Jordan bans entry of Palestinian families from Iraq

The Jordanian authorities banned the entry of scores of Palestinian families evacuating from Iraq, fleeing repression and violence.

These families are waiting between the two crossings of the Iraqi Triebel crossing and the Jordanian al-Karamh crossing since three days while the Iraqi authorities refuse to return them back to Iraq.

News reports in Iraq quoted the spokesman for the Jordanian government Nasser Joudeh as saying that Jordan refused their entry to the kingdom because they did not get special license and the lack of prior coordination with the Iraqi authorities to this effect.

Earlier, the Palestinian charge de affairs in Baghdad announced that 89 Palestinian residents in Iraq left three days before towards Jordan, but the Jordanian authorities refuse to let them into Jordan. A matter which obliged them to stay in the buffer zone.

The official spokesman for the Jordanian general security directorate Bashir al- Da'je attributed the closure of the borders between Iraq and Jordan since Sunday for organizational purposes. He said that there are some travelers and persons who do not carry valid official documents and have no documents proving their nationality.

Witnesses said that the Jordanian authorities closed the border since Sunday after the arrival of one bus filled with Palestinian refugees.