Comments on: Beyond Borders: Bloggers Face off over Jordanian Treatment of Iraqi Travellers

By: Thought Leader » Blog Archive » Pan-Arab blog spat: The power of a good story

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 14:24:26 +0000

[...] type of which is normally reserved for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict). Last week I wrote a very thorough round-up of posts on both sides of the dispute for Global Voices [...]

By: ::: SILLY BAHRAINI GIRL :::

::: SILLY BAHRAINI GIRL ::: — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 02:33:12 +0000

[...] since I have personally just been involved in fueling an online spat which triggered into an online war between Iraqi and Jordanian bloggers. From my humble experience, I feel that some blogospheres just [...]

By: Imran

Imran — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:08:30 +0000

Interesting to note that while cash-strapped Syria has absorbed around 1.4 million Iraqi Refugees and tiny Jordan around 1 million…the invading force, The US, has since 2003 taken in a mere 800 Iraqi refugees.

By: Tee

Tee — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 17:18:17 +0000

I can see both sides of this issue.

As an American I sympathize with the Jordanian citizens in the sense that they are being judged by the actions of their government. Americans so often are victims of this kind of generalization, too and it isn’t fair.

My heart goes out to the Iraqis, too. After all they’ve been through, families split apart, and now being treated in this way – unable to simply go for a vacation, or seek better opportunities for themselves or their families.

I think this tension between Jordanians and Iraqis is somewhat similar to what the US is facing with Mexico (and other hispanic immigrants).

On one hand you have a group wanting to immigrate for a better life. On the other hand you have the citizens of that nation feeling anxiety about an uncertain future.

By: Mohamed Nanabhay

Mohamed Nanabhay — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:24:32 +0000

JP : Good point however that statement was written in the context of the “blog spat” rather than in terms of general Arab history. And of course Arabs aren’t “one uniform happy lump” as I’m sure the rest of the article articulates.

The economic impact is covered in excerpts from Black Iris and Made in Jordan.

By: JP Craig

JP Craig — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:44:41 +0000

The remark at the head of the article that such tensions are normally reserved for Palestinian/Israeli relations demonstrates a real ignorance of Near Eastern history. You know, Arabs aren’t one uniform happy lump. They are unique individuals, tribes, nations, and as such have interests that have led them in the past into conflict with one another, at times as acrimonious or more so than the Palestinian/Israeli conflict (though not, to my mind, as pathetically cruel and tragic). That’s a pretty myopic statement there at the front of this article for “GLOBAL Voices Online.” I think it’s useful too to note the effect this influx has had on markets in Jordan. The price of all commodities has shot up dramatically. It’s hard for people who were born in Jordan to feed themselves well. This is one of those effects of America’s recent idiotic foreign policy for which its NeoCon authors no doubt did not account. Heck, they probably thought the Rapture would give it all a tidy solution.

By: Edie

Edie — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:49:14 +0000

I see both sides of the story. Not only has Jordan accepted hundreds of thousands of Iraqis already, but they were hit in the early 90’s with Palestinian refugees fleeing Kuwait and then we all remember Black September and the already present Palestinian refugee camps from ‘67 and ‘48.

I also can’t help but see the Iraqis as the new Palestinians. The Iraqis are just experiencing what the Palestinians have experienced for the past 60 years. Even though Arab leaders and people spout sympathy with the Palestinians from their mouths, Arab gov’t’s have exploited the Palestinian issue for their own benefit for generations and many Lebanese or Jordanians have long made the Palestinian refugee pay for their sin of being a refugee.

Meanwhile, what is the U.S. gov’t doing to help with this situation they have created?

By: Beyond Borders: Bloggers Face Off Over Jordanian Treatment Of Iraqi Travellers : 7iber Dot Com

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:35:34 +0000

[...] By Mohamed Nanabhay via Global Voices [...]