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The boundaries of the Middle East have been redrawn time and again. Jordan has been and remains an important political influence in the region, whilst continually constructing and defining its own national identity. 

Landlocked between Israel and the Occupied Territories, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Syria, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is now perhaps the most politically stable country in the Middle East. It accommodates a large number of refugees (estimated at 2 million) from neighbouring countries - most notably the Occupied Territories and Iraq, as well as Syria, Kuwait, and from further a-field, Sudan, Somalia and Chechnya.

Following independence from the British administration in 1946, King Abdullah ruled the state of Transjordan, renaming it Jordan after the 1948 war with Israel. After joining the Arab League, Jordan took the West Bank (where Arab refugee camps were established), and part of Jerusalem.

This war marked the first influx of Palestinian refugees into Jordan. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Middle East (UNWRA) was created in 1949, mandated to help Palestinian refugees: dealing with health, education, relief and social services.

The Six Day War of 1967 saw the second significant migration of Palestinians into Jordan. King Hussein, son of the former King Abdullah, lost control of the West Bank and east Jerusalem, losing agricultural land and gaining thousands of refugees fleeing the Occupied Territories. 

Thereafter saw a two year period of internal instability, as the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), began to threaten King Hussein’s power. By the early 1970s, internal peace had been secured and key PLO activists moving into Lebanon.

Over the course of King Hussein’s reign, other important Middle East events involving Jordan occurred; the unsuccessful mediation between Iraq and Kuwait, the 1994 Israel and Jordan peace treaty and increased links with Chairman Arafat.  King Hussein instigated liberal political and economic reforms allowing Jordan to carve a unique position for itself, despite its lack of natural resources including oil or water, and an ever increasing population. Jordan is now ruled by the popular King Abdullah II.

The invasion of Iraq in 2003, displaced a large number of Iraqi refugees, as well as Palestinians based in Iraq, into Jordan. Organisations such as the DPA (Department of Palestinian Affairs), and UNWRA manage the refugee camps, with UNHCR, CARE International, the Red Cross and many other organisations providing relief, health and community services.

With no imminent peaceful resolution in Israel and Palestine, and the continued violence in Iraq, the already vast number of refugees in Jordan is growing. An estimated 60% of the Jordanian population is Palestinian, and as the generational spectrum increases, the Jordanian government faces increasing domestic strains.

The diverse refugee population led us to choose Jordan as our final research destination. In order to gain a better understanding of the large and complex political situation in the Middle East and its impact on young people in the region, we aimed to interview a representative cross-section of refugees.

The TIABW team sought to investigate the experiences, reflections, hopes and aspirations felt by the large refugee youth population.     

TIABW will be visiting Jordan in April 2004

Further Reading

The Palestinian Refugees: Old Problems - New Solutions (Studies in Peace Politics in the Middle East) - Ginat, Perkins and Boren

Dancing with Saddam: The Strategic Tango of Jordan-Iraq Relations - Schenker