Impressive Amman Website

Read more about Amman’s story on this impressive new site:

Artist pushing limits teaching in the Middle East

“I went over there with a lot of fear, not knowing anything about the culture,” she says.

The longtime Lawrence-area artist, a 56-year-old journeywoman lecturer at area universities, finally landed a full-time position — teaching at the New York Institute of Technology campus in Amman, Jordan. She started a year ago this week.

After a year of frustrations, triumphs and plenty of education — both students’ and her own — Doner-Hedrick is headed back to the Middle East this week with a renewed sense of purpose both as an educator and an artist.

“I really found my place in life,” she says.

Read more…

For ‘Amreeka’ Director, Life As Inspiration For Art

Writer and director Cherien Dabis drew upon her own childhood experiences as a first-generation Arab immigrant growing up in the Midwest for her feature film Amreeka. The film explores the journey of a single mom and her teenage son as they emigrate from the West Bank to America during the first Gulf War. Amreeka has garnered high praise from both critics and audiences alike.

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Israel, Jordan Find Accord in Finding New Water Supplies

Jordan loses perhaps half of its water supply to leakage and illegal wells

Controversial Projects Include Network Linking the Dead Sea and the Red Sea

Washington Post:

Water is a major source of contention in the Middle East, whether it is tension over Egypt’s concerns about Sudan’s management of the southern Nile or disputes between Israel and the Palestinian Authority over shortages in the occupied West Bank. The water shortage is severe enough to upend some of the region’s traditional dynamics. Jordan and Israel are often pressured by Western nations and international organizations to cooperate in the name of Arab-Israeli peace. Water is one area in which pressure is running in the other direction, with the two pushing quickly on the Red Sea-Dead Sea connection while outside observers urge restraint.

Jordan now views the connection as central to the long-term stability of its water supply. Upset over the years spent discussing the project without concrete action, the country in the spring announced plans to proceed on its own. Israel has since said it would join its neighbor in an initial phase, even as the World Bank and environmental groups foresee perhaps two more years for studies to be completed before deciding whether the project should be built at all.

Read the article in the Washington Post

My Photos of Jordan (Random)

Where is the Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Program going?

After meeting with World Bank President, Robert Zoellick, Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister of Regional Development, Silvan Shalom, stated that the World Bank had agreed to fund the Red-Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Program that involves Jordan, Palestine and Israel. However, Bank officials say that they have made no promises and that the project is still in the feasibility study phase.

The studies are slated to be completed in early 2011. According Lintner, the Bank has still not determined how much financial (or other) involvement it will have in the project’s future, but Lintner stated that by 2011, the three governments involved in the project will have decided what the Bank’s role will be if any, but that it is the governments’ decision to make. At this point the Bank’s only involvement is in the feasibility and the environmental impacts studies, which the governments of France, Greece, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden and USA have jointly put in the allocated $16.2 million for.

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Daily Beast: Can USAID Survive Without a Leader?

Until last week, Farmer was rumored to be Hillary Clinton’s choice to head USAID, an organization that has languished without a leader for almost seven months. Then he bowed out, and Wednesday came news that he’s going to be the U.N. Deputy Special Envoy to Haiti under Bill Clinton. It’s probably a much better position for him—Farmer isn’t a bureaucrat, and Haiti, where he founded the pioneering Zanmi Lasante hospital, is by all accounts where his heart is. But it raises a question that’s being asked with increasing urgency within development circles—why can’t the Obama administration fill the void at the top of USAID?

Read more….

A very important topic since Jordan is very dependent on USAID…

Jordan attracts major international productions

Two major international film productions and a popular South-American TV series recently wrapped shoots in Jordan.

Scorched, a Canadian production, directed by Denis Villeneuve concluded a five-week shoot in several locations across Jordan including Amman, Jarash, Irbid and Salt. Scorched is a feature film set in the Middle East and is due to be released next year. Villeneuve is well known for this previous film, Polytechnique, which was screened this year at the Cannes Film Festival.

Read more…

US: 12 and in Prison

An important editorial published in the NYT today:

The Supreme Court sent an important message when it ruled in Roper v. Simmons in 2005 that children under the age of 18 when their crimes were committed were not eligible for the death penalty. Justice Anthony Kennedy drew on compassion, common sense and the science of the youthful brain when he wrote that it was morally wrong to equate the offenses of emotionally undeveloped adolescents with the offenses of fully formed adults.

The states have followed this logic in death penalty cases. But they have continued to mete out barbaric treatment — including life sentences — to children whose cases should rightly be handled through the juvenile courts.

Congress can help to correct these practices by amending the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, which is up for Congressional reauthorization this year. To get a share of delinquency prevention money, the law requires the states and localities to meet minimum federal protections for youths in the justice system. These protections are intended to keep as many youths as possible out of adult jails and prisons, and to segregate those that are sent to those places from the adult criminal population.

The case for tougher legislative action is laid out in an alarming new study of children 13 and under in the adult criminal justice system, the lead author of which is the juvenile justice scholar, Michele Deitch, of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. According to the study, every state allows juveniles to be tried as adults, and more than 20 states permit preadolescent children as young as 7 to be tried in adult courts.

This is terrible public policy. Children who are convicted and sentenced as adults are much more likely to become violent offenders — and to return to an adult jail later on — than children tried in the juvenile justice system.

Despite these well-known risks, policy makers across the country do not have reliable data on just how many children are being shunted into the adult system by state statutes or prosecutors, who have the discretion to file cases in the adult courts.

But there is reasonably reliable data showing juvenile court judges send about 80 children ages 13 and under into the adult courts each year. These statistics explode the myth that those children have committed especially heinous acts.

The data suggest, for example, that children 13 and under who commit crimes like burglary and theft are just as likely to be sent to adult courts as children who commit serious acts of violence against people. As has been shown in previous studies, minority defendants are more likely to get adult treatment than their white counterparts who commit comparable offenses.

The study’s authors rightly call on lawmakers to enact laws that discourage harsh sentencing for preadolescent children and that enable them to be transferred back into the juvenile system. Beyond that, Congress should amend the juvenile justice act to require the states to simply end these inhumane practices to be eligible for federal juvenile justice funds.

Read more on Jordan’s attempt to reform its prison system.

Jordan: The Societies Law

Murad writes about the notion of one step forward, several steps backwards when it comes to progress in Jordan. We must examine the Societies law, which hinders progress for Jordan’s civil society and NGO’s that play a vital role in this country. This is an attack even on the notion of democratization. What is needed in the Arab world–in Jordan as well–is more of an understanding of the importance of volunteerism and a deeper understanding of citizenship. Democracy is not only about elections, it’s about increasing critical thinking and analysis in our education system, it’s instilling tools to empower men and women, it’s about increasing knowledge of what an individual can achieve. I believe that reaching individuals, giving them the tools and the opportunity is very powerful. Instead, non-profits will be too busy getting buried in bureaucracy and favoritism. This is a disgraceful move by the Parliament.

And that’s my two cents.

Read Murad’s excellent column in today’s Jordan Times

What other motive could be behind the passing of a Societies Law that has evolved to become one of the most debilitating legislations, hindering the progress of civil society, social responsibility, volunteer work, corporate social responsibility and all the other terminologies we bandy about to indicate that Jordan is living in an era of citizen-for-citizen action and government-people partnership? We thought that the society was finally waking up to its role in building the country and that government supported and encouraged that role, but this law is now telling it to revert to its previous apathetic state where it was not an active participant in the plans for the country.

Let me retrace and explain. The Societies Law, which enforces government scrutiny of the fundraising activities of NGOs in Jordan, had been amended by the government after lengthy discussions with NGOs in Jordan to reach a workable formula – for the time being – that would allow the government to have its control, but would also allow the NGOs to function.

This is really one of those situations where that favourite saying “the world has reached Mars but look at where we are” is really very apt.

UNDP: Insecurity due to unemployment, environmental degradation, lack of healthcare and legal rights is hindering progress in MidEast

Jordan Times

By Taylor Luck

According to the UNDP Arab Human Development Report 2009: Challenges to Human Security in the Arab Countries, which was launched yesterday in Beirut, insecurity due to unemployment, environmental degradation, lack of healthcare and legal rights is hindering progress in the region.

“The security of people themselves is threatened not just by conflict and civil unrest, but also by environmental degradation, discrimination, unemployment, poverty and hunger,” Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab States and UN Assistant Secretary General Amat Al Alim Alsoswa said in a statement received by The Jordan Times.

“Only if these sources of insecurity are addressed in a holistic manner will the people of the Arab region be able to make progress in human development,” he added.

According to the study, the region’s economic progress is tied to the fluctuations of the demand for oil, which accounts for more than 70 per cent of Arab exports, with Arab countries home to the highest regional unemployment rate in the world, some 14.4 per cent, compared to a world average of 6.3 per cent.

One in five people in the region live under the international poverty level of $2 a day, and many more live in nationally determined conditions of poverty, leading to undernourishment, it said.

Jordan along with Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Yemen witnessed increases in the number of undernourished citizens, according to the report, as the number of undernourished persons across the region rose by 5.7 million between 1992 and 2004.

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Read more about the report and download it…

Jordanians changing consumption behaviour

Published in the Jordan Times today:

The global economic downturn has forced 28 per cent of Jordanians to cut down on their household expenditures, according to the latest study by the Middle East’s leading job website: Bayt.com.

The study, carried out in conjunction with research specialists YouGov, found that 30 per cent of professionals across the rest of the surveyed countries have cut down on their household spending.

“The region’s consumers are cutting back considerably on their spending. Now, despite some signs of optimism at the grassroots level in the global economy, it seems the trend of being more price-conscious looks set to continue, at least in the short term,” said Nassim Ghrayeb, regional CEO of YouGov.

Asked to name their main reason for cutting down on spending, recession was the most common answer among respondents, followed by job losses suffered by either the respondent or a family member.

Around 36 per cent of professionals in Jordan and Bahrain said they would accept reduced salary in a new job in case of redundancy, compared to 31 per cent of all respondents, while region-wide, 45 per cent said they wouldn’t settle for any less.

“There is a general consensus that the recession is having a sustained impact on the region, which of course manifests itself in the behaviour and attitudes of professionals living and working here,” explained Amer Zureikat, Bayt.com’s regional manager.

The study asked respondents about their financial health both before and during the recession to ascertain how many professionals felt their financial position had changed. In Jordan, the figures changed considerably. Before the recession, an overwhelming 42 per cent of respondents felt financially more stable than their peers, compared to only 26 per cent during the recession.

More than a third of Jordanians attributed this change in their financial status to job losses, and 17 per cent said it was due to salary cuts.

In Jordan, residents have taken a number of steps to deal with the recession. The study found that 31 per cent of respondents have moved to a different country as a result of the recession, while 5 per cent have moved to a less expensive part of the country.

However, according to a report issued by the Central Bank of Jordan, the inflation rate during the first five months of this year fell sharply to 1 per cent compared with 11.6 per cent during the same period last year.

The report also indicated that the real gross domestic product grew by 3.2 per cent during the first quarter of this year compared with 8.6 per cent during the first quarter of 2008.

According to the Bayt.com survey, physical health was also found to be an issue during the recession, with 27 per cent saying financial problems had caused them health concerns or issues including stress, and 13 per cent saying that a family member’s health had been affected. In Jordan, 28 per cent of those surveyed suffered with bad health as a result of the recession – slightly higher than the regional average.

“These findings send a clear message to employers that many professionals across the region are suffering at the moment,” concluded Zureikat.

Data for the Surviving the Recession study was collected online between the period of May 26 and June 28, 2009 with 12,908 respondents from across the region. Males and females over age 18 were included in the study.

Expose’: Prison Reform in Jordan. Is it Possible?

Published in Living Well Magazine. June 2009.

Despite negative perceptions about Jordan’s penitentiary system, officials say they want all prisons in Jordan to eventually become centers for vocational training and rehabilitation. Is change possible?

By Rana F. Sweis

When Um Dia’a speaks, her eyes squint and her voice is barely audible. Upon recalling the story that landed her in Jordan’s Juweideh Correctional and Rehabilitation Center, she regurgitates it quickly. “It is a story of theft that turned deadly,” she announces. “Poverty and debt pushed my brother and I to steal from a farm, but things went wrong and my brother killed a man.” Um Dia’a and her brother, also in prison, confessed to murdering a farm owner in Madaba.

Today, Um Dia’a spends her days in confinement – knitting, attending lectures, learning to bake pastries, and watching television. Though their first aim is to take away freedoms enjoyed within society, prisons are looking to new ways of development. Juweideh prison for women underwent renovation in 2000 to see it turn into a correctional and rehabilitation center (CRC) aimed at reforming character through exercise, work, training, and social care. “Change and reform continue to take place because we feel there is a need for it,” says Khaled AlMajali, director of CRC Training and Development. “We are not apart from the Public Security Directorate, but at the same time we are not only focusing on law enforcement, but rather on training individuals whose mentality is more aligned with rehabilitating.”

