Background Information

Officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, this small desert country has played a pivotal role in the struggle for power in the Middle East. With limited natural resources, devoid of the region’s huge oil reserves, the country is located at the crossroads of what many Christians, Jews and Muslims consider to be the Holy Land.  Jordan is at the same time surrounded by much political turmoil, bordered as it is by Israel/Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.  As a result, it has been a destination for many of the region’s refugees, starting in 1948 with the first wave of Palestinians fleeing the violence that accompanied the creation of the State of Israel, the subsequent waves of Palestinian refugees fleeing further insecurity and violence, and the more recent flight of Iraqis seeking safety from the violence ripping their country apart as a result of the American-led invasion. 

The various waves of refugees arriving in Jordan over time, have posed a number of threats to the country’s stability.  At the same time, the influx of refugees has proven to be an asset to the country’s economic development, as Jordan has received large amounts of economic assistance from the international community to help resettle and integrate refugees.  Remittances of Palestinians who went to work in the Gulf also helped in developing the country’s public and private sectors.  However, with every new wave of refugees there was an added pressure on the country’s infrastructure.  As a report about the most recent wave of Iraqi refugees in Jordan states “Iraqis are neither the sole cause of the rising prices, nor are they a net drain on the … countr[y’s]… econom[y]….  Nevertheless, resources and services normally available for citizens are presently seriously stretched.”[1] 

Of the two million Iraqi refugees that have crossed into surrounding countries to escape the violence in their country, around 750,000 have found refuge in Jordan.  That refuge, however, is close to being exhausted as the pressure on this small country’s resources continues to grow.  Other regional governments, besides Syria, have neither welcomed Iraqis within their borders nor supported Jordanian and Syrian efforts to meet the needs of their growing populations.   Just as importantly, the U.S. and the rest of the international community have done very little to address this growing humanitarian crisis.

A Brief History

Post World War I: The British Mandate of Palestine After World War I the Middle East region was divided into British and French zones of control.  Known as Mandates, these zones were sanctioned by the newly created League of Nations, which endorsed the colonialist ambitions of Britain and France by paying lip service only to the Wilsonian principle of self-determination of peoples.  In the process, Palestine (including the East Bank and present day Jordan) and Iraq would come under British control, while the French acquired Syria and Lebanon. 

Linking Trans-Jordan with Palestine in 1920 was a mere administrative convenience for the British (see map below) and it is important to realize that Trans-Jordan was detached from the area to which the Balfour Declaration of 1917 applied.  The Balfour Declaration called on Britain to “secure establishment of a Jewish National Home” in Palestine.  In the declaration, however, there was no recognition of Zionist claims east of the River Jordan.  To complicate matters further, in addition to calling for a Jewish home, the Balfour Declaration contained a clause protecting the rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine as well.  With 90% of the population of Palestine at that time being Arab, Arab leaders including Abdullah, who was made ruler of Trans-Jordan by the British in 1921, opposed the claim of a Jewish home in Palestine using the notion of self determination of the Arab peoples. 

Nazi persecution of the Jews in the 1930s culminating in the Holocaust accelerated the rate of Jewish migration to Palestine and amplified the friction between Jewish settlers and the native Arab populations of Palestine.  Due to the various agreements and documents drafted by the British, both groups felt they had a legal claim to the land.  Both therefore rejected the 1939 white paper calling for the creation of a bi-national state in Palestine. 

Post World War II:  The Wars of 1948 and 1967 and West Bank Disengagement

After World War II, the conflict between the Jewish and Arab populations of Palestine reached a high point.  The United Nations called for partition of Palestine in 1947, the State of Israel was proclaimed in 1948, British troops withdrew from the territory and Arab armies attacked the newly formed Jewish State. 

The Arab forces proved too weak for the well-equipped Israelis and the war ended in 1949 with the fertile coastal plain in Israeli hands and much of Eastern Palestine, known as the West Bank including East Jerusalem, held by Jordanian troops.  By this time, over 700,000 Palestinians had fled the territory in what came to be known in Palestinian history as the Naqba, or catastrophe.  Most of these refugees ended up in the West Bank and Jordan, though some ended up the Gaza Strip, Syria, Lebanon and farther a field.

In 1950 King Abdullah formally annexed the West Bank, despite his previous declarations backing Palestinian independence.  The West Bank and Trans-Jordan, were given equal representation in the Jordanian Parliament, creating the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (HKJ).  It should be noted though that the first wave of Palestinian refugees, known as the 1948 refugees, had almost doubled the population of Jordan, putting the country under immense strain.

In February 1960, Jordan offered citizenship to Palestinian refugees and, defying the wishes of other Arab states for Palestine to become independent, insisted that its annexation of Palestinian territory be made permanent.  Four years later, in 1964, against Jordan’s wishes but backed by the Arab League, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was created to represent the Palestinian people.  The PLO made Jordan its political and military base against Israel.  Jordan was not happy with this development, yet with international aid and a boom in tourism, mainly in the Old City of Jerusalem and West Bank, the early 1960s were on the whole considered to be a good time for the country. 

