The Refugee Policy of Jordan toward Palestinian Refugees

Abstract

It has been widely believed that Jordan was generous to refugees from Palestine by pursuing assimilative policies that help refugees integrate into society while accepting as many refugees as possible. It seems regrettable that Palestinian refugees are no more welcomed nor treated fairly by the Jordanian government. This study argues that this commonly held belief is limited to cases of early settlers in the mid-twentieth century, and that the Jordanian government has had different policies for different refugee groups. This study further explores the political aspects of Jordan’s selective policies and concludes that Jordan’s refugee policies can best be explained through the existence of external security threats.