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