[By Michael Freund, International Affairs Correspondent]
Saudi Arabia’s Council of Ministers passed a series of new regulations on citizenship this week that will likely benefit hundreds of thousands of foreigners living in the desert kingdom, with one glaring exception: the "Palestinians."
The new guidelines, which serve to amend Saudi Arabia’s previous law on naturalization, entitle expatriates of all nationalities who have resided in the kingdom for ten years to apply for citizenship, with priority being given to holders of degrees in various scientific fields.
The rules are likely to help as many as one million foreigners living in Saudi Arabia obtain citizenship, said Nasser ibn Hamad al-Hanaya, undersecretary for civil status in the Saudi Interior Ministry. Another Saudi official, Shubaily ibn Majdoue Al-Qarni, who served as chairman of the security committee which supervised the amendment of the law, said that all foreign nationals working in the country would now be eligible to obtain Saudi citizenship.
But citing a report in the Al-Watan newspaper, the English-language Saudi daily Arab News notes that one group will in fact be excluded by the new regulations: the estimated 500,000 Arabs from Judea, Samaria, and Gaza living in the kingdom.
This select sector of Arabs will not be allowed to benefit from the new law, says the paper, because of Arab League instructions barring the Arab states from granting them citizenship in order “to avoid dissolution of their identity and protect their right to return to their homeland”.
The amended law is slated to go into effect in four months.
Saudi Arabia’s Council of Ministers passed a series of new regulations on citizenship this week that will likely benefit hundreds of thousands of foreigners living in the desert kingdom, with one glaring exception: the "Palestinians."
The new guidelines, which serve to amend Saudi Arabia’s previous law on naturalization, entitle expatriates of all nationalities who have resided in the kingdom for ten years to apply for citizenship, with priority being given to holders of degrees in various scientific fields.
The rules are likely to help as many as one million foreigners living in Saudi Arabia obtain citizenship, said Nasser ibn Hamad al-Hanaya, undersecretary for civil status in the Saudi Interior Ministry. Another Saudi official, Shubaily ibn Majdoue Al-Qarni, who served as chairman of the security committee which supervised the amendment of the law, said that all foreign nationals working in the country would now be eligible to obtain Saudi citizenship.
But citing a report in the Al-Watan newspaper, the English-language Saudi daily Arab News notes that one group will in fact be excluded by the new regulations: the estimated 500,000 Arabs from Judea, Samaria, and Gaza living in the kingdom.
This select sector of Arabs will not be allowed to benefit from the new law, says the paper, because of Arab League instructions barring the Arab states from granting them citizenship in order “to avoid dissolution of their identity and protect their right to return to their homeland”.
The amended law is slated to go into effect in four months.