The white stone building of Juweideh’s CRC for women looks more like a two-story apartment building with a balcony and small rectangular-shaped windows. Guards stand inside and outside a large black gate. Cellular phones are not permitted. The parking lot is empty with only an ambulance on standby, while from a distance, a guard leaning on his rifle can be seen from the high-rise compound of Juweideh prison for men, which hosts almost 1,300 persons. Accommodating up to 450 inmates, the CRC for women  boasts 14 rooms, 450 beds, and 300 security officers. At present, the total number of prisoners held in Jordan is 7,834, of which 235 are women, this according to a May 7, 2009 daily report distributed by the Administration of the CRC.
“My main concern is to provide the best possible services to the women here and make sure they are safe,” explains Fatima Al Badarein, director of Juweideh CRC for women. “We think the reform that is taking place is a good step forward but much more needs to be done,” says Nisreen Zerikat, an advocate at the National Center for Human Rights (NCHR) in Jordan. “Yes, there are activities that are being provided like baking and sewing, but we need to really focus on the rehabilitation process in the sense of psychological care, and to help individuals integrate back into society once they are out.” Prison is a part of any society and the way prisoners do time may also affect their lives after incarceration. “The truth is, nothing compensates for freedom, but while they are here we try to offer good services and protection,” says Al Badarein.

Finding a way to integrate back into society after being in a CRC or prison facility remains an obstacle for these men and women in Jordan, especially since some even face internment by their own families and society at large. “The perception of prisoners among Jordanians is they are deviant, criminals, and dangerous,” says Musa Sheitwi, a sociologist and director of the Jordan Center for Social Research. “It is even more so for women, and the stigma against them is greater,” he adds. “The perception is that she has done wrong morally and accepting her in society is very difficult.”

For many institutions and ministries, including the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) who work on rehabilitation and reintegration into society, it remains a new and challenging concept. It is usually difficult for prisoners to become reacquainted with freedom, and at least a quarter of those who are released will commit an act that will lead them back to the prison or center. “Around 25 to 30 percent of those who are released from prison will return,” says AlMajali. “That is why we need to work on all fronts to make sure that they don’t commit a crime again.”

The most popular activity these days at the Juweideh CRC for women is learning how to make and bake desserts, which Um Dia’a participates in. “Prior to coming to the center, I didn’t know how to make anything,” says Um Dia’a, wearing a navy blue robe over her jeans. “I was illiterate, but now I am learning how to read.” She also admits to feeling anxious about returning to her poverty-ridden neighborhood and providing her five children with food and shelter. “At the CRC, there are many services,” she explains. “I want to be free, but I would be lying to you if I said I was not nervous about my future.”

Security and government officials all agree that if Jordanian society does not begin to change their attitude towards prisoners, giving them a second chance, their efforts will not completely succeed. “In cooperation with the Police Security Directorate we are trying to change the concept of prison as being a place solely for punishment to one that rehabilitates,” says Mohammad Khasawneh, secretary general of the MoSD. “On our part, we are accepting that concept more rapidly than the average Jordanian citizen, who perhaps still struggles to recognize that a prison can actually be a place for rehabilitation.”

The burden to step up the training process (including providing teachers and doctors) seems to be placed mainly on government agencies and the Police Security Directorate. “We do a lot of training, and we are trying our best to do our part, but there needs to be more effort on the part of civil society,” says AlMajali. A recent study conducted by the Higher Council for Science and Technology revealed that Jordan suffers from a shortage in mental health services, and finding mental health professionals who are willing to work with prisoners is even more difficult, admits Hatem Al-Azraai, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health. “It is a nationwide problem, but we are working on encouraging more Jordanians to specialize in this field and we are offering residency programs twice a year,” he points out.

When Um Dia’a talks about feeling guilty about participating in a crime, she also mentions her five children and begins to cry. “I rarely see my children,” she complains, having been at the center for five months now. “It’s not easy for my mother to come here, as she is an old lady and is the only one taking care of my children.” Things are progressing though; the MoSD opened a nursery inside the facility for women only recently, with Khasawneh remarking that, “After examining cases inside the prison, the idea of opening a nursery became something that we needed to do. By depriving the mother from her children, we would be depriving the child from healthy development, and in the end, the children are not to blame for their mother’s wrong-doing.”

Currently, five social workers take care of infants at the nursery, along with five security officers assigned with them as a precaution. There are women requesting to be reunited with their infants, and the only psychologist assigned to the CRC will assess whether they are mentally stable to be with their children. Indeed, sometimes children under three years old may find themselves in prison or CRC with a parent, especially when there are no extended family members to help. And, although some have lauded the creation of the nursery in Juweideh’s CRC, for others it raises concern. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) advises that infants should be accommodated with their mothers where possible, although, the environment is a totally unnatural one for a child. “The truth is even if it’s a rehabilitation center, it is not an environment for an infant or a child to be in,” says Yazan Abdo, an expert in development and education. “I would prefer to see the child or infant in an adjacent or nearby place where the mothers would spend time with them, but it would not be at the CRC.”

Worldwide, the goal of the first modern prisons was to enforce strict regulations, confinement, and forced and deliberate labor. It was not until the late 19th Century that rehabilitation through education and vocational training became the standard goal of prisons. Muwaqar 1, a prison in Jordan for men, was turned into a CRC only two years ago. The implementation of programs such as The Twinning Project at this facility, which includes the implementation of human rights principles and international standards, may determine the direction of reform elsewhere, with one of the main articles in this project including developing classification for prisoners. “Right now classification is implemented according to the crime,” proclaims AlMajali. “This is incorrect because not all who are convicted of theft or murder should be together,” he adds. “The personality of the prisoner, his integration into the center or prison, and overall behavior should be the determining factors.”

At the police training and development center on the outskirts of Amman, women in uniforms were attending a several day workshop on human rights and safeguarding prisoners. Not far from this training room, another workshop is taking place for higher-ranking male officers; Krista Schipper, a prison director in Austria and Irene Kock, a lead prosecutor at the Ministry of Justice in Austria, discuss short and long-term goals with them. They exchange ideas on procedures to release prisoners earlier, a change in the visit system, as well as infrastructure. Large flip-chart notes hang in front of the room, filled with answers and suggestions by the Jordanian high-ranking officers. In a parking lot outside the training center, police officers dressed in blue uniforms, helmets, and carrying clear shields with black rims, move in unison from left to right.

Back in the female training workshop, Abdullat is demonstrating the new technique of handcuffing from the front instead of the back of the body due to health reasons; the women are enthusiastic to learn the procedure. “Watch each step and tell your colleague if she is doing something wrong,” explains Abdullat. “Look at the angle she is standing – did she insert her finger between the handcuffs and the prisoner’s wrist to make sure there is enough blood circulation?” The women, mostly in their twenties and thirties nod enthusiastically. Suddenly the officer holding the handcuffs realizes she is standing too close to the woman she is handcuffing, causing her harm if the prisoner should become violent. “This is my first time at this,” she says looking at the other women sitting. “This is all new – I need more time and I will get it right.” The other officers encourage her to repeat the process from the beginning, and she succeeds the second time around. “Every time there is change, there is struggle and resistance,” says AlMajali. “Otherwise it is not really change.”

May 7, 2009

Facility Holding Most Prisoners (Sawqa)     2059 Individuals

Correctional and Rehabilitation Centers and Prisons (Total)    12 Facilities

Total  Men:  7834   Women: 235

Source: Jordan Correctional and Rehabilitation Centers (Administration)

Nermeen Murad on Governance

This paragraph says it all on the recent debocale between the Jordanian Parliament and the press:

Having said that, Parliament had it coming. Not only had most of its members shrunk into oblivion since being elected to their post, but when called to assume their duties more responsibly, they somehow found the energy to fight back. The depressing thing is that they chose to fight with vindictiveness, using their powers to influence the country’s laws and legislation to score points and settle their personal conflicts with writers and columnists.

Read Nermeen’s column today in the Jordan Times.

Music: Ensemble Ambitions in a World Divided

Despite the cohesion implied by the word “ensemble,” these four men are rarely in the same city, much less the same room. The politics of the Middle East confine them to four separate spheres and have turned them into a living metaphor for inescapable division

“It’s our story,” said Suhail Khoury, who plays the traditional flute, or ney, and clarinet in the group. “It’s like summing up Palestine.”

Read this feature in the New York Times

Honoring World Refugee Day

By Queen Noor of Jordan

For 35 years, my home has been one of the world’s major conflict regions, home also to over 10 million refugees and displaced inhabitants. World Refugee Day (June 20) is a time to honor and support these individuals and families who persevere through devastating tragedies.

I have lived and worked with the nearly 6 million Palestinian refugees and now nearly 5 million displaced Iraqis, many from each group now making their homes in Jordan. I have also worked with displaced people from Afghanistan, Colombia, Somalia, and those seeking safe haven during the first Gulf War. I have witnessed first-hand the anguish of those uprooted from their homes — people who have had their lives threatened, homes bombed, and family members kidnapped or murdered.

The global displacement crisis is both a humanitarian and a security issue. History shows that mass migrations pose a serious threat to regional stability, as we have seen in Palestine, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan and West Africa. The Middle East is particularly vulnerable as ongoing tensions are further strained by such large scale displacement.

Read more on this June 20, 2009 World Refugee Day

Jordan: Water crisis looms, urgent measures needed reveals study

Insufficient access and availability of quality water and high poverty levels in Jordan are inextricably linked, found a rapid water assessment commissioned by World Vision in six of the kingdom’s governorates in May 2009.

Programmes addressing water scarcity and increasing its availability at the household and community level can assist in poverty alleviation, the assessment by the Interdisciplinary Research Consultants (IdRC) of Jordan revealed.

Ranked among the 10 most water deficient countries in the world, scarce water resources and other natural resources have been contributing factors to debt, poverty, and unemployment in Jordan, according to the assessment. It also cited that poverty amongst children is higher than poverty amongst the overall population, according to the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (April 2007).

Read more…

Obama’s Address in Cairo

Watch the Obama Speech in Cairo and read the transcript here.

King Abdullah: Peace Now or it’s War Next Year

America is putting the final touches to a hugely ambitious peace plan for the Middle East, aimed at ending more than 60 years of conflict between Israel and the Arabs, according to Jordan’s King Abdullah, who is helping to bring the parties together.

The Obama Administration is pushing for a comprehensive peace agreement that would include settling Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians and its territorial disputes with Syria and Lebanon, King Abdullah II told The Times. Failure to reach agreement at this critical juncture would draw the world into a new Middle East war next year. “If we delay our peace negotiations, then there is going to be another conflict between Arabs or Muslims and Israel in the next 12-18 months,” the King said.

Details of the plan are likely to be thrashed out in a series of diplomatic moves this month. Chief among them is President Obama’s meeting with Binyamin Netanyahu, the right-wing Israeli Prime Minister, in Washington a week today. The initiative could form the centrepiece for Mr Obama’s much-anticipated address to the Muslim world in Cairo on June 4. A peace conference could then take place involving all the parties as early as July or August. Such an ambitious project has not been attempted since 1991, when George Bush senior’s Administration assembled all the parties for a peace conference in Madrid.

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JT: Majority of Jordanian Journalists Self-Censorship

Ninety-four per cent of journalists in Jordan practise self-censorship, according to a survey conducted by the Centre for Defending the Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ) to mark World Press Freedom Day.

This year’s survey, conducted between February 23 and March 13, covered a sample of 1,200 journalists, members of the Jordan Press Association as well as those registered with the CDFJ, he noted.

Read more…

Asked which issues they voluntarily avoid discussing, 98 per cent of the polled journalists said everything related to the Armed Forces, while 81 per cent cited religious issues. Meanwhile, 78 and 77 per cent respectively said they avoid criticising tribal and Arab leaders; 74 per cent said they don’t discuss sex issues, and 54 per cent said they keep away from criticising the government.

News2you: Best of the best in Jordanian Media

News2you's Best of the Best in Jordanian Media

Here is News2you’s best of the best in Jordanian Media:

1) Best journalism writing and analysis: Al Sijill Newspaper

2) Best columnist in Arabic: Jamil Al Nimri (Al Ghad newspaper)

3) Best columnist in English: Nermeen Murad (Jordan Times)

4) Best cartoonist: Emad Hajjaj (Al Ghad Newspaper) 

5) Best Arab Twitterer:  The Arab Observer

6) Most user-friendly and in-depth newspaper website: Al Sijill Newspaper (View the newspaper in PDF)

7) Best investigative Arab journalism website: ARIJ

For Journalists:

1) Best Sociologist in Jordan to interview: Dr. Musa Sheitwei

2) Most cooperative in visits and interviews: Jordan Police and Security Department (Media Office)

3) Best Human Rights Advocate to interview: Nisreen Zerikat (National Center for Human Rights)

4) Smartest journalism students in Jordan : Yarmouk University (Media Department)

5) Best Blogger: Naseem Tarawneh (Get the news and the scoop)

JT: Yazan’s rights in Parliament

 

Published in today’s Jordan Times:

By Nermeen Murad

A national newspaper recently published pictures of the “home” of five-year-old Yazan who died last week at the end of a short life replete with torture, domestic abuse and neglect.

His story has won the hearts of Jordanians and captured the imagination of many writers who took to their columns demanding punishment for the perpetrators, investigation into social services, investigation into the crime. etc. Most also cried over this young boy’s wasted life and miserable stab at enjoying life even if it was a few stolen moments on an old plastic toy horse.

I took a walk with my husband a couple of nights ago and saw a man beating his son back into a building with a wooden stick. The boy only wanted to follow his father out of the house, but he was cruelly snubbed and sent crying back “home”.

