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Tuesday, June 21, 2005

How Palestinian Arabs are treated under Arab nations' laws

I guess I missed when Amnesty International condemned these laws.

Jordan

Palestinians in Jordan are NOT given full Jordanian citizenship, and DO NOT have the same rights and duties as any other Jordanians. Palestinians in Jordan carry special identification stating that they are not Jordanian. They are disproportionately represented in business, but underrepresented in the army. Information from the Jordanian censuses which distinguishes between Palestinians and pre-Nakba Jordanians is not publicly available; however, the Palestinian population is estimated to be 50-60%.

Saudi-Arabia

An estimated number of 500,000 Palestinians are living in the kingdom of Saudi-Arabia as of December 2004. They are not allowed to hold or even apply for Saudi citizenship, as the new law passed by Saudi Arabia's Council of Ministers in October 2004 ( which entitles expatriates of all nationalities who have resided in the kingdom for ten years to apply for citizenship, with priority being given to holders of degrees in various scientific fields ) has one glaring exception: Palestinians will not be allowed to benefit from the new law because of Arab League instructions barring the Arab states from granting them citizenship in order 'to avoid dissolution of their identity and protect their right to return to their homeland'.

Lebanon

Palestinians in Lebanon are barred from 73 job categories including professions such as medicine, law and engineering. They are not allowed to own property. Unlike other foreigners in Lebanon, they are denied access to the Lebanese healthcare system. The Lebanese government refuses to grant them work permits or permission to own land. The number of restrictions have been mounting since 1990.