(MENAFN- Jordan Times) The government on Wednesday said it deals with refugees on a humanitarian basis and not according to nationalities, dismissing as baseless an international watchdog's claims of discrimination against Palestinian refugees coming from Syria.
"Although it poses a challenge for the country, which is already dealing with a scarcity in resources, the refugee issue remains a humanitarian crisis and we deal with it as such," Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Samih Maaytah told The Jordan Times.
"We have absolutely nothing against the Palestinian refugees who arrive in the country to escape the violence in Syria," the government spokesperson added.
The official was commenting on a report issued Wednesday by the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) organisation claiming that the local authorities have forcibly returned some Palestinians who arrived recently from Syria and threatened to deport others.
"Since April 2012, the authorities have also arbitrarily detained Palestinians fleeing Syria in a refugee holding centre without any options for release other than return to Syria," the report charged.
"The Jordanian authorities should treat all Palestinians from Syria seeking refuge in Jordan the same as Syrian asylum seekers, who are allowed to remain and can move freely in Jordan after passing security screening and finding a sponsor," the watchdog said.
"To its credit, Jordan has allowed tens of thousands of Syrians to cross its borders irregularly and move freely in Jordan, but it treats Palestinians fleeing the same way differently," said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher and advocate for HRW.
"All those fleeing Syria - Syrians and Palestinians alike - have a right to seek asylum in Jordan, move freely in Jordan, and shouldn't be forced back into a war zone," Simpson added.
Some 480 Palestinian refugees have fled from Syria into Jordan since Damascus' launch of its military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters last year, according to UNRWA, with some 150 illegal arrivals currently residing at the Ramtha holding centre known as Cyber City.
Among them are some two dozens who either currently or previously carried Jordanian citizenship, according to relief agencies and security sources, many of whom carry documents ranging from birth certificates to national IDs supporting their claims - copies of which were shown to The Jordan Times through various interviews.
Meanwhile, a government official who spoke to The Jordan Times on condition of anonymity said that "some parties" are trying to politicise the Palestinian refugee issue to serve certain agendas.
"The sensitivity of the demographic composition of Jordanian society is known to all," he said.
"We are not just talking about the few hundreds of Palestinian refugees who are currently receiving humanitarian aid in the Kingdom after escaping the turmoil in Syria."
"If the situation deteriorates in that country, it is expected that thousands might flood into the Kingdom and in such case it would further complicate the situation here," the official said.
He underlined that under UN recognition, Palestinians in Syria are already classified as refugees and thus it is the UN's responsibility to address their problem and provide them with whatever assistance they need.
"We are hopeful that the Syrian crisis would come to an end sooner rather than later, and when that happens the Syrian refugees will go back to their country. But with the Palestinian issue, it would be difficult to bring them back if they are allowed to move around in the cities," he added.
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