Jordan Strips Palestinians of Citizenship

I'm sick of Israel being slammed for its supposed mistreatment of Arabs, especially Palestinians. Israel has treated Palestinians far better than their Arab brethren throughout the region. Palestinian refugees in Arab countries are treated like shit, they are denied jobs, education and even access to hospitals. When Judea and Samaria came under Israeli control, hospitals and universities were built, the standard of living and life expectancy was greatly increased after 1967. In 1970 thousands of Palestinians were slaughtered by the Heshemite regime and now Palestinians in Jordan have recently been stripped of their citizenship to the silence of the human rights crowd, the UN, EU, and the Obama administration. Where are all those champions of Palestinian rights now?

A grave injustice is being committed against the Palestinian people -- perhaps among the greatest in their history. Thousands are being systematically robbed of their citizenship, made stateless once more by a hard-hearted government that pays lip service to peace and the two-state solution, but which seems determined to undermine both.

Israel? No -- the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the monarchy that occupied the West Bank from 1948 to 1967 and which has long had an uneasy relationship with its Palestinian majority. Now, cynically claiming that it has the Palestinians' best interests at heart, the regime of King Abdullah II has begun removing the citizenship of Palestinians with roots in the West Bank.

Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads:

(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

The Jordanian policy is a clear violation of these fundamental rights. Thus far, it has been met with protest in Amman and mild complaint from the Jordanian media. Yet the rest of the world has been silent.

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