We, the parents, forget that we are not the owners of these children. This is not slavery. They have been given to us on loan so that we may care for them and protect them until they grow up and can look after themselves and in turn have children and protect those. That is the cycle of nature.

The state is in place with its laws to ensure that we fulfill our duties towards the next generation and is expected to step in to safeguard them if we fail.

Accepting, as we seem to have done, that parents can and should slap their kids around a bit to discipline them, does and has led to many cases of child abuse in our families, on our streets and in our communities, which have remained unchecked and untreated.

What are we going to do to make sure that there isn’t another Yazan on every street in our cities and villages?

The simple answer is that we can’t remove all possibility that this type of incident would recur, but we can certainly try to first create legal deterrents to such crime.

I have always tried to argue in my writing that the first step is always, absolutely always, to protect the weak and fragile in our society through our legal system. The first step is always the law and then a concerted effort to educate and change the mindset that allows for the abuse of the weak in our society.

In a meeting of activists seeking to change laws that pertain to women, a well-known activist retold the story of how parliamentarians vehemently argued against amendments in the law aimed at protecting child rights because they felt those interfered with the socially acceptable norms that allow parents to physically discipline their children. She was telling the story to show how difficult it was to convince parliamentarians to accept protection even for their children, let alone their women.

When I consider the performance of Parliament, I don’t worry about the privileges they grant themselves in travel allowances, salary hikes and all other monetary benefits. Those “weaknesses” are ones I can live with. I worry about the intransigence and in many cases the carelessness with which most parliamentarians handle the laws that come to them and which deal with women and children.

Yazan is not only a victim of his dysfunctional and poor family. He is also the victim of a society that is ignorant of his rights, a state that had turned a blind eye to the excesses by some parents in society and certainly a Parliament that has been busy with the “number” of allowances and reelection votes instead of the number of victims of the laws it failed to update and upgrade to protect the weaker and more fragile citizens.

NermeenMurad@gmail.com

The Case of Khaled Mahadin

An article on the case against Khaled Mahadin, a Jordanian journalist and columnist who criticised parliament’s perks and privileges: 

A recent case brought by the lower house of parliament against a Jordanian journalist and columnist who criticised parliament’s perks and privileges has sparked a debate in Jordan about parliament’s role as a watchdog over government performance. 

Whether Mr Mahadin’s criticism, directed in particular towards a parliamentary bloc headed by the president of the lower house, Abdul Hadi Majali, was the result of past disagreements between the two, as some analysts have suggested, or MPs in general, the case has underscored public dissatisfaction with parliament. Parliament’s approval ratings have plummeted in recent years. 

Examining Teachers Attitudes in Jordanian Schools

 

This is another example that we  have a long way to go when it comes to reform in Jordan’s education system. Not long ago, I wrote another blog post about education in Jordan. 

This is an article published in today’s Jordan Times. It demonstrates two things: First  there are very talented individuals in Jordan and the second is the failure on the part of some educators to encourage and inspire students in Jordan…Reform is not only in the books…

Ragheb and Thamer Masarweh from the village of Jadaa in Karak, who worked for 10 years to prove a theory on prime numbers, are currently honing their English language skills at the British Council in Amman before heading to the UK to do their master’s in statistics and mathematics.

Numbers have long fascinated the two brothers.

When 24-year-old Thamer was 14-years-old, his favourite subject was mathematics and he used to excel in the subject and score the highest marks in class. 

However, the two brothers said they received little support from their community or at school.

“Our teachers were not supportive and used to tell us not to attempt things greater than our abilities,” Thamer noted, adding that “unfortunately, lecturers at university said the same thing, which frustrated us”.

 

Facebook, Protests, Parliament in Jordan

 

Protest in front of Parliament in Jordan. Photo Credit: 7iber.com

A protest–albeit not a very large one it seems–took place in front of Parliament yesterday in Jordan, where a journalist is on trial for criticizing the performance of Parliament, which has been a dissapointment since 2007. 

I was surprised to read that the protests were not only in support of the journalist, but the protest which was organized through Facebook was calling for more freedom of expression in Jordan.

The Chicken and the Basketball Board in Amman

 

The Chicken that Crossed the Road (R.Sweis)

The Basketball Board that Makes it Impossible to Play Basketball. (R.Sweis)

 

American Military Interventions In Post 9/11 World

My second HuffPost contribution:

A year after the September 11, 2001 attacks on Washington and New York, former President Bush’s national security strategy was clear: US interests triumph all else and international institutions would not hinder military actions deemed necessary. Therefore, when contemplating humanitarian interventions, the US would weigh the potential benefits–in terms of foreign lives saved–against the likely costs to the United States. Even if US strategic interests intertwine with internationally accepted humanitarian criteria for humanitarian interventions, it may have consequential effects on the notion of the ‘responsibility to protect.’

Throughout the 1990s, experiences such as Rwanda, Kosovo and East Timor among others built a momentum towards the idea that governments had a “responsibility to protect” people suffering in complex humanitarian emergencies. However, according to experts like Thomas Weiss, author of ‘Military-Civilian Interactions’, the September 11th attacks and subsequent US led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, led to two world organizations: “The United Nations, global in members; and the United States, global in reach and power.”

The primary purpose in a humanitarian intervention must be ‘right intention’–to halt or avert human suffering, despite other motives intervening states may have. But the debate after September 11th, shifted to the right to intervene-to protect the intervening country’s people from a threat seen to be originating from another country. The debate shifted to self-defense. Samantha Power, author of ‘A Problem From Hell’, writes that since the September 11th attacks, the “U.S. government is likely to view genocide prevention as an undertaking it cannot afford as it sets out to better protect Americans.”

Security Council resolutions have authorized the use of armed forces led by US-led coalitions, rather than under the command of the UN. In a humanitarian intervention, the intervening states have the responsibility to rebuild. Since September 11th, none of the US interventions taken were primarily called humanitarian interventions, despite clear complex humanitarian emergencies. But Weiss points out the US led invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq, turned primarily humanitarian. In 2002, a planned operation against Iraq began to surface. The Bush administration called on the UN to enforce its resolutions on Iraq or risk ‘irrelevance’. But military intervention without a UN mandate raises questions over a country’s motives and capabilities to rebuild in the post-conflict period. The implication of such a reality has also posed a dilemma for the notion of ‘neutrality’ once forces are deployed on the ground and raises concern among independent aid agencies.

Read it all…

Women make waves in Jordan Valley

 

An article written by my friend and journalist Suha Ma’ayah on the need and the power of community radio in Jordan:

AMMAN//For the past year, Muneera Shatti and Asma Raja, two young women from the Jordan Valley, have broadcast a weekly radio show that tackles the issues faced by their impoverished community, from a lack of buses and the theft of water, to boys using mobile phones to take photos of schoolgirls.

The work is not without challenges as the tribal-dominated valley on which they report is staunchly conservative and one of 20 pockets of poverty where the average income is about US$1,800 (Dh6,624) per year.

“At first there were men who refused to be interviewed by us. They would say, ‘You are women’. But they got used to us. Just last week I interviewed young men in a cafe to gauge their views regarding public services,” Ms Shatti said. “Interviewing men is something I would have never imagined myself doing before I became a correspondent for the radio.”

In one programme, Ms Shatti reported on the lack of buses connecting her town with a nearby village. Within a week, the Jordan Valley Authority responded and provided the needed bus.

“That was encouraging even though later the bus was taken away as other bus drivers protested that it was affecting their business.”

In another broadcast, Ms Raja, 24, reported on water theft. 

“Farmers were stealing water from the main pipes, depriving residents of drinking water. I talked to a senior water official who promised to provide citizens with another source of water while the government closed some of the pipes to try to stop those from stealing. Since then, water theft has declined.”

Because the women do not have a licence to broadcast in their community, Radio Al Balad, an Amman-based community radio, produces and hosts their show, called the Voice of the Valley. 

The women take three buses to get to Amman to broadcast the show, but for them, the trip is worth it.

Radio Al Balad has been pushing hard to get a licence to launch the first all-women community radio in Jordan.

But last month, the government turned down the licence application without giving a reason. The country’s laws do not oblige the government to explain why it rejects applications.

Read the full article…

Apathetic Journalists

 

This is an  article published today in the Jordan Times. Yet again it is indicative of the indifference among some journalists in Jordan.

For professional, investigative journalism in Jordan, it is worth visiting: arij.net 

More than half the journalists in the Kingdom, some 58 per cent, are aware of the Access of Information Law, according to a study released on Saturday.

Results of a field survey carried out by Al Urdun Al Jadid Research Centre (UJRC) in December 2008 also revealed that 84.7 per cent of journalists did not know they had the right to request information from public agencies through the Information Council.

A vast majority, 89 per cent of respondents, said they do not utilise the Access to Information Law, compared to 11 per cent who said they have benefited from the legislation’s provisions.

HuffPost: Worrying for America

 

This is my first published blog entry in the Huffington Post.

February 11, 2009

Recently I met with Majed, an elderly Arabic schoolteacher in Amman, Jordan. Not long ago, he taught me Arabic, and we still meet occasionally to talk about the media in Jordan. He lives in a small clay mud brick house in Amman and has 10 children. He asked me about my recent trip to the US. To my surprise, I found myself telling Majid that the confident, energetic America I had come to know during my college years in the States was almost unrecognizable. I told him that America is facing challenges–people are losing their homes, losing their jobs and millions can no longer afford health insurance. They elected a new President, I told him, to try to help them. As I spoke to the schoolteacher, President Obama’s themes of hope and change rung in my head. Images flashed through my mind of the thousands of young and old Americans lining the streets of Chicago hoping to be part of history. Majid shook his head in disbelief and said: “I will pray for them.”

During my trip to the U.S. in November, I was conscious of an uncomfortable role-reversal. In the past, I had become used to being accosted by Americans who want to talk to me about creating job opportunities for frustrated, unemployed Arabs. This time, American friends worried about losing their jobs turned to me for comfort.

I saw thousands of Americans lining the streets to attend what was ludicrously termed a “job fair” in New York. Bill, a college friend, told me job fairs are the new soup kitchens. Instead of speaking of the future, we ended up reminiscing about the ‘roaring’ 90’s. Today, Bill works at Citibank. I read that 50,000 Citibank employees will be laid off in the next few months. Everyday, I hope that Bill doesn’t lose his job.

I saw many homeless and scarred Gulf War vets sleeping on the crowded and cold corner of Columbus circle in Manhattan. I found myself comforting a store clerk at my favorite retail store because she had heard rumors that her store was closing down. The next day, I stopped to acknowledge a lonely flautist and a grungy guitarist in the subway. The open guitar case inviting donations sitting in front of him was empty. I assured an American friend, who left Jordan to study law in New York, that a new US administration will bring a sense of optimism. Then we found ourselves staring at the front page of the business section with a photo depicting young lawyers packing their bags and heading to Dubai.

At the neighborhood drug store, another American told me about his struggle to finish film school and his diminishing hope that images will make a difference in this world. The Fletcher family, who graciously invited me for Thanksgiving dinner in Long Island, gathered to gaze at a computer screen. The images were of palm-tree shaped hotels and an indoor ski resort in Dubai. Their enthusiasm reminded me of photos I saw of Disney World when I was a child in Jordan and, later when I was older, my impressions of Las Vegas.

On my visit to New York, I awakened every morning and promised the newspaper seller I would continue buying the print version of his newspaper. It hardly eased his worries as the newspaper industry continues to suffer unparalleled layoffs and diminishing revenue. I returned to an unexpected continuing boom in Jordan–a Middle Eastern country with scarce natural resources that is currently the second largest recipient of US aid in the world per capita next to Israel.

While American newspapers file for bankruptcy, a single Jordanian news website has already hit the million mark, surpassing both print and broadcast media in the country. As the American franchise restaurant Bennigan’s filed for bankruptcy this summer, Jordanian families exuberantly packed the newly built Bennigan’s in Amman. The restaurant remains open. And when Americans were Googling the address of their favorite neighborhood Starbucks to see if it was closing down, I was surprised to see three newly Starbucks springing in my Amman neighborhood.

On my last day in New York, a French-Jewish woman decided to tell me the story of her journey from France to New York before selling me a suitcase. “I work day and night here so my son can go to university,” she told me. “I don’t sleep often.” An Arab-American cab driver mentioned that in America at least he did not have to worry about access to hot and cold water or heating. “I am sure Americans will not starve. That is good, no?” Our conversation reminded me of a story I read on the debate brewing over the use of the SAT for college admissions. Only a few weeks later, I read that many young Americans will not even afford to go to college.

When I was called to speak on a panel regarding the Middle East at CUNY, a former CBS veteran correspondent told me she had traveled across the US but was convinced the best Sushi she has ever tasted was at a jazz bar in the Middle East.

I returned to Jordan a few weeks ago, and immediately noticed that local hip-hop concerts and standup comedy shows were selling out in Amman. The Mayor created the first ever standup comedy festival in the Middle East, showcasing up-and-coming comedic talent and encouraging more Jordanians to get involved in comedy. A representative from my graduate school and I met over lunch in Amman and wondered how the university might strengthen and support international alumni activities and programs. Could USAID in Jordan fund it? Then we looked at each other and laughed: American foreign aid would be returning to an American university.

