Human Rights in Jordan - Palestinian Rights and Accusations of Apartheid

Palestinian Rights and Accusations of Apartheid

Palestinian scholars and political activists including Samer Libdeh and Mudar Zahran have described the political system of Jordan as anti-Palestinian apartheid. According to Libdeh, the royal policy of "ethnic cohesion" amounts to discrimination against the Palestinians, who comprise the majority of Jordanian subjects. In a more scholarly article, Zahran details what he calls the "apartheid policies" by which positions in the ranks and, especially, in the officer corps of the army and most jobs in the civil service are filled by Bedouin despite the fact that Palestinians are in the majority, and census returns and election districts are rigged so that Palestinians are underrepresented in Parliament.

Palestinians are underrepresented in parliament and senior positions in the government and the military, as well as in admission to public universities. They have limited access to university scholarships. Many observers believe the electoral system is intended to reduce the representation of areas heavily populated by citizens of Palestinian origin.

There were three groups of Palestinians residing in Jordan, many of whom face some discrimination. Those who migrated to the country and the Jordan-controlled West Bank after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, received full citizenship, as did those who migrated to the country after the 1967 war and hold no residency entitlement in the West Bank. Those still residing in the West Bank after 1967 were not eligible to claim full citizenship. These individuals have access to some government services, but pay non-citizen rates at hospitals, educational institutions, and training centers. Refugees who fled Gaza after 1967 are not entitled to citizenship. These persons have no access to government services and are almost completely dependent on the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The government reports that there were approximately 165,000 Palestinian refugees, mostly of Gazan origin, who do not qualify for citizenship.

A Human Rights Watch report claims that more than 2,700 Jordanians of Palestinian origin have had their citizenship revoked starting in 2004. The government maintains this policy is in line with its efforts to implement its disengagement from its former claims to the West Bank.