Article74 Magazine

While Israel has remained reluctant to enter negotiations over the dispersed Palestinian people’s right to return, the ongoing peace negotiations have caused some Arab governments to make initial moves on issues related to Palestinian residency rights. 

EGYPT: In the framework of preparations for the Four-Party-Committee (Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt) which, according to the DOP, will discuss the return of the 1967 “displaced persons”, Palestinians holding Egyptian documents and living in Jordan were called upon to register themselves at the Egyptian Embassy between January 15 and April 15. As of mid-February only 50 out of estimated 50,000 heeded this call. This reluctance was explained by peoples’ fear that their registration will negatively affect their residency rights in Jordan. (Al-Quds, 15/2/94) 

JORDAN: Shortly before the signing of the Gaza-Jericho agreement on May 4, 1994, the Jordanian government declared that it would facilitate the entry of Palestinians from the Occupied Territories to Jordan by revoking guarantees which had previously to be given by Palestinian citizens of Jordan for their visiting relatives from the West Bank, This policy was declared as a measure of support for the population of the Occupied Territories living in economic distress and unemployment due to the military closure of the “Green Line”. Unless Palestinians find work soon, whether in Israel or in new jobs created in the framework of the peace process, thousands of West Bank residents will leave, with and without their families, in search of income in Jordan.