VZCZCXRO4285
RR RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHAM #1761/01 2161316
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 041316Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5671
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 001761 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREF KPAL KDEM KWBG SMIG IS JO
SUBJECT: PALESTINIAN-JORDANIAN CITIZENSHIP:  A PRIMER 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 1667 
     ¶B. AMMAN 1520 
     ¶C. 08 AMMAN 1466 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  The current debate in Amman about the 
citizenship status of Palestinian-origin Jordanians centers 
around regulations connected to Jordan's 1988 unilateral 
disengagement from the West Bank.  Some of the regulations 
left the residency requirements for certain groups vague. 
This lack of clarity has generated much confusion about which 
Palestinians have the right to full Jordanian citizenship, a 
topic of considerable public controversy in recent weeks. 
End Summary. 
 
The Disengagement Regulations 
----------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Through his recent acknowledgment of a policy of 
citizenship revocation for certain Palestinian-origin 
Jordanians, Interior Minister Nayef Al-Qadi has re-opened the 
debate about the meaning of Jordan's unilateral disengagement 
from the West Bank in 1988 (Refs A-C).  As part of the 
disengagement, a series of implementing regulations were 
issued as a royal decree to clarify the legal impact of the 
decision on citizenship and other matters.  These regulations 
are now at the heart of a sensitive discussion about who is 
Jordanian.  Below is a guide to the system of identification 
documents derived from the disengagement regulations. 
 
1948 Refugees 
------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The disengagement decision did not impact the 
status of 1948 refugees.  Their status remains unchanged 
since 1948.  They are full citizens of Jordan with no 
accompanying documentation that identifies them as 
Palestinians or refugees.  Refugees from 1948 enjoy full 
citizenship rights, including full access to Jordanian 
government services, full validity passports, national 
identity numbers (which infer citizenship), and resident 
status in Jordanian educational institutions. 
 
1967 Refugees:  Yellow Card Holders 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The disengagement decision reconfirmed as full 
Jordanian citizens refugees from 1967 who reside in Jordan. 
Beginning in the 1980s, these refugees were given yellow 
cards which help the authorities keep track of their status. 
Yellow card holders enjoy full citizenship rights, including 
full access to Jordanian government services, full validity 
passports, national identity numbers, and resident status in 
Jordanian educational institutions. 
 
1967 Refugees:  Green Card Holders 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Refugees from 1967 who reside in the West Bank were 
able to retain their Jordanian passports under the 
disengagement decision, but their claims to Jordanian 
citizenship were limited.  Starting in the 1980s to 
distinguish them as residents of the West Bank rather than 
residents of Jordan, these refugees were issued green cards 
by the Jordanian authorities.  Green card holders have full 
validity Jordanian passports, but those passports do not 
indicate citizenship as they are not accompanied by a 
national identity number.  Green card holders have limited 
access to Jordanian government services, and pay the 
non-Jordanian rate at hospitals, educational institutions, 
and training centers.  Green card holders must obtain a work 
permit in order to be legally employed in Jordan. 
 
Gazan Refugees:  Blue Card Holders 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The citizenship status of refugees from Gaza was 
not impacted by the disengagement decision.  They retained 
their blue cards identifying them as Gazans and were allowed 
to maintain the limited validity "laissez passer" passports 
that had previously been issued to them by the Jordanian 
authorities.  Blue card holders have no access to Jordanian 
government services, and are almost completely dependent on 
the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for education, health, 
and welfare services.  They pay the non-Jordanian rate at 
hospitals, educational institutions, and training centers. 
Blue card holders must obtain a work permit in order to be 
legally employed in Jordan. 
 
The Issue of Residency 
---------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The growing controversy in Jordan over status 
 
AMMAN 00001761  002 OF 002 
 
 
changes between yellow and green cards centers on the 
residency status of Palestinian-origin Jordanians.  Article 
Two of the disengagement regulations states that "every 
person residing in the West Bank before July 31, 1988 will be 
considered Palestinian and not Jordanian."  There is no 
explicit or implicit definition of residency in the 
regulations, either before or after the disengagement 
decision.  There are no requirements that yellow card holders 
spend a certain amount of time in Jordan to be considered as 
residents, just as there are no requirements that green card 
holders spend a certain amount of time in the Palestinian 
territories to maintain their status. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) The net result of the vague provisions on residency 
is confusion within the Jordanian-Palestinian community about 
what the disengagement regulations mean.  The Ministry of 
Interior has never clarified the residency requirements for 
the various status groups, causing many to see the Ministry's 
actions as either random or purposely designed to strip 
certain people of Palestinian origin of their citizenship 
rights.  Recent public statements by the Minister of Interior 
that hint at external political motives behind the 
application of the disengagement regulations only add fuel to 
the fire (Refs A-C). 
 
¶9.  (SBU) The Interior Ministry claims that it has upgraded 
thousands of Palestinians to yellow card status in the last 
several years, while only downgrading a few hundred to green 
card status.  Many in the Palestinian and human rights 
community dispute those numbers.  Furthermore, the Ministry 
has not offered any further explanation of why the 
citizenship status of these Palestinians were upgraded or 
downgraded -- some may have received yellow cards after a 
previous downgrade, for example. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Jordan's Interior Minister and others frequently 
refer to the disengagement regulations as justification for 
the policy of citizenship revocation.  Hence the issue has 
become, in the eyes of the government, one of "correcting" 
the status of Jordanians of Palestinian origin rather than 
one of revoking their citizenship.  The disengagement 
regulations do not explicitly promote citizenship revocation, 
yet their vague provisions now serve as an effective cover 
for those who wish to pursue such a policy. 
Mandel