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Allegations of Jordanian apartheid draw analogies between Jordan and apartheid-era South Africa.

Treatment of Iraqi Refugees

At least 500,000 Iraqis live in Jordan, most having fled the turmoil in their country caused by the Iraq War. Although the government has generally been tolerant towards Iraqis, the price of this tolerance has been to ignore their presence. Last year, the government first announced that foreign children without residence permits could not attend public schools, then reversed its policy at the last minute. The only Iraqis eligible for Jordanian residency permits are those who qualify according to normal immigration criteria, such as investors or people who have sought-after skills.<ref> </ref> Consequently, most Iraqis in Jordan live a life at the margin of society, without proper legal status, unable to work legally, and unable to access subsidized social services such as education, health care, and housing.

Some Iraqi men also face discrimination. A Shi`a woman from Najaf said Jordanian authorities deported her husband after detaining him for working without a permit:
<blockquote>"My husband has a college degree in agriculture, but he worked in construction illegally. He did day labor. It was very difficult because the income was irregular. Sometimes, after the work was finished, they just told him to go and [did] not pay him, since he can’t go to the police"<ref>Human Rights Watch interview, (P-14), Amman, April 27, 2006</ref></blockquote>

A Shi`a artist and interior designer from Baghdad who has refugee status with UNHCR but no residency permit in Jordan, and who has been waiting for years to be resettled abroad, said:

<blockquote>"I work individually, not for a firm. I get exploited because if I were a Jordanian I could charge much more for my work. As a refugee, I often do not get paid or just receive a token amount. I don’t care so much about the money. I just want to be resettled elsewhere because my situation here is bad. I am not in charge of my own life"<ref> </ref></blockquote>

Treatment of unrecognized religious groups

There is official and societal discrimination against adherents of unrecognized religions, which included the Druze or members of the Baha'i faith. The Government does not permit Baha'is to register schools or places of worship and they are classified as Muslims on official documents.<ref name=US/>

In an address Martin Kramer noted that even after the Middles East’s gradual conversion over the centuries to an Islamic majority, it allowed the continued existence of autonomous minorities that enjoyed social and religious autonomy. He stated that historian Bat Ye'or depicts it as a thousand-year "apartheid" that left non-Muslims in a permanent state of insecurity. <ref> </ref>

Banning sale of land to Jews and Israelis

In 1973, under the direct instructions of King Hussein, the government of Jordan passed the 'Law for Preventing the Sale of Immoveable Property to the Enemy' — with the "enemy" defined as "any man or judicial body of Israeli citizenship living in Israel or acting on its behalf".

In 1995, following the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan, the Jordanian Parliament repealed the 1973 law which mandated the death penalty for those selling land to Jews. In its place, milder statutes were adopted that still effectively bar Israelis from purchasing or leasing land in Jordan.<ref>(Safian, Alexander), Land, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel , June 25, 1997, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, Boston, MA</ref>

In March 2007, Jordan arrested two Arabs suspected of selling a house in Hebron to Israelis.<ref> </ref>

Law against Jewish citizenship

Jordan has a law explicitly prohibiting any Jew from becoming a citizen.<ref>{Dershowitz, Alan), The Case Against Jordan</ref> Jordan's laws against Jewish residence has been described by Benjamin Natanyahu<ref>
</ref>
and Alan Dershowitz<ref> </ref> as apartheid.

The Jordanian position

Jordan has singed up to the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid. The Jordanian constitution safeguards the rights of Jordanians of all origins including minorities and states that no discrimination should take place on grounds of race, language or religion.

On the issue of Palestinian residents, the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs states:



In an attempt to improve its record on equal rights, Jordan opened the
Human Rights Office at the Prime Ministry in 1999. Julia Husermann, an international consultant who advised South Africa on its bill of rights in the new constitution following the end of the apartheid regime, said “The Human Rights Office will examine claims of human rights violations and abuses made by institutions and individuals, and it will develop the appropriate tools to deal with such claims.”<ref> </ref>

References