If you’d like to leave any comments including your two cents on the state of the economy in Jordan or in the US, please feel free to do so in the Huffington Post under comments.

 

A New Tongue to Win Hearts and Minds

Learning English is leaving a mark on young Arabs

Here’s an article published in the New York Times on Egyptians learning English and at the same time learning about American culture and democracy. I really think this article demonstrates two things:

First, Arabs don’t hate America because of its values, culture, etc. This is an article about the power of education and how it gave so much hope to these students, something that politics could not do for them. Education is a great way to win hearts and minds. 

Secondly, the main point of the article regarding the lack of follow-up once the course and training ends raises a very important point. And I hope that it sends a message that more needs to be done for these students in order to  implement what they learned and for the program to have an impact on their own lives, communities and elsewhere. What is happening in some countries in the Middle East is what is being dubbed as training fatigue. I believe training is vital, but the implementation process must also materialize at least to a certain extent. Otherwise, people will become frustrated.

 

But what did the United States get for its investment in this young woman?

“The most important idea I learned is to respect differences,” said Ms. Yousef, with a big white smile.

She said this in English, expressing an idea considered rebellious in a society that prizes and encourages conformity. Ms. Yousef picked up her new language and thinking skills as part of Access, an after school English language program that is a small, almost invisible corner of the United States Department of State’s multibillion-dollar budget. It is a low profile, delayed-impact program that aims to promote change and understanding from the bottom up. Since its inception in 2004, it has taught 32,000 students in 50 countries.

 

Ending It All: Suicide in Jordan

 

 

 

By Rana F. Sweis

Published in Living Well Magazine

February 2009

AMMAN-Mohammad Abdul-Nabi, 23, was found hung in his home by his 14-year-old brother. The young farmer was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead upon arrival. He decided to end his life because of a second failed marriage, explain his relatives. His story, like others similar to it, is shrouded in mystery and recorded only in snippets. And just like their short interrupted lives, information regarding suicide victims’ acts and their aftermath is scarce in Jordan. Like so many families who prefer to deny or forget the past, a person who knows a person tells a story of pain. 

 “When it comes to suicide cases in Jordan, we only get a glimpse, like a car whooshing by,” says Fayez Al-Fayez, Editor in Chief of Arabiya magazine and a popular social columnist. “We end up never knowing the reasons, we end up never knowing the whole story and no one wants to talk about it either.” Every year, one million people worldwide die by suicide, according to World Health Organization (WHO) statistics. Moreover, in the past 45 years suicide rates increased by 60 percent and is now among the three leading causes of death among those aged 15-44 years. These figures do not include attempted suicide, which are up to 20 times more frequent than suicide.

WHO statistics reveal that suicide in Jordan and in the region remain low, but in-depth research remains inadequate. “Statistically suicide is not considered an epidemic problem in Jordan,” explains Hani Jahshan, a Forensic Pathologist. There are 35 to 40 cases of suicide in Jordan every year, and the age range is between 20-25, according to the National Center for Forensic Medicine. However, attempted suicide cases are not recorded, says Jahshan. “Research is lacking in this field, especially in terms of attempted suicide.” Emergency services in hospitals are not keeping records of suicide attempts, adds Jahshan.

Sultan, 39, stole a knife from a shop in Amman and stabbed himself in the stomach. Witnesses say the man was “desperate”. He did not die. He was taken to hospital where reports suggest he is in ‘critical’ condition. Just a few hours before he stabbed himself, family members saved Sultan. They found him wearing a noose around his neck. Suicide is ultimately an individual and often a private act. Biological, genetic, psychological, social and cultural factors may impact the risk of suicide in an individual. Domestic violence, for example, can trigger a suicide attempt. “Psychological abuse can take on different forms including humiliation, threats of divorce, blackmailing and physical abuse,” explains Walid Sarhan, a psychiatrist. “The psychological consequences will include anxiety, frustration, low self-esteem and suicidal attempts.” Other risk factors can include serious mental illness, alcohol and drug abuse, childhood abuse, loss of a loved one and unemployment. “There is a lack of awareness about suicide,” admits Mohammad Khateeb, Police Security Department Spokesperson. “The truth is we still live in a tribal and conservative society that would rather not speak of suicide, which is forbidden in religion and brings shame to the family.” 

Another short news piece on suicide was published in Ammonews, a popular electronic news website. A 20-year-old woman jumped from the top of the fifth circle tunnel, according to traffic police and witnesses. The woman whose ‘love affair’ failed recently, prompted her to attempt suicide, reports suggest. She was still alive when she was rushed to hospital and an investigation took place.

Individual cases of suicide in Jordan that were published in the media—overwhelmingly in electronic media–illustrate that shame, economic hardship, examination failure, unrequited love, family’s objection to a marriage and other family disputes were the greatest risk factors. One of the only in-depth documents that shed light on suicide in Jordan is a 2001 dissertation entitled, A Sociological View of Suicide in Jordan written by Ismeel Aqili, a former graduate student at the University of Jordan. Based on cases he examined from 1982-1999, his study reveals more males than females commit suicide but more females attempt suicide. University graduates between the ages of 18 to 37 were more likely to commit suicide in Jordan. Most of the individuals who committed suicide in this age range were unemployed.

Police were able to convince a 17-year-old from jumping off a telecommunication building in Zarqa, reported Ammon. The young man found out he failed the Tawjahi exam. Witnesses and friends said the young man was afraid he would be punished severely by his family for failing the exam. “At the end of the day, I worry about our youth because I don’t believe they want to commit suicide. It is often a cry for help” says Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, Senator and Secretary General of the National Council for Family Affairs. “If they fail the Tawjahi [high school exam] for example, they may fear the family’s reaction.”

 People at risk of suicide can be treated. Oftentimes, it is due to the inability to cope as a result of an event or series of events that the person finds overwhelmingly traumatic or distressing. Psychotherapy and continued contact with a health provider can decrease the risk of suicide. Programs that address risk and protective measures are effective. Moreover, suicide has a profound effect on family, friends, and those associated with the victim. “I reported on a story of a mentally ill woman whose husband eventually divorced her,” explains Al-Fayez. One day her parents and daughter found her on the roof of their house, says Al-Fayez. She poured gasoline on herself very calmly and she lit herself on fire. She didn’t die. The victim was rushed to the hospital and died two days later. “What I saw is the effect it had on the family, the devastation,” he adds. “The siblings and her daughter were devastated.” While those who are under the age of 18 and attempt suicide have access to rehabilitation programs from the Family Protection Department, those who are over 18 have no institutional support, according to Khateeb. 

In Jordanian society, there is a great deal of social and religious stigma surrounding mental illness. Islam views suicide as a sin. The prohibition of suicide has also been recorded: “He who commits suicide by throttling shall keep on throttling himself in the Hell-fire, and he who commits suicide by stabbing himself, he shall keep stabbing himself in the Hell-fire.” In the sixth century, suicide became a Christian religious sin and secular crime. In 533, those who committed suicide while accused of a crime were denied a Christian burial.

Talking about feelings surrounding suicide promotes understanding and can greatly reduce the immediate distress of a suicidal person. “Is suicide a really big problem in Jordan? Are the numbers alarming? The answer is no,” says Khateeb, “However, I understand the concern among individuals and members of society at large regarding individuals who attempt suicide, where can they turn to for help?”

People who feel suicidal may fear expressing themselves, and may be reluctant to reach out for help. “The stigma of psychiatric illnesses is still very prevalent,” explains Sarhan. “A women, for example, who dares to consult with a psychiatrist could face the threat of divorce and deprivation from her children, although it is not legal, but women believe that.”

People often deal with stressful or traumatic events and experiences reasonably well, but sometimes an accumulation of such events, over an extended period, can push normal coping strategies to the limit.  Jahshan, like many others working with victims of violence and abuse, says that Jordan continues to lack skilled professionals in this field. “Those who provide counseling to victims of violence and abuse should consider cases of attempted suicide and provide them services as well,” says Abu Ghazaleh. “At the end of the day everyone has a role to play including all sectors of civil society.”

Jordan could go a long way by reducing the suicide rate by discussing ways to decrease suicidal tendencies. Providing protection programs is important. Shedding light on the issue can even prevent suicide cases. “Protection programs begin in our schools. There needs to be awareness campaigns, group therapy and individual counseling in schools,” says Abu Ghazaleh. “I believe there should be a more clear strategy on how to tackle this issue from different angles and address it in schools,” explains Abu Ghazaleh.

When forensic experts, doctors and members of various organizations wanted to begin combating family violence in Jordan, they turned to the media. In 2004, two forensic doctors presented statistics showing a dramatic increase in the number of abused children. “If this issue is not covered enough by the media, the children will not know there are people who are here to help them, and places they can turn to for help,” said Rabab al Qubaj, a specialist in the Jordan River Foundation. During that time, journalists present at the workshop asked members of organizations and others to play a role in giving them easier access to information. The journalists also pointed out hidden fears, about raising such taboo and sensitive issues, fearing repercussions.

Today, electronic media news websites such as Ammon (www.ammonnews.net) and Saraya (www.sarayanews.com) have taken a lead in shedding light on suicide in Jordan. Although suicide news segments in both news agencies are not covered in-depth, they do report individual cases. Ammon publishes statistics on the number of suicide cases per year in Jordan. They examine the reasons for each case, although there is little follow-up on the cases. Print and broadcast media in Jordan lags behind in both reporting and shedding light on suicide in Jordan. “Electronic media in Jordan is lifting the lid on many issues like suicide, and domestic violence,” explains Rana Sabbagh, a journalist and media expert.

In February 2004, the first ever conference on child abuse in the Middle East took place in Amman. Representatives from across the world, local government and NGO’s took part. Dozens of media outlets from the Arab world were present. During the conference Jahshan attributed the increase in the number of reported child abuse cases in Jordan to the increased coverage of the issue in the local press.

This successful and ongoing campaign to combat child abuse in Jordan can also be implemented to debunk misconceptions and reduce suicide rates in Jordan. “The more we deny as a society that there are cases of suicide in Jordan, the more we’ll have to look within and say, how could we not help these individuals from killing themselves?” says Al-Fayez. “That is shameful.”

Fact Box

By Age	2007
Age Group	Cases
Under 18	1
18-27	13
28-37	9
38-47	7
47-Over	8
By Gender
Gender	Cases
Male	26
Female	12
By Nationality
Nationality	Cases
Jordanian	35
Non-Jordanian (Arab)	2
Non-Jordanian	1
Method of Suicide
Method	Cases
Firearms	13
Other	25
Burning
Falling from Heights
Knife
Hanging
	2008
Total Suicides	34

 

Source: Jordan Police Security Department

Top Sites in Jordan

Yahoo, Google and Facebook topped the list of most visited sites in Jordan but there are also interesting ones that made it in the top 100. Ad Dustour newspaper took a dive while Al Ghad is steadily improving, making it the second most read newspaper. Community sites like Jeeran (26) and Maktoob (eight) are up there as well.

Check the top 100 visited sites in Jordan…

Video: Obama Interview with Al Arabiya Television

Obama speaking to the Arab world.

My Two Cents on Jordan’s Educational System

From today’s Jordan Times on Jordanian students:

Habashneh said one can hardly find a school or a college student who is interested in reading a book or attending cultural seminars, calling for finding a new approach to encourage dialogue and communication with young people in order to enrich their cultural knowledge.

“We need to adopt a comprehensive national and cultural approach, away from the political dimension and regional problems. The government should focus on a new mechanism capable of making the younger generation more interested in culture rather than being involved in tribal or regional affiliations,” he added, suggesting more cooperation between the ministries of education, culture and higher education to introduce extracurricular activities in schools and universities where students can interact.

Actually that is not the solution to the problem. The problem is the system of education that hardly encourages participation, critical thinking and analysis but is more focused on memorization and tests. At the end of the day we have to deal with the core of the problem which is the education system especially in public schools. Yes, Jordan has one of the highest literacy rates in the Middle East but we need to examine the quality of education. The problem with the system is that many Jordanian children grow up, go to college and once they are in college they are surprised when they have to analyze or are asked to think critically. I have heard this not only from students but a Sociology professor at one of Jordan’s most prestigious universities. When he asked the students to write what they think during an exam, many of the students had memorized what the professor had said in class and the professor was surprised to find that almost all the exam papers looked the same. He thought the students had cheated but in fact they did not. He realized that those were his own exact words. 

I feel strongly about this subject. Sometimes you have to change a system that is broken and decayed. The system itself becomes the elephant in the room and you cannot continue washing the elephant, brushing the elephant and putting hair clips on its ears to make it look pretty.  The bottom line is there’s an elephant in the room.

Obama’s Mideast Policy Examined

 

Listen to Rami Khouri on NPR.

 

Richard Holbrooke has been named special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan, and George Mitchell has been picked to be special envoy for Middle East affairs. Rami Khouri, editor at large of the Daily Star newspaper in Beirut, Lebanon, and director for the Fares Institute of Public Policy and International Affairs, weighs in.

Video: Oprah Effect in the Middle East

Satellite television has reached even conservative parts of the Arab world, where hundreds of programs are now available. The Middle East’s MBC-4 began airing “The Oprah Winfrey Show” more than four years ago, and the program now reaches about 6 million viewers in the Arab world each day.

