Amman hosts conference on Palestinian diaspora
Over 100 Arab searchers and intellectuals started on Monday a three-day meeting to discuss various political, economic and social issues related to the Palestinian refugees.
The conference aims at "reaching a unified Arab strategy to secure the right to return of Palestinians," said Jaouad Hamad, chairman of the center of Mideast Studies, a Jordanian NGO which organizes the encounter.
Arab League assistant-secretary general for Palestinian affairs, Said Kamal, said no peace is possible without ensuring to Palestinians the right to return to their homeland and without compensating them and compensating the host countries.
Gunnar Lofberg, Head of the UNRWA activities in Jordan, said the 59 refugee camps in Arab countries and Palestinian territories accommodate one third of the 3.7 million Palestinian refugees registered at the UNRWA.
The encounter will look into research covering Palestinians living in North and southern America, in Arab gulf countries and the future of the Palestinian entity.
Another research to be studied deals with an estimated 30,000 Palestinians living in Iraq since 1948 and who are not registered at UNRWA.
According to UNRWA recent statistics, Jordan hosts some 1.6 million Palestinian refugees most of whom obtained the Jordanian citizenship.
