Jordan is to open a second border crossing with Iraq, in order to ease the growing movement between the two countries, reports the London-based daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat.
The governmental committee, which includes representatives from five ministries, held its first meeting on Monday. The crossing will be built this year at a cost of $85 million.
The building of the new border crossing is to ease the pressure from the only border crossing operating today. In the past three years, since the beginning of the war in Iraq, many Iraqis have escaped the mounting violence in their country.
On March 23, The Media Line reported that European officials approached the Jordanian and Iraqi governments, and the American forces in Iraq, requesting help for Palestinians seeking refuge on the Jordanian-Iraqi border.
According to the Jordanian daily A-Dustour, Palestinian representative to Amman ‘Atallah Kheiri requested the American forces in Iraq provide the required protection for the Palestinian refugees in Iraq and end hostilities to which they are exposed.
At the beginning of last week, Jordan unilaterally closed its border with Iraq to prevent the uncontrolled entry of Palestinians fleeing from Iraq into the country, a Jordanian security official said.
Jordan is concerned that people trying to cross the border do not carry valid official documents and have no papers to validate their nationality. Amman fears thousands of Palestinians residing in Iraq will try to cross the border while fleeing the mounting sectarian violence in Iraq.