Worldfocus correspondent Kristen Gillespie reports from Jordan on the “Oprah effect” in the Middle East.

The Journey is Long for Jordanians

While the world ponders the meaning of change, hope and unity after Obama’s inauguration, Jordanians seem to have a long way to go.

Members of two party-affiliated groups clashed on Tuesday evening at a demonstration to “bid farewell” to former US president George W. Bush.

Youth members of the Jordanian Democratic Popular Unity Party (Wihda) and the Arab Baath Socialist Party fought over who would lead the chanting at the event, organised by Wihda’s Move campaign at the Professional Associations Complex in Shmeisani.

More than 30 activists from both parties took part in the fight, which led to the cancellation of a theatrical performance and poetry recital organised on the sidelines of the event, according to Move.

 

Workshop in Amman demonstrates power of filmmaking

Yasir Khan conducted the filmmaking workshop in Amman

 

 

January 19, 2009

By Rana Sweis

AMMONNEWS – During a 10 day workshop, members of non-governmental organizations as well as university students in Jordan got a glimpse into the power of filmmaking. The workshop focused on the use of film in shedding light on social issues in Jordan. The first few days were spent discussing theoretical aspects of filmmaking and exchanging ideas. The young NGO members spent almost four days shooting and then began writing, editing and mixing. This week, all four short documentaries were shown at the Royal Film Commission. Topics covered by NGO members included adult literacy, autism, student rights and a day in the life of a social worker in Jordan.

The workshop conducted by Yasir Khan, Professor at the American University of Cairo and a multimedia journalist and documentary filmmaker, says he hopes the participants will continue to use what they learned to create documentaries. On the first day of the workshop, Khan made sure the various ideas pointed out by the students remained focused. “Craft a focus statement and come back tomorrow,” he told the participants. “Every shot has to have meaning.”

As the students sat mixing and editing, many say they were pleased with this opportunity, the first of its kind in the kingdom. “It was a great opportunity for me and it is a way to convey to the public severe social problems in Jordan,” says Abdullah Momani, a journalism student at Yarmouk University.

Queen Noor on Gaza-MSNBC

More of Queen Noor on Gaza

Photos of Jordanians Protesting

Photos of a peaceful protest in Amman to end the bloodshed in Gaza. The protest included mostly young university students representing different political ideologies. A week later, protests in Amman and elsewhere in the country turned somewhat violent and the number of people protesting increased dramatically. 

 

 

Creating Change Through Art

 

I’m very proud of my cousin, Tara Hanna (10th grade), who not only created an impressive website to showcase the art work of  the mentally challenged in Jordan, but used creative methods to shed light on this issue in Jordan.

This is Tara’s story:

Wecjordan2.com was inspired by a need to raise awareness for an invisible community within our society-the mentally challenged. It is the aim of this site to promote integration and to highlight the positive contribution that this group can have on humanity.

This website is a display case to show our society in Jordan and in the global community that the mentally challenged have equality and dignity and a right to be fulfilled and to lead productive lives. As things stand in Jordan, and in the wider Middle East, the mentally challenged are concealed from the public. This underscores feelings of inadequacy and shame among the families of this group. Our aim is to boost their profile, raise awareness and to remove stigma through awareness.

7 Jordanian citizens were trained in basic Art techniques. They were then invited to 3 world renowned places of historical, cultural and touristic interest in Jordan. They experienced the splendor and interacted with their surroundings. They returned to their centre and translated what they saw into pieces of art. This art can be seen on the site with a description of the places and a response and criticism of each piece of work by each artist. The message of this site is that the mentally challenged are a gift that should be cherished and not hidden away. Their art demonstrates that there is a world of possibilities to be explored when interacting with them and that they have a right to express how they see their world.

For information on how to make a donation please feel free to email Tara Hanna at wecjordan2@gmail.com 

Queen Noor on Gaza

Video: Pres-Elect Obama: The Middle East Response

Watch 

On this edition of Independent Sources we talk with an Iraqi and Jordanian journalist about how people in their countries are reacting to the Obama victory. We look at the challenges facing African-American newspapers, and we profile Claire Chen, an award-winning journalist for the Chinese-language daily World Journal.

 

 

CNN TV segment on Amman Stand up Comedy festival

IHT: A Gift from the King

 

By Tim Sebastian

Friday, December 12, 2008

AMMAN: An odd thing happened the other day in the Arab world.

Amid all the recent backsliding on free speech and the general disinterest in democracy among Middle Eastern governments, one head of state drew a thin and highly significant line in the sand.

Typically, the other Arab states chose to ignore it, local journalists didn’t believe it and the international press had its mind on other things. But in a region where good news has become a long-forgotten curiosity, it would be unwise to let it pass unnoticed.

The man at the center of this event was King Abdullah of Jordan, who last month gathered together the chief editors of Jordan’s main newspapers and told them that from now on there would be big changes in the country’s media environment. Specifically, no more jailing of reporters for writing the wrong thing and a new mechanism would be created to protect the rights of journalists, including their access to information.

“Detention of journalists is prohibited,” he said. “I do not see a reason for detaining a journalist because he/she wrote something or for expressing a view.”

Perhaps, after nearly five years broadcasting debates from the confines of the Middle East, I’m easily pleased. But over that period, no other Arab leader has come close to making a similar, public commitment and all the recent changes affecting the Arab media have led inexorably backward.

I am deluged by stories from editors in the region, who regularly have the guts censored out of their political articles, and who have seen a steep rise in the number of warning calls from their political masters, telling them what they can or cannot print.

In addition, all but two Arab states signed up last February to an Arab League initiative that pledged to restrict still further the rights of the myriad satellite stations in a vain effort to shore up that rarest of regional commodities – Arab unity. So against this background, King Abdullah’s declaration marks a sharp departure from the current trend.

And yet it’s hardly surprising that local journalists were unimpressed. The government still has plenty of legal instruments it can use against them. More than 20 laws continue to govern media conduct in Jordan, including the Penal Code, and there is no guarantee against “creative” prosecutions in the future under the pretext of other crimes or misdemeanors. No single statement from the royal palace can airbrush away years of harassment and interference.

Besides, the king’s statement comes in the same year that his country has been downgraded by the Paris-based organization “Reporters without Borders” in its 2008 Worldwide Press Freedom Index. Jordan now stands at 128th position out of 173 countries – six places lower than last year.

Even a government report by the grandly titled Higher Media Council last year admitted serious problems with the country’s journalism. The majority of reporters faced difficulties getting information, it said – or worse, were completely denied access to data.

So was the king serious about pushing through improvements?

One senior diplomat in Amman was heard to wonder whether his majesty’s wishful thinking had got the better of him. A government minister even hinted that some “authorities” might take no notice of his strictures. There were suggestions that the engine room often took time to react to orders from the bridge.

Whatever the case, it would be a mistake to do what the opponents of free speech would like the world to do: Forget about the whole thing.

Jordan’s king needs to be reminded that the world will not ignore his fine words. He should also be persuaded to repeat them and expand their scope in the months to come.

Plenty of leaders in the region have talked about reform – although considerably fewer these days than three years ago – but King Abdullah, now facing serious economic problems, is more receptive than most to external encouragement. Sweeping away repressive practices on the treatment of journalists would go a long way to improving his country’s image, especially amid new accusations by Human Rights Watch of torture in Jordanian jails.

One other event also passed unnoticed in Amman over the last few weeks: the first regional conference for Arab investigative journalists.

Like me, you may be amazed that, given the many and varied disincentives, such an organization can still exist in the Middle East. But it is a tribute to a small number of brave and single-minded reporters, who labor across the region under the constant threat of arrest or arbitrary detention.

All they have to protect them are their questions – and in many cases, that isn’t enough.

Last month, they got a small gift from the king of Jordan in the shape of a declaration of support. They need to unwrap it, display it and ask for more. If nobody takes it seriously – either at home or abroad – there is a strong chance this gift could be taken back.

MidEast Sees “Explosion” Of Comedy, First Stand Up Festival In Arab World

By Dean Obeidallah

1. Do Arabs actually laugh? 2. Do Arabs understand jokes? 3. Don’t they hate you because you are American?

Those are just a few of the actual questions I have heard when I tell people in the US that I’m performing stand up comedy in the Arab world. This week’s historic Amman Stand Up Comedy Festival in Jordan – as well as the other recent shows I have performed in the Middle East – have answered those questions as follows: 1. Arabs do laugh (In fact, many are very funny themselves); 2. Arabs do understand the jokes in English; 3. No, they don’t all hate us – in fact, a large number of Arabs actually love us.

I know that the Arab world isn’t the usual stop for American comedians. I still haven’t heard a comedian say: “This weekend I’m at the Chuckle Hut in Beirut.” (In part because there is no chuckle Hut in Beirut or a comedy club anywhere in the region.) But a new phenomenon has emerged in the Middle East over the last year that no one could have predicted: Arabs love stand up comedy. Finally, it appears America is bringing something to the Arab world that they really like – in fact, they are paying to see it.

While there were a few stand up comedy shows in the region over the past few years, it wasn’t until last year’s “Axis of Evil Tour” that the Middle East saw a comedy explosion. (And yes, I use the word “explosion” with great hesitancy in an article about the Middle East, but it is the best way to describe the dramatic growth in comedy.) While there is no history of stand up comedy in the Arab world, You Tube and American TV shows airing in the region have brought our comedy there and its catching on fast.

To give you a sense of how much Arabs love stand up comedy, I recently performed in Beirut with Middle Eastern-American comedians Maz Jobrani and Ahmed Ahmed and we sold over 5,000 tickets. Just a few weeks ago I co-headlined a show with comedian Aron Kader in Cairo and over 4,000 people attended.

The material we perform is almost all in English and basically the exact jokes we tell in the comedy clubs in the US. (With a few local jokes thrown in as well.) The audiences in the Arab world – which are predominantly but not exclusively Muslim – have no problem laughing at themselves or jokes about relationships, politics, pop culture, or just standard US observational comedic material. Its been amazing to see these audiences laugh at the identical jokes we have told to US audiences. It makes you realize that we have a lot more in common than some would believe. (Or frankly more in common than some want us to believe.)

The Amman Festival came about after I had performed three sold out shows there this past August. The City’s Mayor, Omar Maani, approached me about helping produce a festival in Amman. (I am also the co-creator/producer of the annual NY Arab-American Comedy Festival with my friend and fellow comedian Maysoon Zayid.)

To read more…

Which politics for Arab poetry?

From the Archives

By Rana F. Sweis

IHT

The Daily Star, 12/18/03

 

The key to understanding the hearts and minds of Arabs is through shiir, or poetry, their greatest art. The Iraq war and its aftermath fueled mixed emotions in the Arab world ­ resignation, reflection, rage ­that are now being articulated in verse. “No people in the world manifest such enthusiastic admiration for literary expression and are so moved by the word, spoken or written, as the Arabs,” wrote historian Philip Hitti in his History of the Arabs. Poetic expression has been admired and exalted by caliphs, clerics and revolutionaries and has always been at the heart of Arab politics. Al-Mutanabbi, the greatest classical poet, was also a political rebel: “The horses, the nights and the desert know me/As well as the sword, the spear, the pen and the paper,” he wrote. He was slain near Baghdad in 965.

Throughout decades of conflict and stagnation, Arab poets have retained their influence. Indeed, today in the Arab world more poetry is published than prose. “Poetry is the art and beauty of our language,” says Othman Hassan, the Jordanian author of Kibbrayaa al-Sifa (Description of Pride), a recent collection of verse. Moreover, since most Arab poetry is written in classical Arabic and understood by all literate Arabs, it transcends dialects and regionalisms. “Say an Iraqi writes a classical poem. You would never recognize that he’s an Iraqi or Moroccan or Egyptian,” says Saleh Niazi, an Iraqi poet. What unites all, he adds, are “common mental images.”

 Mohammed al-Thaher, cultural editor of the second-largest daily in Jordan, Ad-Dustour, calls the Iraq war a “shock” that will stir Arab emotions. But transforming these feelings into verse will take some time, he predicts. “Poetry always comes after an event; we may see a long period of time pass before we can realize what happened, especially in the case of Iraq.” But the hunger for poetry to describe the war can be felt already. Khalil al-Sawahri, a columnist for Ad-Dustour, has written an article entitled Poetry and War, in which he challenges the Arab literary community to respond quickly to the Iraq conflict: “What are Arab poets doing to make their voices heard?”

Despite this call, some are sidestepping politics, for example Iraqi singer Kazim al-Saher, who came to music through poetry. He argues: “Poetry is the language that speaks our feelings … It’s the kingdom we enter whenever we feel desperate.” Yet others will read what they want into specific poetry or songs. At a recent concert in Amman, for example, young men carried a banner that read, “Kazim is the voice of all Arabs.” Saher’s best-received song that night was ‘Baghdad, Don’t Grieve’, a generalized lament for his home city, where he expressed the hope that Iraq would prosper again.

But while Saher’s lyrics point away from political specifics, other poets speak directly about the turmoil in their land ­ and in their souls. Their poetry describes the sound of tanks, soldiers searching homes, Arab hands tied with nylon cords and children in raggedy clothes.

