jordan is homeless or living in a tent. According to these sources, everyone has a house or an apartment though it may be in a slum.

There are a great number of refugees/guests in Jordan and this is putting a great strain on the financial and social resources of the country.

Ramallah

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Obviously I am behind in my postings as I began writing this on December 1 and finished it on December 7.

On Thursday we visited an organization called Stop the Wall and another named Addameer, which works with Palestinians who have been arrested. Both of these groups have an office in Ramallah, a Palestinian community north of Jerusalem.

At Stop the Wall we met with Jamal Juma, campaign coordinator and supporter of non-violent resistance. This organization is calling for the right of Palestinians to return to their original homes, to be free of settlements, and to support a one state solution which would include all the residents of Palestine. They fear that the Palestinian Authority will accept a divided Jerusalem. What we've heard from a number of people gives credence to this fear.

The wall which Israel has contructed and continues to construct, many times by taking over Palestinian land, is making travel extremely difficult for Palestinians. The combination of detentions at Israeli military check points and rerouting around Jerusalem increases travel times by several hours to days.

Addameer is an organization which offers free legal services for Palestinians. They train lawyers in human rights and monitor prisoners throughout their process in the legal system.

More than 10,000 political prisoners are in jail. 860 are in administrative detention which means they were sentenced without charge or trial. Those in administrative detention may be given sentences from 6 months up to an unlimited period. In one case a man spent 6 1/2 years in jail. He tried to get his case tried in a higher court but was refused. He never knew why he was in jail.

After arrest, the prisoner is taken to one of 5 detention centers for interrogation which can go on for 180 days. Most Israeli jails for political prisoners are outside the Palestinian territory. If the family lives in the West Bank, they must get permission from the Israeli government to visit. Permits are not often given. Sometimes a family must wait one or two years before they can visit their family member.

Conditions in the prisons are very bad. Israel shut down the educational program for prisoners to get a high school diploma. Psychological torture is used but the Israeli government calls it "ill-treatment" rather than torture. Each prisoner is allowed 2.1 square meters. One prison only allowed 1.8 meters. Four square meters is the E. U. standard.

Again we heard what has been related by others: We are not against Israel. We are against the occupation.