There are nearly 158,000 Gazan Palestinians who arrived in Jordan following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, and they hold temporary Jordanian passports, according to statistics of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East in 2015. Restrictions have been imposed on these Palestinians under Jordanian law, in terms of the right to own properties, work, receive medical treatment, study and join trade unions, which have resulted in high poverty and unemployment rates, the Phenix Center for Economic and Informatics Studies in Amman wrote in its 2013 economic report.
The Jordanian Al-Ghad daily revealed Oct. 31 the latest decision against Gazan Palestinians in Jordan, the majority of whom live in the refugee camp in Jerash, also known as the Gaza camp. It wrote that the Jordanian government started implementing its Aug. 28 decision, which was issued by the Jordanian Ministry of Education, to prevent Gazan teachers in Jordan from teaching in Jordanian schools. This has caused prejudice against hundreds of Gazan teachers in Jordan, who worked for years in this profession.
An informed Jordanian source at the Ministry of Education, who declined to be named, told Al-Monitor, “Before the start of the academic year in September, the ministry demanded that private educational institutions refrain from renewing employment contracts with non-Jordanian teachers, which amount to 800 teachers of Gazan origin. The decision is not limited to teachers. It also includes drivers, administrators, office boys and guards.”
Jihan Ali, a Palestinian teacher in the Gaza refugee camp, spoke to Al-Monitor over the phone. She said, “I have worked for 15 years as a teacher in Jordanian private schools without a problem. Yet I was surprised in mid-September when the school asked me to go to the Jordanian Ministry of Labor for a work permit. It was the first time that I was asked to do so. The Ministry of Labor refused to issue the permit, due to the decision to ban non-Jordanians from practicing the teaching profession. It has been weeks since I had a job, although I provide for my six orphan brothers and sisters.”
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