Indeed, even the most romantic Arabs have turned the political turmoil in the Middle East into verse. The late Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani, perhaps the most influential of modern Arab poets and an early defender of women’s rights, wrote, after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war: “Ah my country! You have transformed me/From a poet of love and yearning/To a poet writing with a knife.”

His fellow Syrian, Adonis, who now lives in France, published a poem last April, after US forces entered Iraq, entitled ‘Homage to Baghdad’. He began by urging his readers to “Listen to the words of the invaders: ‘With the blessing of Heaven/We are leading a preventive war/We will bring the water of life/From the rivers Hudson and Thames/And make it flow into the Tigris and Euphrates.’” Then he described events as they happened: “A war against water and trees/Against birds and the faces of children/The fire of cluster bombs spurts from their hands.”

He asked, in conclusion: “Are we to believe, oh invaders, that an invasion can bring prophetic missiles? That civilization is only born in nuclear waste?” These and similar passages reflect a wider phenomenon of how Arabs feel adrift. Their political leaders have failed, and their poets have found no consistent or effective voice. Meanwhile, America, the new hegemon in the Middle East, is seen as a combination of power, wealth and temptation, a mix of goodwill and bad faith. No American seems able to speak persuasively, let alone poetically, to the Arab soul. And so, today, those who are mostly hostile to American influence are reciting the battle of poetry.

However, the last words have yet to be written, says Mohammed Tommaleh, a novelist and social columnist for Jordan’s Arab al-Yawm newspaper: “Baghdad fell, Saddam fell, but poetry will continue to be written”

Jennifer Utz: My Journey with an Iraqi Refugee

 

This is a great article by Jennifer Utz on a personal story of an Iraq refugee.

Read the whole piece in the Huffington Post.

In recent months, much has been said in the media about Iraqi refugees going back to Iraq as a result of the success of “the surge.” The truth is that most of those who return are doing so because either they’ve run out of money or their visas have expired. Many of those who return find that another family has taken up residence in their home.

After receiving criticism for not having done enough to respond to the crisis, the Bush administration recently began taking in more Iraqi refugees — in 2008, more than 14,000 Iraqis were accepted into the United States. But for the country that started this war, that’s a drop in the bucket – just a third of 1 percent of the total number of those displaced. After the Vietnam War, hundreds of thousands of Southeast Asians were authorized and ensured admission to the United States each year.

Today, Mohamed says that without having had me as an advocate, he could have never done this on his own. As an American and a journalist, I was able to make him stand out as more than a face in the crowd, and helped him navigate the perplexing bureaucracy of being a refugee.

Amman’s November Gas Crisis

Words & Multimedia By: Naseem Tarawnah

Some of the most remarkable scenes have emerged on the streets of Amman these past 48 hours. Word that gas stations were refusing to sell their fuel supplies began to spread on Saturday and gained momentum as the work week began Sunday morning. By 5pm drive-home traffic time, some of Amman’s street were packed with what felt like thousands of cars, all lining up for a chance to fill up. Stations have been at odds with the government after the latter decided to reduce fuel prices for the sixth time since August. Having bought their fuel at a higher price and forced to sell at a new and reduced price, many stations have shut down in protest, while at least 17 others have gone bankrupt. Police forces have descended upon every gas station open for business to help allay any possible violent outbursts, while managing the long queues, some of which stretch for well over 1km. Asking a few motorists who were waiting as patiently as the circumstance allowed, some told me they had been in line for over an hour, hardly moving a few meters in the direction of the gas station’s entrance. Meanwhile, sirens could readily be heard, blazing across the city, as I sighted at least one oil tanker swooping past the airport road highway with what seemed to be a police escort.

Read More

Arab Bloggers Size Up Obama

November 7, 2008

OP-ED CONTRIBUTORS

New York Times

For the moment, Arabs are mainly excited about Mr. Obama’s victory, and have much good will toward him and the country that chose him. But Middle Easterners are more skeptical than anyone else about American politicians and their intentions, and already it seems Mr. Obama is no exception.

His speech during the primaries to Aipac, the powerful pro-Israel lobby group, did little to assuage fears that America will continue to support Israel unconditionally. And there remains a more general anxiety that, like previous American presidents, Mr. Obama will somehow let the people of the Middle East down.

To provide a sense of what Middle Easterners are thinking about the American election, here are excerpts, translated by me where necessary, of blog postings from the day after Mr. Obama’s victory.

— JOSIE DELAP, an editor for Economist.com

•

Tamem, Egypt (tamem.wordpress.com)

The victory of Barack Hussein Obama that we, along with the rest of the world, are witnessing today is another historic moment, not just for America but for the whole world by virtue of America’s huge influence, whether we like it or not. Personally I, like others, doubted Americans’ ability to overcome racism, but in electing “Abu Hussein,” they created a historic moment by accepting the first black president to govern not just America but the white West as a whole. With this, they removed all such doubts and the impossible dream of Martin Luther King became possible.

(translated from the Arabic)

• 

Syrian Dream, Syria (syriandream.com)

The world arose today to welcome Barack Obama as the first black president of the United States, and Africa danced with joy.

The whole world is optimistic about what he offers but doubts remain about him, a great question mark.

What will Syria’s fate be under him? Will he give the green light to bombing us?

(translated from the Arabic)

• 

The Damascene Blog, Syria (damasceneblog.com)

Dare we hope that the eight-year nightmare is over?

• 

Egyptian Chronicles, Egypt (egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com)

The Egyptian people are glad that Obama won despite their previous knowledge of his bias to Israel, and his V.P. is a Zionist. But still they are happy because they can’t stand the Republicans anymore.

Good for the Americans.

• 

Esra’a, Bahrain (mideastyouth.com)

I can honestly say that we can finally wave goodbye to the overwhelming anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry that we have suffered with for the past eight years under the Bush administration. We can expect less wars, less corruption, less political abuse. It won’t be perfect, but it will get better. I am so happy and proud of all the Americans who worked extremely hard for Obama, understanding fully well the importance of change in every sense of the word. This moment is not just historical but crucial to us here in the Middle East.

This is a win for all of us, not just America.

This is a win for civil rights and justice.

For all the pessimists out there, allow us to enjoy this moment. If you learned anything from this campaign, you would learn that it starts with hope — not cynicism. And hope is what I have right now, for America and the Middle East.

We can do it, and this time, we can be sure that we can do it together.

I haven’t said this in a really long time, but I am loving America right now.

• 

The Black Iris, Jordan (black-iris.com) 

Congratulations are in order to the American people and the Obama fan base.

So begins a new chapter in American history, to say nothing of world history.

Fingers crossed that it’ll be a positive one, especially for this region.

• 

The Skeptic, Egypt (elijahzarwan.net/blog)

A new day dawned in Cairo today. As it does every day.

And it started as it always does: with birds, schoolchildren and car horns. No national holiday here.

I’m looking forward to going out in the streets to hear the reaction. The best reaction I’ve heard so far: “Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job.”

Bah humbug. I confess I’m moved.

• 

Mashrabeya, Egypt (mashrabeya.blogspot.com)

Only time would tell if Obama is real, or just too good to be true!

Sometimes, it is not enough to have a Big Dream. What matters is to have enough strength to resist the pressures to give up a Big Dream!

• 

Land and People, Lebanon (landandpeople.blogspot.com)

My take on this is that he is the president of the United States, and not Barack Obama. That said, I would really like to hope for change. After all, Obama showed that change was possible: he himself changed from a supporter of Palestinian rights into a man who believes that Jerusalem is the historic capital of Israel. He also changed during his campaign from “No Iraq war for me please, I’m trying to quit” into “All right I’ll have some, but a tiny piece please.”

People in the Middle East are expecting to see Obama act differently from previous U.S. presidents because he is darker-skinned. Time will show again that the color of the skin has little to do with politics, democracy and equity. Just look at the Arab world with its homegrown dictatorships.

But the question that really interests me is about the relationship between Obama and the true center of world power, Kapital. There was an awful lot of money in Obama’s campaign … A great chunk must have come from carefully planned investments by C.E.O.’s and multinationals. Will Obama be able to confront the mega-corporations? Does he want to? The poor and the colored population of the world, including that of the U.S., is the one that suffers most from malnutrition and hunger and food insecurity. We know now that mega-corporations, pushing for more profit at any cost, are responsible for most of the damage. Will Obama do something about that? Does he want to? Can he?

• 

An Arab Woman Blues, Iraq (arabwomanblues.blogspot.com)

So Obama, the booma, won the elections. I had already predicted that in my post “A long American-Iranian Film.”

I said the following, “My hunch is — and my hunches are rarely wrong — if Obama the booma wins, and he will, by a small margin, Iraq will be handed over to Iran …”

I also said that Obama will strike a deal with Ahmadinejad on Iraq and in particular southern Iraq.

And lo and behold, the vice president for the booma Obama is none other than J. Biden. J. Biden. … is an ardent supporter of the partition of Iraq into three statelets. No wonder Maliki & Co. were also backing the booma along with Iran. I also know that Iran had generously contributed to the Obama campaign.

… I shall not congratulate you on your 44th president. He will simply finish off what the other Zionists had started — the final partition of my country.

To hell with all of you and all of your presidents.

• 

Neurotic Iraqi Wife, Iraq (neurotic-iraqi-wife.blogspot.com)

For me, this is not just about history, this is about someone who was able to bring down the very people that broke my country. It’s a great punch to the very people that destroyed the individual Iraqi. And that to me is an enough victory.

I will only have to say to Mr. Obama, don’t let us down.

• 

Ali, Jordan (alidahmash.blogspot.com)

This is what America is all about. The land of the free, dreams and opportunities. Despite all the catastrophic mistakes that America committed the past years, the American Constitution and system prevailed. The people of America have chosen for change, they voted for Barack Obama. They have learned from their past mistakes with the Republicans. They chose Barack Obama not because of his skin color, but for what he stands for, because they believe he will change America …

Barack Obama is not a wizard either, he won’t be in the office until Jan. 20, and by then he must choose his cabinet wisely. It will take many months until the economy improves, which was the main concern for Americans in this election. Unlike the elections in 2004, terrorism (the Bush game) was the least concern. It will require a lot of time and sacrifices to get out of Iraq, though I doubt that American lobbyists are ready to give up the oil in Iraq and the Gulf region. As for the Middle East peace process, I will not only hope that Obama doesn’t side with the Israelis only and the Israeli lobby in America, but to put real effort on achieving a fair and just peace for the Palestinians and the Israelis. And hoping is not enough, as Arab leaders and organizations should move quickly towards building an alliance with Obama.

Slowdown in Persian Gulf Reverberates in Middle East

Suddenly, that lifeline appears frayed, dangerously so for countries likeEgypt and Jordan, as the energy-rich nations find themselves pulled into the global financial crisis and undermined by dropping oil prices. Across the Persian Gulf, stock markets are down, causing panic among investors. Even in the boomtown of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the once-mighty real estate market has cooled as access to credit has tightened.

Read this article in today’s New York Times

Jordan ranked 128th in Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2008

26 October 2008
AMMAN – Jordan ranked 128th in the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders’ (RWB) Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2008 issued last week. 

 

The Kingdom’s position fell from 122 out of 169 countries last year, to 128 out of 173 nations in 2008, while in 2006, the index ranked Jordan 109 out of 186 countries.

Read more

Water conference in Jordan canceled due to ‘tensions’ in ME

A conference of European and Mediterranean nations to discuss water issues has been canceled due to tension in the Middle East, AFP reported Saturday evening.

The conference, which was due to be held on the banks of the Dead Sea in Jordan, “was postponed at the request of Jordan for reasons to do with the tensions between the Arab League and Israel,” the environment ministry in France, which co-chairs with Egypt the Union for the Mediterranean (UPM) was quoted as saying.

The forum aimed to put together a long-term strategy for water in the Mediterraneanregion.

Jordan detains poet for “religious crime”

This is from today’s article by my friend and journalist Suha Ma’ayeh.

A Jordanian poet, whose writings have drawn the ire of the country’s religious establishment over the interpretation of Quranic verses cited in his book, was detained by the general prosecutor for two weeks on charges of defaming and insulting religion.

An editor at the daily newspaper Arab Elyawm, where Mr Samhan works, said the paper had terminated his contract. 

Premier reaffirms Jordan’s gov’t support for JRTVC

So…whatever happened to Al Ghad TV? Anyone?

Restore [JRTVC's ] former status as one of the best media institutions in the Arab world.

Really?

He [PM] stressed that the government’s support for the corporation should be coupled with cooperation and keenness by all JRTVC staff to upgrade their performance, especially in light of the strong competition with other satellite channels, and restore its former status as one of the best media institutions in the Arab world.

The premier also referred to a strategy the JRTVC board is working on to upgrade its output and action plans, emphasising that the strategy should be applicable and include projects with specific objectives and clear costs.

Dahabi added that he will follow up on the implementation of the strategy with the JRTVC chairman.

Judeh, for his part, referred to the Royal directives on the need to supply official media outlets with trained staff and equip them with the required capabilities.

The minister reaffirmed the corporation’s keenness to restore its status in drama production, as when Jordanian series were widely broadcast across the Arab world.

Judeh said the board of directors is working on a clear strategy for JRTVC operations during the coming stage, noting that viewers will witness a positive change in the form and content of its programmes during the next few months.

