Brief about the Palestinian Exodus and their arrival to Jordan

The Exodus:

At the aftermath of the United Nations General Assembly's vote for the partition of Historical Palestine in November 1947, the destiny of the Palestinian people was reversed. The resolution 181 II to create Jewish and Palestinian parts on Historical Palestine resulted in the main sparkle for the on going Arab Israeli war. Palestinian and Jewish clashes proliferated with Jewish para military forces operating more freely as British forces started their withdrawal and Jewish forces taking control of an area larger than the envisioned by the UN plan. Sabotage, attacks by Jewish military guerrillas continued against Palestinian villages and residents in the cities of the coast. As the British government announced to terminate the Mandate on May 15,1948, Jews proclaimed the State of Israel.
More than 700.000 Palestinian Arabs were evicted or fled" as a result of the operations of the Jewish irregular forces. They killed unarmed Palestinians in villages, intimidated them by the force of arm and conducted some human razing massacres as Tnatoura, Deir Yassin , Qibieh etc…
The Palestinian refugees found shelter in camps administrated by United Nations umbrella structure in surrounding host countries called UN Relief for Palestine Refugees (UNRPR), created to pay for the voluntary organisations, proclaimed the refugees' right to return home and be compensated for their losses. Eventually, it set up the Palestine Conciliation Commission (PCC) was established as part of the UN resolution 194 which provisioned to negotiate regional peace. Late in 1949, after the voluntary organisations' announcements that they intended to end Palestine relief operations, the UN by the decision UNGA 302 created the UN relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWAPRNE) known as UNRWA to take over the voluntary organisations' temporary relief operations to aid the refugees and to undertake works projects that would improve the refugees' economic conditions until a peace settlement resolve their status.

Arrival to Jordan:

Jordan, had received the greatest number of Palestinians during the two Arab Israeli wars of 1948 and 1967. Hence, Jordan had to shape its potentials and organisations to shelter the flowing masses of refugees Palestinian refugees in Jordan represent the largest percentage of the grand total of UNRWA -refugees. The total of Palestinian refugees residing in Jordan, including the refugees-displaced is 1,574.438 according to UNRWA (March 2000) of which 105.962 are refugees-displaced. Only 18.3% of those refugees live in Camps supervised by UNRWA while the rest of the refugees (81.7%) take up residence in the various cities and towns of the Kingdom. According to UNRWA's records released in 2000, the number of Palestinian refugees registered with the Agency and who are presently residing in the ten camps which it supervises, has amounted to 278.678 refugees and displaced persons. The actual numbers of Palestinian refugees greatly exceed the figures released by UNRWA concerning those refugees registered in its own records. This is ascribed to the fact that when UNRWA had commenced its work in the region in 1950 it adopted a working definition of "refugees" who were entitled to be registered in its record.

( Persons whose normal residence was Palestine during the period of 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948 and who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict and took refuge in one of the countries or areas where UNRWA provides relief and their direct descendants through male line ).

Thus that definition resulted in the exclusion of large number of Palestinian refugees who ended up in areas outside the five operations of UNRWA or where abroad when the war erupted and were not residing in Palestine at the time of the war. To mention, that the Palestinians who resided the West Bank before 1967 war and had to flee during the Israeli invasion on the West Bank, were considered as Refugee -displaced ( who had to leave for a second time towards Jordan) and displaced (those who left for the first time).

Conditions in Jordan:

Jordan has thirteen refugee camps in Jordan. UNRWA recognizes ten as Refugee camps. UNRWA provides health and social relief services. However, the government of Jordan takes care of what may concern the physical infrastructure of camps, Secondary schools, post offices, and other needed services. The Department of Palestinian Affairs is the government organ which takes care of the thirteen refugee camps in Jordan. The Department had various changes on its tasks and responsibilities over the last fifty years. (The slide of the historical evolution might be used here) Jordan endeavors to create proper environment for the refugees-citizens. DPA seeks to identify the needs and act upon them within the physical , social infrastructure but also within the legal status it endowed the Palestinians with since the beginning of the Arab - Israeli conflict. According to the Jordanian nationality law of the year 1954,


(… ) Any person with previous Palestinian nationality except the Jews before the date of May 14, 1948 residing in the Kingdom during the period from December 20, 1949 and February 16, 1954 is a Jordanian citizen.

 Jordan continues its efforts to claim the full right of return for the Palestinians. Jordan calls for the implementation of Para. (11) of UN Resolution 194 .