Maariv: Jordan is ready to settle the Palestinians for US $7 billion
Jordan-Israel, Politics, 10/8/1999

The Israeli daily Maariv has reported on Wednesday that Jordan has, for the first time, expressed its readiness to settle the Palestinian refugees who are residents in Jordan against the sum of US $7 billion.

The Israeli paper said that Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul Illah al-Khatib expressed during a secret visit to Israel just several months ago Jordan's consent to settle the refugees who stay in the Jordanian territories, adding that this Jordanian position is based on the assumption that "either Israel will oppose the return of most of the refugees to the Palestinian areas or most of them (the Palestinians) will not agree to return."

The Israeli paper quoted a high-ranking political source in Tel Aviv as saying that the Jordanian minister said there are almost one million Palestinian refugees in Jordan, with most of them in refugee camps. He added that Jordan abstained from settling the Palestinians until now so such consent will be considered "an implicit disapproval to returning them to the Palestinian areas."

The paper said that Amman tries, with the beginning of the permanent settlement negotiations, to have an approval that the refugees will be settled in the Jordanian territories for a large-scale international funding.

The paper continued that Israel views such a proposal "positively" and calls for the need to implement the same solution in other Arab states where Palestinian refugees live.

Previous Stories:
  King Abdullah visits al-Baqaa camp, voices backing for Palestinian refugees rights   (10/6/1999)
  Jordanian authorities release four Muslim Brothers detainees   (10/5/1999)
  Jordanian delegation to final status negotiations   (9/22/1999)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search