The strategy, he noted, will also enhance the corporation’s revenues.

Read it all here….

State of the Press in Jordan?

What’s the latest talk on media development in Jordan?

Former information minister Ibrahim Ezzeddine, who moderated the seminar, said journalism development requires a high degree of professionalism and amendments to laws governing the press, stressing that public and private media institutions are also required to allow a wider margin of press freedom.

Meanwhile, columnist Fahed Kheitan said the media performance in any given country reflects the political life in that country, noting that the local media enjoys an advanced position in certain cases. He added, however, that the freedom of the press in Jordan is still seeing no progress.

“The media performance nowadays is not the same as it used to be 10 years ago. The means of control and supervision on the media have differed, particularly with the appearance of the electronic media,” he added, noting that any deficiency in the media performance is due to the reluctance of governments and decision makers in building a genuine democratic and political life.

Blaming the Jordan Press Association (JPA) for not doing its job properly in the past, columnist Kheitan said the JPA can play a larger role by changing its membership regulations to include all those who work in the media sector. He added that the association should also activate its disciplinary councils against those who do not abide by its regulations.

Here’s the article from the Jordan Times.

New US base in Jordan to train Iraqis and Palestinians

Amman, 10 Oct. (AKI) – The United States military has recently built a new military base in Jordan where Iraqi and Palestinian Authority security personnel will be trained, according to pan-Arab daily Al-Quds al-Arabi.
The base is very large and besides training Iraqi soldiers in anti-insurgency warfare, it reportedly contains a simulated refugee camp to train Palestinian Authority forces, an unnamed Palestinian source told the daily.

Between 500 and 600 armed forces personnel are expected to take part in special anti-militant courses and could be deployed as soon as Israel agrees to handover security in the West Bank town of Jenin to the Palestinian Authority.

The training should take place in the desert west of the Jordanian capital, Amman, and the trainers are expected to include senior military officials from the Jordanian and US armies.

Improving Teaching in Jordan

Here’s an article on improving education in Jordan. I am glad that faculty members and consultants from the US were sent to Jordan to assist. It’s important to note that despite Jordan’s high literacy rates, I am convinved that the quality of education still needs a lot of work, so this visit is a positive step.

In August, Teachers College sent a delegation of faculty members and consultants to Amman, Jordan to assist Jordan’s Ministry of Education in making mass-scale improvements to the nation’s public school system. Members of the Teachers College delegation led a five-day retreat to design pre-employment training for Jordan’s newly hired public school teachers.

In addition, several visiting faculty members stayed on to teach Jordanian public school teachers a three-week course in the Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).

Jordanians Weigh in On Obama’s Candidacy

Here’s a feature I wrote regading Jordanian opinion and Obama. 

It was featured in 7iber.com

Current Article

Oct 9, 2008 | 

Written By: Rana F. Sweis

7iberDotCom — On a bustling street in downtown Amman, Farah Al Sayyad, 24, stares at a magazine showing American democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama walking up a flight of stairs while gazing at the sky.

“For me it’s not about if he will be good or great,” she says. “It’s about not doing something negative to us, like waging another war in the region.”

Suddenly her friend Eman Buraile, 23, turns around. “Wake up, Farah!” she interrupts. “I don’t really know who Obama is, but they are all the same.”

Some middle-class Jordanians say they do not know Obama well enough to judge his character or intentions. Yet, when they watch television or read translated texts of his speeches, they have no problem envisioning him in a character role.

Read the rest of this article…

Jordanian Family Kidnapped in Beirut

October 6, 2008 (UPI)–A Jordanian woman and her three daughters have been kidnapped in Beirut, a Jordanian Foreign Ministry source told Kuwait news agency, KUNA. KUNA said an unnamed source told the Jordanian al-Ghad daily that the kidnapping of the woman and her daughters, ages 3, 5 and 7, happened Thursday near a Beirut hotel as they were waiting in a car for their father. The source said an unidentified person got into the car and commandeered it, taking the Jordanian family to an unknown destination as the father was in the hotel. You can read a more in-depth article in the Jordanian Al Ghad newspaper.

Movie Review: Body of Lies

Here’s an excellent movie review published today in the New Yorker of the much anticipated political thriller, Body of Lies starring Russell Crow and Leonardo DiCaprio.

High fodder prices threaten livelihoods in Jordan

Here’s an article published in the Middle East Online:

High fodder prices, drought and government policies have caused a sharp drop in livestock numbers in Jordan in the past year, affecting livelihoods and meat prices, agriculture experts say.

 

“Many livestock breeders slaughtered their animals after the government’s decision last year to slash fodder subsidies to livestock breeders,” Ahmad al-Faour, president of the Jordan Farmers’ Union (JFU), told IRIN.

Books: King Hussein

This book review published today in the New York Times, takes a close look at the life of King Hussein through two biographies, Lion of Jordan and  King Hussein of Jordan, a Political Life.

King Hussein of Jordan (1935-99)was the great survivor of Middle East politics. For almost half a century until his death in 1999 he balanced delicately between the Arab world, Israel and the United States. There were few important events in the region in which he did not play a role…

Jordan’s controversial royal court chief quits

AMMAN (AFP)  King Abdullah II on Monday accepted the resignation of his royal court chief, who has come under sharp public criticism over his alleged interference in controversial political and economic issues.

“A royal decree was issued today accepting the resignation of Bassem Awadallah from his post as chief of the royal court effective Wednesday, October 1,” a palace statement said.

The king is expected to name Awadallah’s successor next week, officials told AFP on Monday.

Awadallah, who was appointed in November, has been accused by some MPs and other politicians as well as journalists of meddling in the country’s privatisation plans.

Several multi-billion-dollar deals with foreigners, including a contract for Jordan’s only port on the Red Sea in Aqaba, have led lawmakers to demand explanations from the government over what many have described as “hidden” privatisation projects.

Awadallah, a former finance and planning minister, was also accused of backing secret plans to merge with a rump West Bank if the Palestinians do not win their promised independence.

He has denied all the accusations.

Officials have told AFP that Jordan, where a significant proportion of its nearly six million inhabitants are of Palestinian origin, “strongly opposes all American or Israeli attempts to merge it with a part of the West Bank.”

Jordanians hurt by global crisis

AMMAN, Jordan, Sept. 28 (UPI) — The economic crisis hitting many countries around the world has wiped out the savings of many investors in Jordan, officials said.

Officials believe about 300 companies were set up in the country to invest in foreign stocks and Jordanians invested a total of $700 million, KUNA, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

Prime Minister Nader al-Dahabi said he is in discussion with officials and members of parliament about legislation to provide additional protection for investors. In the meantime, hundreds of people fear they have lost all their savings.

Panicked investors have been waiting outside the offices of the companies.

One man told KUNA that he, his family members and friends had lost a total of $500,000. He said they used all their savings and mortgaged property in hopes of a high return.

A factory worker said she put all her savings into foreign stocks. She said the loss at her age meant she has no hope of ever achieving financial security.

Torture in Jordan

This is an important article to take note of. Almost one year later since this article was published in the Washington Post, a film is coming out next month starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Russell Crow entitled Body of Lies, and I don’t think it will show Jordan’s prison system in a positive light.

Former prisoners have reported that their captors were expert in two practices in particular: falaqa, or beating suspects on the soles of their feet with a truncheon and then, often, forcing them to walk barefoot and bloodied across a salt-covered floor; and farruj, or the “grilled chicken,” in which prisoners are handcuffed behind their legs, hung upside down by a rod placed behind their knees, and beaten.

Jobs for Jordan

Watch this from Public Broadcasting Station on jobs and unemployment in Jordan.

This is a great video.

An unemployment epidemic in the Middle East: what does it mean for America?

NOW travels to Jordan to explore the implications of – and possible solutions to – having millions of young people out of work in the Middle East. Staggering unemployment rates among the region’s massive youth population is fueling anger, frustration and resentment.

Op-ed on Bin Laden’s new threat

Here’s an op-ed from the Jordan Times today on Bin Laden’s new threat published in Al Quds newspaper.

In its September 20 issue, Al Quds Al Arabi published the text of a new Al Qaeda audiotape in which Ossama Ben Laden threatens to launch a new attack on the United States, larger in scale than the 2001 New York bombings.

We in Jordan consider Ben Laden an archenemy of the people. We have suffered a great deal because of Ben Laden and Zarqawi, his associate. I am not referring to the wanton killing of innocent families at the Raddison Sass and other hotels, or to the murderous explosions in other places. But the greatest damage Al Qaeda did was to poison the minds of over 300 young Jordanians, some still fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, without any of them realising that September 11, Ben Laden did more damage to Islam than to the United States, and harmed the Arabs rather than the White House. His heinous crimes have to be condemned by Jordanians, Arabs and Muslims first of all, since Ben Laden’s actions boomeranged and culminated in the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans.

Movie: Body of Lies

 

Based on Washington Post columnist David Ignatius’ 2007 novel about a CIA operative, Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio), who uncovers a lead on a major terrorist leader suspected to be operating out of Jordan. When Ferris devises a plan to infiltrate his network, he must first win the backing of cunning CIA veteran Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe) and the collegial, but perhaps suspect, head of Jordanian intelligence. Although ostensibly his allies, Ferris questions how far he can really trust these men without putting his entire operation – and his life – on the line.

In thaetres October 10

Closing of Books@Cafe in Jordan

 

 

 

 

This is outrageous. 

Read this post by Co-Owner Median Al Jazeerah. Authorities closed his cafe’ down.

He writes: Books@Cafe and many other establishments have been closed this week. Here is what I witnessed and what happened to us at Books@Cafe.

 

Jordan as a Filming Location

Here’s an article published today in Reuters on efforts to promote Jordan as the ‘go-to places to shoot Middle Eastern-set movies’. 

One is authenticity, something Bigelow was advocating. You can’t get any closer to Iraq for an Iraqi-set movie than Jordan, its neighbor to the east; additionally, Amman, the city where “Locker” was shot, has similar architecture to Baghdad. It also has many Iraqi expatriates — many of whom became part of the production in front and behind the cameras — as well as camps of refugees from neighboring war-torn nations. All of this suited the production, which often used a scaled-down crew to capture the tensions of war life.

The other ace is the Jordanian royal family, which is committed to the growth of the film industry and oversees the country’s film commission. The family and the commission saw the movie as an opportunity to show what the country is capable of doing and that it’s safe for Westerners to shoot there.

“Locker,” an indie war movie with a small budget, received access to such Jordanian military equipment as helicopters and Humvees and even had army personnel acting as production assistants as it turned blocks and blocks of the city into its own set — a veritable war zone with snipers attacking from behind corners and the smoking entrails of explosions snaking down streets.

The production did have to import dozens of guns and thousands of rounds of ammo for the shoot, a sensitive proposition in today’s political climate, especially in that part of the world.

At one point, the production was within eight hours of filming a major set piece when it learned that its very real props were being held up at customs and looking at a four- or five-day clearing process.

“We had very high-level personal intervention from the government,” Boal says. “Someone who basically controls the entire military picked up the phone and said, ‘Get these guns through.’”

Jordanians Weigh in on Obama’s Candidacy

Obama in Jordan, July 2008

By Rana F. Sweis

AMMAN// On a bustling street in downtown Amman, Farah Al Sayyad, 24, stares at a magazine showing presidential candidate Barack Obama walking up a flight of stairs while gazing at the sky. “For me it’s not about if he will be good or great,” she says. “It’s about not doing something negative to us, like waging another war in the region.” Suddenly her friend Eman Buraile, 23, turns around. “Wake up, Farah!” she interrupts. “I don’t really know who Obama is, but they are all the same.”

Some middle-class Jordanians say they do not know Obama well enough to judge his character or intentions. Yet, when they watch television or read translated texts of his speeches, they have no problem envisioning him in a character role. “I imagine if he was working at an organization, he would be the person who is always out in the field experiencing things firsthand,” says Ali al-Beer, a young bookseller. For Hadeel Sharif, who works at a salon in West Amman, Obama was the right choice for the Democratic Party. “I don’t know why but when I see him on television, I feel like I can sit with him and talk for hours,” she says. For others the fact that Obama is young and a minority has captivated them. “What sets Obama apart is his age, more than his race or background,” says Sawsan Zaideh, manager of Radio Balad, a local community radio station. “It’s very important that he is young because you can see he is not living in the past and has this passion for positive change that has been absent in both America and the Middle East.”

Many Jordanians interviewed, including both conservatives and liberals, say they yearn for a change in American foreign policy. Just months ago, Jordanians seldom used words such as, ‘compassionate’, ‘charismatic’ or ‘caring’ when describing an American politician. “The Arab street dreams of change and the day when greed and corruption ends in their region,” says Atef Al Jolani, Editor in Chief of Al Sabeel newspaper, an independent Islamic weekly. “All parties in Jordan, no matter what their political affiliations are, hope for progress not regression both at home and in the region.”

Nevertheless, some say they never tuned into election coverage due to a sense of dejection. They are simply resigned to the fact whoever wins in November, the next President will not be able to change or promote peace in the region. “There is a system, certain policies and lobbies in American politics and no matter who is elected they will follow it, so, I don’t care,” says Buraile, a sales supervisor. “He calls Jerusalem the undivided capital of Israel? I am not optimistic about peace in the region.” The Democratic candidate shocked many Arabs in a speech to AIPAC, a pro-Israeli lobby, in which he promised his full support to Israel. Obama also called Jerusalem the “undivided capital” of Israel. He later clarified his comments, saying it was up to both Palestinians and Israelis to negotiate any final settlement.