This changed dramatically with the outbreak of war with Israel in 1967.  Jordan was dragged in by signing a mutual defense pact with Egypt and by June 10^th Israeli forces had occupied the whole of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  By the end of the month, East Jerusalem was officially annexed and brought under Israeli law.  Jordan ended up losing valuable pieces of land that had supplied the country with important sources of income through agriculture and tourism.  The Israeli occupation moreover, resulted in another huge wave of Palestinian refugees with an estimated 200,000 fleeing to Jordan from the West Bank.  Some of these refugees were first-time refugees while others were 1948 refugees uprooted for the second time. 

After the 1967 war, Palestinians in Jordan became increasingly more frustrated and militant and though they had been allowed to operate freely from their bases in the Jordan valley, relations grew increasingly tenser as the Palestinians started acting like a state within a state, openly defying and humiliating the Jordanian military. In June 1970, things deteriorated rapidly.  Violence erupted between Palestinians and Jordanians, severely threatening the then King Hussein’s hold on power.  The situation culminated in what came to be known as Black September, at the end of which Palestinian guerillas were forced to recognize King Hussein’s authority or leave.  Palestinian-Jordanian relations ended up severely strained.

Four years later, at an Arab summit, King Hussein reluctantly agreed to recognize the PLO as the sole representative of Palestinians with the right to set up a government in any liberated territory.  It was not until fourteen years later, however, that the King announced the actual severance of all administrative and legal ties with the West Bank, handing over responsibility to the PLO.  Another eleven years went by before Jordan finally, formally renounced sovereignty over the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  This happened shortly before King Hussein’s death in 1999.  Hussein was succeeded by his eldest son Abdullah.

The Turn of the Century: Two Gulf Wars and Peace with Israel
As if Jordan had not already absorbed enough of the region’s refugees, the 1991 Gulf War saw yet another 300,000 Palestinians, who had lost their jobs in the Gulf States, seek refuge in Jordan.  Initially seen as a blow to the economy, it turned out that these “returnees,” besides putting pressure on the country’s infrastructure, public services, and housing also brought with them large amounts of money that provided a boost to the Jordanian economy in the early 1990s.  At the same time, prompted by a combination of economic hardship and fear of persecution by Saddam Hussein’s dictatorial regime, Iraqis started leaving their country for Jordan.

The signing of the Declaration of Principles between Israel and the PLO in 1993 set in motion the establishment of an autonomous Palestinian authority in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.  This meant that the territorial issue was no longer an obstacle to peace between Jordan and Israel.  Compared to other countries in the region, Jordan had always shown a greater willingness to work towards peace with Israel and in 1994 Jordan and Israel signed a peace accord that ensured an easing of economic barriers between the countries and a closer collaboration on security, water and other issues.  Though the treaty eased the Palestinian concern of Jordan’s ongoing aspiration to rule the West Bank, it was simultaneously seen as a betrayal.  The issue remained a largely unresolved by the time of King Hussein’s death.

Despite the regional stability created as a result of the peace treaty with Israel, Jordan became one of the main destinations for Iraqi refugees.  By some estimates, more than a million Iraqi refugees came to Jordan between 1991 and 2003, and though many merely transited, around 300,000 have remained.  The latest influx of Iraqi refugees came to Jordan with the 2003 fall of the Baathist regime and as a result of the insecurity and violence that has accompanied the American-led invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq. 

The current Iraqi displacement is the largest the Middle East has ever experienced with numbers far surpassing those of Palestinians fleeing their lands in the 1948 Naqba.  Iraqis in Jordan, however, have not been given official refugee status due to government concerns that designating Iraqis as “refugees” implies an acknowledgement that Iraq will not recover political stability any time soon and that the displaced populations may, like the Palestinians have, stay in their host countries for the long term.

As a result, displaced Iraqis in Jordan, who are de facto refugees, live under extremely difficult conditions.  Without work authorization and often depleted savings, many Iraqis rely on family outside the region to send them money.  Others take low-paying under-the-table jobs and/or sell their belongings to raise money.  Many live in the shadows of society, under constant fear of being sent back to the violence and insecurity of their home country.  And despite the fact that Jordan has historically been among the most welcoming of countries in the world towards refugees, the Jordanian government currently does not sufficiently address the Iraqis’ basic needs for protection, health care and education.  It has, moreover, not asked for international assistance on their behalf.  It is a policy that Human Rights Watch (HRW) has named “the silent treatment.” 

In fact, in a 2006 report under this name, HRW finds that “Jordan needs to speak up and call upon the international community for help to share the enormous refugee burden it tries to ignore by remaining silent. Pretending that the burden does not exist will neither make the problem go away nor absolve Jordan of its responsibilities to protect and assist.” The same goes of course for the U.S. and the rest of the international community, many of whom bear responsibility for the humanitarian crisis in the first place.