Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict |1

Position pa per on behalf o f the Jo rd an delega tion

Danil Scholte
1148192
daniel.scholte@gmail.com
Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Dr. Y. Kleistra
20 November 2015
920 words

Ever since conflict between Israel and the Palestinians first arose in 1948, thousands of Palestinians
have fled to the neighboring country of Jordan. Currently, nearly two million Palestinian refugees live
in Jordan. This means that a staggering twenty-five percent of Jordans population consists of refugees.
The Kingdom of Jordan has provided virtually all of its Palestinian inhabitants a Jordanian passport.
These people have the right to work, vote, own properties, etc. By giving the refugees this unique legal
status, we have allowed them to assimilate into our society. However, despite our extended efforts,
four hundred thousand Palestinian refugees still live in refugee camps, that were established following
the conflicts of 1948 and 1967.1 These camps and the people who live in them remind us of the fact
that the Palestinian people didnt come to Jordan because they wished to do so, but because they were
forced. They had to flee their homes when the Israeli took them from them. Many of them havent
stopped dreaming of one day returning home. In the past, Jordan has emphasized the value of the socalled right of return, which will allow refugees to return to their former places of residence in the
territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. The right to return is a legal right
enshrined in a number of United Nations resolutions and international human rights instruments, most
importantly United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194.2 It states that the refugees wishing to
return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest
practicable date [].3 Despite becoming Jordanian citizens, most of the Palestinian refugees still have
their refugee status. This means that the way back to Israel isnt closed definitively. The Arab Peace
Initiative of 2002 called for a solution of the refugee problem through the right of return. Although the
Initiative didnt come to fruition yet, Jordan will keep accenting the importance of this right. However,
returning home shall only be possible, when the Palestinians can return to a Palestinian state in which
they wont be discriminated, violated and oppressed by the Israeli. The establishment of a Palestinian
state seems difficult at the time, although by no means impossible. Therefore, solutions of another

Alnsour, Jamal and Julia Meaton. 2012. Housing Conditions in Palestinian Refugee Camps, Jordan. Cities 36
(February): 65.
2
Richter-Devroe, Sophie. 2015. Like Something Sacred: Palestinian Refugees Narratives On the Right of
Return. Refugee Survey Quarterly 34 (September): 93.
3
United Nations General Assembly, Resolution 194 (III): Palestine Progress Report of the United Nations
Mediator, UN Doc. A/RES/194(III), 11 Dec. 1948.

2|Danil Scholte
kind, such as the one-state solution, have recently been suggested.
The Kingdom of Jordan isnt an advocate of any solution that does not call for the establishment of
a Palestinian state. The Jordanian monarch, king Abdullah II, has already made clear that a failure of a
two-state solution would pose a mortal threat to Jordans national security.4 In order to find evidence
for this hypothesis, one only needs to look at the past. Naturally, Im alluding here to the events that
took place during the 1970-71 period, internationally known as Black September. The civil war that was
sparked by the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1970 illustrates that the presence of Palestinians in
Jordan potentially proves to be dangerous for the survival of the Jordanian nation. We support a twostate approach in order to avert the possibility of Jordanian-Palestinian unification. Needless to say, we
find a unification of this kind undesirable. Jordanians would become a minority in their own country.
Without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, Palestinians will always tend to search
for an alternative homeland, which they will most likely think to find in Jordan. Id like to repeat here
king Abdullahs words regarding the issue: Jordan is Jordan and Palestine is Palestine.5 Furthermore,
Id like to warn Israel, that it shouldnt try to resolve its own demographic problems at the expense of
Jordan. In the area of historic Palestine are currently living 6.3 million Jews, compared to 8.7 million
Palestinians. This means that Palestinians would form the majority in a bi-national state. There are two
scenarios in which Israel would accept the establishment of such a state. In the first one, Israel will try
to retain power by creating an apartheid regime. Since this is not a Zionist aspiration, this scenario
seems unlikely. In a second scenario, which is far more likely, Israel will try to maintain a Jewish majority
by expelling Palestinians to Jordan. This is not some irrational fear of Jordanians. When asked if they
would support the transfer of Palestinians into Jordan, 46 percent of Jewish respondents answered
affirmatively.6
In order to prevent this pessimistic scenario, a Palestinian state should be established within the
1967 border. Jordan rejects a solution that calls for the establishment of a bi-national state. Such a state
would likely prove disastrous for the stability and security of the Kingdom of Jordan, due to dramatic
demographic changes within Israel and Jordan itself. The only real solution seems to lie in providing
the Palestinians their own homeland. Therefore, Jordan advocates further attempts to realize the main
plans of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and once again emphasizes the importance of the Palestinian
right to return.

Barari, Hassan A. 2014. Jordan and Israel. A Troubled Relationship in a Volatile Region. Amman: Friedrich
Ebert Stiftung: 17.
5
Ibid.: 133.
6
Farshidi, Jamshid. 2009. Palestine-Israel. A Just Plan for Permanent Peace. USA: Xlibris: 30.

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Ref eren ces

Alnsour, Jamal and Julia Meaton. 2012. Housing Conditions in Palestinian Refugee Camps, Jordan.
Cities 36 (February): 65-73.
Barari, Hassan A. 2014. Jordan and Israel. A Troubled Relationship in a Volatile Region. Amman:
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
Farshidi, Jamshid. 2009. Palestine-Israel. A Just Plan for Permanent Peace. USA: Xlibris.
Richter-Devroe, Sophie. 2015. Like Something Sacred: Palestinian Refugees Narratives On the Right
of Return. Refugee Survey Quarterly 34 (September): 92-115.
United Nations General Assembly, Resolution 194 (III): Palestine Progress Report of the United
Nations Mediator, UN Doc. A/RES/194(III), 11 Dec. 1948.