In an alarming act of state negligence and injustice, Jordanian authorities have forcibly evicted over 100 Palestinians from Amman’s al-Mahatta camp—an informal settlement long inhabited by families displaced during the 1948 Nakba. Without adequate notice, consultation, compensation, or relocation assistance, the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) demolished 25 homes and several shops as part of its so-called “Strategic Plan” to ease congestion and expand roadways. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has rightly condemned this ruthless operation, emphasizing the humanitarian vacuum left behind as families are stripped of shelter and stability in a country they had come to see as refuge.
The Jordanian government’s justification— that these Palestinians were “encroaching on state land”—rings hollow in the face of history and moral duty. These are not squatters; they are survivors of ethnic cleansing, forcibly expelled from their homeland over seven decades ago, and yet again re-traumatized by another forced displacement—this time by a state that once promised to protect them. The insult deepens with the government’s dismissal of compensation as mere “donations,” reducing lifelong homes to transactional pity and vague verbal promises that lack transparency, clarity, or dignity.
This incident is more than a local zoning issue— it is a microcosm of a systemic disregard for Palestinian lives and suffering. The al-Mahatta camp, housing approximately 8,000 residents, may not be officially recognized by Jordan as a refugee camp, but that does not strip its people of basic human rights. The Jordanian authorities have not only broken the 2019 pledge made by former Prime Minister Omar Razzaz to protect these residents, but also violated the ethical and humanitarian obligations owed to a displaced and vulnerable population.
The demolition of homes, done under the pretext of urban beautification, reveals the state’s disturbing prioritization of “green space” over human lives. Urban development must not come at the cost of uprooting the marginalized. What good is a widened road or a manicured park if it’s built atop shattered homes and broken promises?
It’s time the international community holds Jordan accountable for these blatant human rights violations. Displacement should not be met with another round of erasure and exile. Palestinians have endured enough. Their dignity and humanity must no longer be treated as disposable collateral in the name of progress.
