The Gazans in Jordan: Between the curse of exile and government restrictions

The decision by the Jordanian government to reinstate the requirement that refugees in Jordan of Gazan origin obtain work permits has shed new light on the plight of this segment of the population. They have, for a long time, been demanding that restrictions imposed on them are eased and they be afforded rights in the country that has hosted them for many years and in which they have almost become citizens.

Recently, the Jordanian government enacted a decision that obliges Gazans to obtain work permits and pay an annual fee of 180 Jordanian dinars per permit, despite living in dire conditions. The government later rescinded its decision after it came under intense pressure from parliamentarians and the public. It however kept the requirement of the work permit in place but without having to pay the fees.

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In effect, this decision means that Gazans in Jordan will be treated like foreign labourers and that job opportunities available to them will be restricted because they will have to work only as the permit allows. This is despite the fact that Gazans in Jordan are already suffering because of exclusion from many jobs.

Jordan imposes numerous restrictions on Gazans living in the country. They are issued with temporary two-year passports upon conditional security clearance. Additionally, they face obstacles obtaining medical care; enrolling their children in public universities; and securing jobs for them after graduation. They are also denied the right to own property because of the political sensitivity associated with being refugees who should not be made to settle permanently, as the government argues.

Denial of medical care

Jamal Amr, a Gazan living in Jordan, describes how his daughter who suffers from urinary complications has been denied vital surgery without which her kidneys could suffer permanent damage and failure.

Speaking to Arabi21, Amr said that he does not have the money needed to cover the cost of his daughter’s operation in a private hospital. He was unable to obtain exemption from paying the costs at a public hospital because he hails from Gaza and doesn’t have a national number.

Amr, who is 48 years old, said that he has been living in Jordan since birth and considers himself a native despite the fact that he is a Palestinian refugee who holds fast to his right to return to Palestine. He pointed out that he is not a citizen of a state who can pay the costs of his daughter’s medical treatment like nationals of other countries who could knock on the doors of their country’s embassy.

As for employment, Gazans do not find jobs easily since many fields of employment are restricted. Many of them from a young age turn to work in manual and industrial professions such as car mechanics, painting and similar jobs because they are denied employment in the public sector under the pretext that they do not have national numbers, not to mention the restrictions they are faced with in other jobs.

High achiever but a Gazan

Hala is a young woman who complains that she achieved an excellent grade in Arabic language but can’t find a job in any of the private schools simply because she is a Gazan living in Jordan.

Hala painfully explains how she was sacked from a private school where she took up a teaching job immediately after graduation. Her employment was an opportunity for her to help her family. Her father is disabled and her mother cleans other people’s houses in order to feed a family of eight, most of whom are still young children.

Hala says that the primary school employed her as a teacher despite knowing she was a Gazan because they were impressed with her university record. However, she was sacked after three months because the school said it received instructions not to employ any non-Jordanians, particularly if they happen to be Gazans.

Hala says she understands the school’s decision. The school explained to her that it was forced to let her go because the decision was dictated to it by the security agencies and it had no choice.

Similar to Hala’s story is that of Salih Juma’ah. He worked for 15 years in a private company believing that he could lose his job any day because of the numerous communications demanding that the company sack any worker who happens to hail from Gaza.

Juma’ah explains that the company manager appreciated his humanitarian needs and kept him on refusing to sack him despite having been the only Gazan worker in the company. He knew Juma’ah’s family would end up in the street if he sacked him.

He added: “I sensed the extent of the pressure piling on my boss from a certain department which he did not wish to name. So I decided after all these years to resign and become self-employed. I bought a minibus and registered it in the name of my sister-in-law who bears a Jordanian nationality because Gazans are not allowed to register their properties in their own names.”

Juma’ah sheds light on another problem facing those who hail from Gaza and that is denying them the right to register their property in their own names. Each of them is allowed to register one private car only. None of them is allowed to register more than one car in his own name.

Arabi21 spoke to a number of Gazans living in Jordan about this; they all expressed anxiety insisting on anonymity. Many of them own properties but have them registered in other people’s names because a national number is a precondition for registering any property.

GA says he owns a piece of land in Zarqaa (which is east of Amman) but he has it registered in the name of his cousin who married a Jordanian 10 years ago and obtained Jordanian nationality.

He says: “In view of the fact that people live and die and that people may change and may become greedy, I possess nothing in the eyes of the law.”

He adds: “I am chased by anxiety day and night because I invested all my savings in this piece of land but officially I do not own it. It is legally the property of someone else who has the right to dispense with it and to sell it if he so wishes and I have no right to object.”

It is noteworthy that the number of Gazans living in Jordan is in excess of 700,000 according to Jordanian statistics. Most of these live in Palestinian refugee camps set up since 1967. They lack many basic services and suffer from extremely low living standards. Camp inhabitants usually earn their living from working in industrial crafts or free trading jobs.

The Jordanian government considers the file of the Gazans in Jordan one of the most complicated files that is usually dealt with from a security perspective because they happen to be descendants of refugees who fled their homeland when Israel occupied Palestine in 1948. At the time they were forced to leave for Gaza and then in 1967 they were displaced once more and left for Jordan where they have since then been designated as refugees.

Gazans living in Jordan are issued with refugee cards and identity papers issued by the Jordanian Ministry of Interior after obtaining security clearance. They are also issued with temporary two years passports upon reaching the age of 18 years. Anyone who fails to renew the passport upon expiry is usually subject to security questioning.

Source: Arabi21

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.