PALESTINIAN REFUGEES AT JORDAN-IRAQ BORDER

UNCLAS AMMAN 002061 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR NEA AND PRM CAIRO FOR REFCOORD CHEYNE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREF KPAL IZ JO SUBJECT: PALESTINIAN REFUGEES AT JORDAN-IRAQ BORDER REF: A. A. BAGHDAD 918 ¶B. B. AMMAN 2046 ¶1. (U) Reached on March 21, Jordan,s Interior Minister, Eid al-Fayez, responded positively to the Ambassador,s request that UNHCR be granted access to the 89 Palestinian refugees now on the Jordan-Iraq border. His staff later confirmed to Ambassador that the minister had issued his authorization. UNHCR staff told poloff mid-day March 21 that they had the authorization in hand and were en-route to the border. ¶2. (U) Fayez in turn asked for our help in improving communication with Iraqi counterparts; the Iraqi Interior Minister was not returning his calls. Foreign Minister al-Khateeb, in Paris, had reached Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari to convey Jordan,s position that it would not accept the refugees and asked that they be allowed to return to Iraq. ¶3. (SBU) Action Request: The issue of accepting refugee flows is radioactive in Jordan; 201 Iranian Kurdish refugees formerly resident in Ramadi, for example, have remained in Iraqi-Jordanian no man's land for over 19 months. Jordan,s position, like UNHCR,s, is that allowing refugees into Jordan will only invite a cascade of Palestinians in Iraq to seek asylum in Jordan, and that a solution can only lie in providing a greater measure of security to Palestinians in Iraq or arranging their asylum in a third country better equipped to host refugees. Embassy Amman recommends engagement with Iraqi authorities to encourage Jordanian-Iraqi contacts to find a solution in support of UNHCR guidelines. HALE