Jordan Times
Thursday, May 28, 1998
Palestinian department move based on administrative concerns — Badran
By Francesca Ciriaci
AMMAN — Ibrahim Badran, director general of the Department for
Palestinian Affairs (DPA), Wednesday said a recent Cabinet decision to move the DPA from
under the umbrella of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Prime Ministry was a purely
administrative move that had no political implications.
He said the decision was made to facilitate the work of the department and speed up
decision-making.
The Council of Ministers decided in a regular session Tuesday that the DPA would be linked
to the Prime Minister's office instead of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The Cabinet is confident that the nature of our work is not the same as the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs', but it raises issues and needs that do not fall within the ministry's
routine functions,” Dr. Badran said.
He said the DPA has not yet been officially notified of the Cabinet's decision.
Dr. Badran denied that the decision to link the DPA to the Prime Ministry was made in
anticipation of final status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians under the
Oslo peace accords of 1993.
The talks, set to have started last May, will among other things determine the future of
3.5 million Palestinian refugees living in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, the Gaza Strip
and the West Bank.
However, peace talks on the Palestinian-Israeli track have been deadlocked since March
1997 due to the intransigent policies of the Likud-led government of Israeli Prime
Minister Benyamin Netanyahu.
Other items on the agenda of the final status negotiations include the future of Arab east
Jerusalem, borders, water and settlements. Jordan has said it would have to be consulted
on any final status deal, because these issues touch on its security, but has made it
clear it will never accept negotiating on behalf of the Palestinians.
The DPA was established to replace the Ministry of Occupied Territories in 1988, when
Jordan severed legal and administrative links with the West Bank.
It now helps administer Jordan's 13 camps housing Palestinian refugees while the United
Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) offers health, medical and relief services to camp
dwellers.
The Kingdom is home to over 1.3 million UNRWA-registered Palestinian refugees.
Under a social productivity programme, due to begin by mid-1998, the government has
allocated funds to combating poverty and unemployment as well as developing infrastructure
in the camps.
Of the JD431 million social productivity programme, JD173 million will be spent on the
infrastructure of camps as part of efforts to improve the Kingdom's underprivileged
regions.
Jordan's annual expenditure — $380 million — to provide refugees with a
dignified life until they regain their legitimate right to return and/or compensation
exceeds UNRWA's $360 million annual budget, official figures show.