They were stopped because they lived in refugee camps in the middle of those countries.
Not all of them where in camps, esp. in Jordan where they make up a large percentage of the population. (and where they were not "shipped back to Palestine"). But the Palestinians knew that they would be slaughtered if that was what it took to preserve the ruling regime.
<font color=blue>According to the Jordan Times, 1.3 refugees were still living in 13 camps. That's been since the 1950s. As the article suggests, I doubt there are many Palestinians living among the Jordanians. The Arabs look down on the Palestinians almost as much as the Israelis.
And yes, some Palestinian refugees were shipped back to Palestine after the war with Israel.<font color=black>
jordanembassyus.org
Jordan Times
Tuesday, August 10, 1999
No plans to settle Palestinian refugees in Jordan — premier
By Saad G. Hattar
AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdur Ra'uf S. Rawabdeh on Monday dismissed reports that Jordan had any plans to settle Palestinian refugees in the Kingdom and stressed that it was premature to form any concept over any future unity between Jordan and a Palestinian state.
Speaking at his first press conference with local and foreign reporters yesterday, Rawabdeh said Jordan had vested interests in final status talks between Israel and the Palestinians, but stressed that the Kingdom would not be a “signatory” to any agreements resulting from the much-delayed negotiations.
“We never deal with floating ideas, we rather deal with reality. We are not talking about settling Palestinian refugees but about their unwavering rights,” Rawabdeh told reporters.
“Our duty in the final status talks is to protect Jordan's rights and those of Jordanians,” said Rawabdeh. “Some Jordanians have outstanding rights in Palestine.”
“We have rights there, but we will not be signatories to any agreement,” he noted.
He pointed out that pertinent United Nations resolutions underline “the right of refugees to return or to compensation.”
“The settlement of refugees in the diaspora has not been a point of discussion on the negotiating table,” added Rawabdeh.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak during his talks with U.S. President Bill Clinton in Washington last month proposed that refugees be settled in the host country and compensated through an international effort.
Jordan is home to roughly 1.3 million refugees living in 13 camps across the country, nearly one-third of all refugees in host countries. |
