Jordan Revokes a Birthright, Humor Less Attainable than Ever……….
“Jordan has revoked citizenship from nearly 3,000 Jordanians of Palestinian origin in recent years and should put a stop to the practice, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released Monday. HRW said 2,732 Palestinians were stripped of their Jordanian nationality between 2004 and 2008. "Jordan is playing politics with the basic rights of thousands of its citizens," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director of the US-based group that released the 60-page report at a news conference in Amman. "Officials are denying entire families the ability to lead normal lives with the sense of security that most citizens of a country take for granted," the report said. The practice continued in 2009, denying many people basic citizenship rights such as access to education and health care, HRW said……..”
What about her majesty? She is of Palestinian origins and she grew up in the diaspora in my own hometown.
This is a page out of the book of Saddam, and many other Middle East despots. Saddam did it to some 200 thousand Iraqi Shi’as, exiling most of them to Iran. These despots and oligarchs do not realize that citizenship is a birthright that cannot be taken away by anyone, not even a potentate who is a glorified bureaucrat.
And to think the king got to address a joint session of the US Congress (I wonder who was behind that exclusive honor? Must have been under a GOP majority).
I hate to bring this up now, but I imagine this will further reduce my chances of ever finding examples of Jordanian humor, if it ever existed. (FYI, and to show that I can be fair: Palestinian humor, if it existed, has gone AWOL for some decades). As for Israeli humor, there is no there there, as the lady said about Oakland so long ago.
Cheers
mhg
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