The NYTimes acknowledges that Jordanians will lose their citizenship because their country wants their identity to be Palestinian, but there is a bigger story simmering. Could the Abu Mazen be losing his citizenship?
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(EOZ) From JPost:
In
a surprise move, Jordan has decided to revoke the Jordanian citizenship
of Palestinian Authority and PLO officials, sources in Amman disclosed
Wednesday.
The sources said that the decision would also affect
the leaders of the PA, who would be granted temporary Jordanian
passports to facilitate their travel.
The move coincides with a new electoral law in Jordan that seeks to limit Palestinian representation in parliament.
The
latest steps are seen in the context of Jordan's 1988 decision to sever
all legal and administrative ties with the West Bank, except for
Jordanian sponsorship of the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.
The
late King Hussein then justified the move by arguing that it was
intended to help the Palestinians establish their own independent state.
The
Jordanians have defended the decision to strip Palestinians of their
Jordanian citizenship by explaining that it is aimed at "preserving the
Palestinians' national identity and paving the way for their return to
Palestine."
It's not known at this stage if PA President Mahmoud
Abbas would be stripped of his Jordanian citizenship, the sources told
the Saudi newspaper Al-Madina.
(Some Palestinian Jordanians Lose Citizenship - NYTimes) In a report titled “Stateless Again,” issued last month, Human Rights Watch said that 2,700 people in Jordan lost their citizenship from 2004 to 2008, and that at least another 200,000 remained vulnerable, largely those who moved abroad at some point in search of work....
“It is no secret that some elements in Israel would like to see the Palestinian areas without the people,” said Nabil Sharif, Jordan’s minister of state and a government spokesman. “We do not want to be party to this.”
Critics and human rights advocates, however, see a different motivation. They said the Jordanian government acted to preserve its own interest, trying to appease non-Palestinian Jordanians concerned about the growing economic and political influence of citizens of Palestinian descent, a charge Mr. Sharif denied. They say it also appears that Jordan is frightened by talk of declaring Jordan a Palestinian homeland as an alternative to a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.
Palestinian citizens who left the area after 1967 and before 1988 could lose their citizenship after three years, but then they had an additional three years to claim it.
so what is the truth? One thing is clear... the people is not the highest consideration in Jordan. The principle of killing Jews for Jihad takes priority over the welfare of human beings.
