Article74 Magazine

AIC-Project for Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights Visits Jordan 

In autumn of 1994, still prior to the Israeli-Jordanian peace agreement, the AIC-Project for Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights (PPRRR) decided to visit Jordan in order to finally have a chance for a direct meeting with the Palestinians living in the Jordanian exile. This, we hoped, would help to overcome the limitations caused by the fact that PPRRR’s Jerusalem- and West Bank-based legal aid and counseling services can only address the victims of separation indirectly through their families living in Palestine and that Palestinians, once exiled, have no access to valuable information and expertise gathered by human rights organizations in the country. 

The AIC’s effort towards sharing its experience with the Palestinians exiled to Jordan proved an overwhelming success. Between March 19 - March 28, the AIC’s five-member delegation conducted three lecture and counseling sessions for Palestinian refugees at the Zarqa Cultural Club, and in the refugee camps of Irbid and al-Hussein/Amman. More than 500 persons attended two PPRRR public reception days held at the Khalil al-Rahman Charitable Society and in the hotel hosting the AIC delegation in Amman. 5600 copies of the PPRRR booklet Guidelines for Palestinians Residing in Jordan and Wishing to Return to Occupied Palestine, printed specially for this mission to Jordan, were eagerly received by the Palestinian public and by Palestinian and Jordanian institutions and will guarantee a lasting impact of the AIC’s visit to Jordan. The questions raised by the people in these meetings confirmed the almost complete lack of knowledge of the mechanisms for individual return to Palestine established by the Israeli occupation, of the new regulations and procedures governing Palestinian residency rights in the PA-administered Gaza Strip and Jericho and about the situation of the refugee issue in the political negotiations. More than once, the demand for the establishment of a similar community oriented residency and refugee rights program in Jordan was raised by the audience, a call for an independent institution which could fill the current vacuum in regards to information and legal guidance for Palestinian refugees in Jordan. 
In community meetings, as well as in a public lecture to Jordanian intellectuals conducted at the Abdel Hameed Shoman Center in Amman, the AIC delegation underlined that individual return by means of family reunification remains a measure reserved for a very limited number of cases which meet the conditions set by the Israeli authorities and that it is by no means a substitute for the collective return which can only result from the implementation of the Palestinian right of return. 
The AIC’s activities for the promotion of Palestinian residency and refugee rights in Jordan received extensive coverage by the Jordanian press and both al-Ra’i and al-Dustour newspapers offered a platform for the presentation of the AIC programs and perspectives to their readers in Jordan. 

The delegation also used this visit to exchange opinions and to investigate channels for future working relations with the staff of academic institutions in Jordan, such as the Center for Strategic Studies at the Jordan University, the Refugees and Displaced Studies Program at the University of Yarmouk and Al Urdun Al Jadid Research Center in Amman. Meeting with Jordanian officials, such as Dr. Ahmad Qatanani, head of the Jordanian delegation to the multilateral negotiations on refugee affairs and member of the Jordanian delegation in the recently begun negotiations on the return of the 1967 displaced persons, and Asem Ghoshe, director of the Jordanian Department for Palestinian Affairs, as well as conversations with UNRWA spokespersons, provided valuable information for PPRRR staff engaged in research and information on refugee issues. Their views helped to deepen our analysis which usually depends exclusively on information offered by the Palestinian delegation and on our long-standing experience with the Israeli authorities and press, and to proceed towards a more comprehensive, regional perspective. 

The signing of the Israeli-Jordanian peace agreement and the consequent decision by Palestinian and Arab progressive forces to boycott the official program of normalization seriously questioned the feasibility of PPRRR’s regional outreach program to Jordan. The AIC Project for Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights extends special thanks to the Palestinian Deportees Committee in Jordan whose dedication and commitment were central for to realization of this mission.