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Jordan:
Palestinians Entering Must Have Bank Guarantees
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family from Ramallah awaits permission to take a bus to Jordan
at a bus terminal in Jericho.
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AMMAN,
July 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Jordanian authorities
began requiring bank guarantees from West Bank Palestinians arriving
in the kingdom by land from Sunday, July 14, Jordanian officials said,
news agencies reported.
The
measure affects West Bank Palestinians who hold temporary Jordanian
passports, the officials at the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge border
crossing told Agence France Presse (AFP), confirming a report
published Sunday by a Jordanian daily.
The
guarantee of between 2,000 and 5,000 dinars (between 2,800 and 7,000
dollars), depending on the nature of the visit, must be deposited in a
Jordanian bank by a Jordanian national for the duration of the stay,
Al-Arab Al-Yawm said.
The
decision is aimed at ensuring that Palestinian travelers return to the
West Bank and do not overstay their visit.
It
was taken by the interior ministry following talks between Jordanian
and Palestinian officials in Amman last week, the newspaper said.
"These
new measures must put an end to the restrictions limiting the number
of Palestinians allowed into Jordan," a Palestinian diplomat in
Jordan told AFP.
"We
arrived at this arrangement in line with an understanding with the
Palestinian National Authority [PNA]," a Jordanian government
official told the Jordan Times.
Jordanian
Prime Minister Ali Abul-Ragheb pledged last week to facilitate the
entry of West Bank visitors, following talks with PNA Local Affairs
Minister Saeb Erekat and Civil Affairs Minister Jamil Tarifi, the
paper reported.
Both
Palestinian officials also held talks with Jordanian Foreign Minister
Marwan Muasher and Jordanian Interior Minister Qaftan Majali.
Majali
asked the PNA to list potential travelers to be given priority such as
students, the sick and the elderly, said the Times.
Persons
traveling for other purposes will have to acquire travel permits from
the Interior Ministry or the concerned Palestinian authorities.
Tarifi
said earlier that Israel was "harboring ill intentions,"
referring to attempts at pushing the Palestinians out of their
homeland.
Meanwhile,
a delegation representing the Higher Committee for Opposition Parties
called on Majali July 11 and handed him a memorandum in which they
requested that the government facilitate travel procedures for
Palestinians while supporting their steadfastness on their land, said
the paper.
According
to a statement by the committee, the minister "voiced
understanding and stressed the ministry's keenness to make the
necessary arrangements to relieve the suffering of Palestinians,
including facilitating visits to their relatives in Jordan, provided
that these relatives apply for prior permission."
Jordan
has repeatedly stressed it would not allow any transfer of
Palestinians into its territories.
On
Wednesday, July 10, Erakat spoke of a "crisis" with West
Bank Palestinians seeking to travel to Jordan, after talks in Amman
with Muasher.
Thousands
of Palestinians have been stranded in the West Bank town of Jericho
for days awaiting Jordanian authorization to cross.
Jordan
imposed restrictions on West Bank Palestinians crossing via the King
Hussein Bridge at the end of March in a bid to preempt any Israeli
move to expel them.
The
move coincided with the launch of a five-week Israeli offensive
against the West Bank, but the restrictions have been eased in recent
weeks.
The
number of Palestinians wishing to enter Jordan has increased with the
start of the summer holidays, when thousands of West Bank residents
travel to Amman to meet relatives working in the Gulf states.
Jordan
is itself home to 1.7 million Palestinian refugees who fled to Amman
after the 1948 and 1967 Arab-Israeli wars, according to U.N. figures.
Last
April, Martin Van Creveld, an Israeli historian predicted that a U.S.
attack on Iraq or an Israeli strike against Palestinians could trigger
a massive mobilization to clear the occupied territories of their two
million Palestinians, the British daily newspaper, The Telegraph
reported.
Two
years ago, less than 8% of those who took part in a Gallup poll among
Jewish Israelis said they were in favor of what is called
"transfer" - that is, the expulsion of perhaps two million
Palestinians across the River Jordan. This month, that figure reached
44 per cent, the paper reported.
According
to Creveld, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon strongly favors such a
move, and has always harbored a plan to rid Israel of the
Palestinians.
Ever
since, Sharon has often said that Jordan, which, according to him, has
a Palestinian majority even now, is the Palestinian state. The
inference - that the Palestinians should go there - is clear, Creveld
argued.
During
the 1948 war, after Israeli guerillas occupied Palestinian lands and
announced the state of Israel, Israel drove 650,000 Palestinians from
their homes into neighboring countries. If it were to try something
similar today, the outcome could well be a regional war. More and more
people in Jerusalem believe that such is Sharon's objective, Creveld
said.
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