Others are simply not paying attention. They are concerned with the notion that meat and chicken prices have risen 30 percent in less than a year, this in a country where 14 percent of its citizens already live under the poverty line, according to official estimates. “Poor people in the Middle East don’t care about Obama’s character, all they are concerned about is someone saving them from their misery,” says Ahmad Al Hindawi, one of the founders of We Are All Jordan Youth Commission, an initiative launched by HM King Abdullah two years ago to enhance young people’s role in socio-economic and political plans. ”I don’t blame them for tuning out on the details of American elections because they are busy struggling to put food on the table.”

Jordan being a small country with limited natural resources is heavily dependent on foreign aid—the second-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, when calculated on a per capita basis. It finds itself in a vulnerable position. Nevertheless, the US also understands Jordan’s strategic geographic location and it’s vital political role as a mediator and safe haven for its troubled neighbors. “If a republican or a democrat is elected in November, I don’t believe their policy on Jordan will change at all,” says Bassam Haddadin, an elected parliamentarian since 1989. “There is a bond between the two countries that is based on diplomacy that will always triumph promoting democracy, in my opinion.”

A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States went into effect in 2001 and provides for free markets in communications, construction, finance, health, transportation and the protection of intellectual property. Textile and clothing exports to the United States increased by 2,000 percent from 2000 to 2005, following the introduction of the FTA. In 1996, Jordan and the United States signed a civil aviation agreement and a U.S.-Jordan treaty for the protection and encouragement of bilateral investment.

Before Obama visited the Middle East and Europe, Human Rights Watch (HRW) wrote a letter to Senator Obama stating among other things, human rights abuses in Jordan including claims of prison torture, a claim that the government continues to deny. The Jordanian government also called “incorrect”, a report accusing Jordan of torturing detainees and serving as a place for rendition of suspects by the United States. “Obama made at least two press conferences in the Middle East yet he never spoke about human rights here in the region,” Haddadin explains. In his speech in Berlin in front of an audience of more than 200,000 people, Obama spoke of freedom of expression and humanitarian intervention.

This is the moment we must help answer the call for a new dawn in the Middle East…Will we stand for the human rights of the dissident in Burma, the blogger in Iran, or the voter in Zimbabwe? Will we give meaning to the words “never again” in Darfur?

Despite his admiration for Obama, Haddadin says it is difficult to predict if he will inject his sense of idealism in the Middle East. “He had to go to Europe to speak about freedom and rights in the Middle East?” Haddadin asks.

Of course, the lesson in history is that there is no final lesson. In history, the verdict reached on someone is oftentimes dependent upon when the end sign is posted. “He is articulate,” says Al-Beer, the bookseller. “However, he may talk and not act, so, we will have to wait and see.”

###

 

This Day in History: Civil War Breaks Out in Jordan

I found this in THE TIMES, quoted from September 18, 1970.

“The air over Jordan is thick with appeals to end the fighting, but of the fighting itself there are few reliable reports. This is natural when a conflict is sporadic and local, and when the objectives of the two sides are as much political as military. There are so many unknown elements. What are the Iraqi troops in Jordan doing? Has the Iraq Government wisely decided to keep out of other people’s quarrels?”

Editorial: Need for protection from fraud

Here’s an editorial from the Jordan Times today on the rise of fraud by some investment companies and institutions in Jordan.

There is, it seems, a rise in the number of fraudulent activities by financial and investment institutions operating in the country.

Matrix Company for Financial Investment, which is accused of manipulating huge amounts of money belonging to thousands of unsuspecting Jordanian investors, is one of several financial companies that were referred to the State Security Court recently.

Their number seems to grow and many unwary Jordanian investors could suffer financial losses, sometimes substantial, including their lifetime savings.

While there are laws against fraud in the country, they don’t seem adequate enough to prevent such occurrences. This means that both government and Parliament should hasten to adopt new legislation specifically designed to deal with modern fraudulent financial activities.

In the wake of the Matrix case, another investment company in Irbid was reportedly trying to deceive people into believing that they would get high returns on their money, trying to play on international markets.

Prosecuting the CEOs of these companies may solve the problem for the time being and offer an opportunity for investors to recover some of their losses, but this will not do in the future.

Insolvency and failing banks and financial institutions worldwide should awaken our concerned authorities to the urgent need for more effective methods to combat fraud in finance and investment dealings.

People might not be sophisticated enough to protect themselves against fraudulent activities, so the government has the duty to step in, and fast, to protect them.

There is much that can be learned from the cases brought to light so far, and this should offer the basis for future preventive actions by the Central Bank of Jordan and other concerned governmental institutions in the country.

Did you know this about Karak?

By Raya Rzeszut, Staff Coordinator, BJF Israel-World Jewry Bureau (2005)

Over the past 25 years, the relationship between the Jewish communities of Birmingham and Israeli city of Rosh Ha’Ayin has evolved through BJF programs such as Project Renewal and more recently Partnership 2000.

Now, in two weeks, another exciting chapter in our relationship with Rosh Ha’Ayin will begin officially. For the last few years, dedicated staff and lay leaders of our Federation have been working to achieve a special dream – for the City of Birmingham to make Rosh H’Ayin an official sister city.

Making this event even more historic is the fact that at the same ceremony, Birmingham will also sign an agreement with the city of Al-Karak, Jordan. Israeli officials were pleased with the dual signing, reflective of the fact that Israel and Jordan have a peace treaty.

Accompanying Mayor Moshe Sinai will be Dov Sedakah, the Chair of Rosh Ha’Ayin’s Sister City committee. Al Karak’s Mayor Mohammed Abdel-Hamid Maita will be joined by his wife, Rabi’ah Abdullah Nemer Majali and Al-Karak council member Lama Abdel Rahman Abdallah Al Majali.

To read more…

Letter From The Humane Center for Animal Welfare, Jordan.

On September 14, I wrote about the Jordanian municipality pick-up truck in my neighborhood that was shooting stray dogs between 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM. 

I sent a letter to the Humane Center for Animal Welfare in Jordan and they wrote back. Here’s part of the letter:

 

Thank you for bringing this attrocity to our attention.

 

HCAW started a campaign 5 years ago to develop humane ways of stray animal control that most other parts of the world apply.

 

HCAW was the moving force to bring staff from the WSPA, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (UK) to demonstrate humane methods of capture and seminars were provided to the Municipality  Amman free of charge.

 

Follow up meeting and letters with the Mayor of Amman and his staff have taken place, and although we have succeeded in our cooperation with the Municipality concerning Pet Shop standards and licensing, this dangerous and inhuman practice still goes on.

……

Thank you very much for taking the trouble to inform us. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Best wishes

 

Margaret Ledger

I will be following up with a letter to the editor in the local media as well regarding this incident. If something like this happened in your neighborhood or you have any stories to share on this topic, please free to do so in the comment section below or write me: news2youweblog@yahoo.com

You can make a difference.

Jordan’s Brain Drain?

It is estimated that 100,000 Jordanians are currently working in the Gulf, according to a Jordanian economist. Here’s a story published today on Jordanian doctors who are also leaving the country. Moreover, more than 40 doctors have been assaulted in the past year, according to this article. 

The increasing number of assaults on doctors is threatening to cause a brain drain from the public sector, Abu Fares said, noting that the shortage of doctors at the Kingdom’s public health facilities currently stands at 40 percent.

Municipality Pick-Up Truck Shooting Dogs in Amman

A pick-up truck today passed through my neighborhood near the Um Sumaq area, near the King Hussein Park, and began shooting stray dogs in the morning between 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM. There were two men in the pick-up truck and the sound of the dogs pain was astounding as they were being shot in front of people. The pick-up truck was clearly marked with a red license plate that indicates it is a government owned vehicle. It then drove slowly in the neighborhood with the hazard lights on, looking for more dogs to shoot.

I would like to know if the The Humane Center for Animal Welfare- Jordan (HCAW) is doing anything about this. Such practices do not represent a country and a society that is trying to move forward. What I saw today was a despicable act on the part of the Jordanian municipality.  It was an inhuman act, witnessed by many in the neighborhood including children. If this is not an issue that is a top priority for HCAW to discuss and solve with the government, then I don’t know what is, when it comes to the welfare of animals in Jordan.

Saudi on Killing Arab Satteliate Owners

Ammonnews publishes local news from Jordan as well as international news online. This is where most Jordanians these days are getting their news. A story has been posted on the site regarding a Saudi Sheikh that has issued a fatwa to kill Arab satteliate owners for airing so-called “corrupt” programs. What happened to opening a debate on this issue instead of telling people to kill the owners? This is absurd and the sort of garbage that will always hinder reform and development in the Middle East. You can’t build huge malls, top notch apartment buildings and ignore political and social development.

Desperation spurs illegal kidney trade in Jordan

Here’s an article written by my good friend and journalist Suha Ma’ayeh on the illegal kidney trade in Jordan.

Jordan is battling a thriving black market trade in kidneys, fuelled by growing instances of kidney failure and a lack of genuine donors. The dangers of the trade were brought to light last month when the government said that over the past three years, 35 people had died in kidney transplants, many of whom had sold their organs. Last year, 81 cases of illegal organ trafficking were uncovered in Jordan, and several middlemen and medical service providers arrested, however, the vast majority are now free due to the lack of evidence. Also last year, authorities foiled three illegal transplant attempts after investigations revealed the sellers and recipients were not blood relatives.

A government survey, which studied 127 cases of kidney trade transactions in the past three years, showed that 90 per cent of those who sold their kidneys lived in absolute poverty, but with no criminal records.

Women Expert Commentators in the Arab World

Here’s an article published today regarding a searchable directory for Arab Women experts. I am sure this will be very helpful for journalists. 

AmmanNet and the World Association of Christian Communications (WACC) have created a searchable directory for Arab women experts in various development themes, which is now available online at www.ammannet.net/look/woman. The Arabic/English directory comes as the fulfilment of a commitment made in Amman in 2006 for gender-balanced news media, according to a statement released by AmmanNet. Journalists and reporters attribute their reliance on men to provide expert commentary on different themes to a lack of knowledge on where to find women able to discuss these themes at a professional level, the statement said.

Men constitute 83 per cent of the experts in the news and 86 per cent of spokespersons, according to research coordinated by WACC in 2005.

Hunger Strike (Jordan)

By Rana F. Sweis

(Edited version published in JO magazine)

Food prices rise substantially in Jordan

On a warm summer morning in East Amman, a private school is turned into a makeshift food distribution centre. Brown boxes are placed on top of each other on long rectangular tables. Masoud, who fled Iraq in 2006, stood in line with dozens of other Iraqis living in Jordan. He gazes far off into the distance as others empty their boxes full of wheat, rice, sugar, milk powder and other food items, then placing them in large white plastic bags. Sabri, a short, gray haired, elderly man shakes his head in disbelief. “It’s my first time ever that I have been forced to resort to food aid,” he explains. “The price of food in Amman is becoming so expensive and many Iraqis living in East Amman and outside Amman are developing health problems because they don’t have money to buy fruits and vegetables as well as meat.” 

In a middle class neighborhood in Amman, Amer Swenda, a Jordanian taxi driver, is looking for a more stable monthly salary. He can no longer pay 30 Dinars of petrol per day. “My children need milk, and every few days I go to buy milk and I find the price has been changed dramatically,” he explains. “Today I can buy milk and rice but what about tomorrow?”

Meat and chicken prices in Jordan have risen 30 percent in less than a year. The price of eggs and milk nearly doubled. Fruits and vegetables have tripled. Jordan seems to be heading towards progress in terms of infrastructure development and privatization but the increase in food prices, leading to additional cases of malnutrition in the kingdom, may pose many challenges ahead. It is not a Jordanian phenomenon alone. On July 3, 2008, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) announced the number of hungry people increased by about 50 million in 2007 as a direct result of high food prices.

The World Bank estimates 33 countries face social unrest because of the rise in food and energy prices. The largest problems of malnutrition are in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. In Jordan, a recent published survey by the Jordan Population and Family Heath (JPFHS) reveals a rise in malnutrition among Jordanian children. “Malnutrition is a consequence and eventuality,” explains Mohammad Ismail, Senior Program and Logistics Assistant at the World Food Program (WFP) in Amman. “Obviously that means there is a change in the household food consumption behavior including in quality and quantity of food.” Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provides food packages to some 20,000 Iraqis a month in Jordan, but the refugee agency was forced to cut the size of the package due to the rising prices. In effect, it has decreased the nutritional value, which contained 1,300 calories per person per day to 1100 kilocalories per day. “In some meetings that I attended, vulnerable Iraqis were wrapping pastries and sandwiches for their families and taking coffee sachets because they can’t afford it anymore and they don’t have an income,” explains Jason Erb, Save the Children, Deputy Country Director for Emergency Programs in Amman. “They are ashamed about taking the food home for their families and they did not do that in the past as much but I see it’s increasing,” he says. In addition, twenty five percent of UNHCR beneficiaries are vulnerable Jordanians. “Being that it is a supplementary package, they cannot depend on what we distribute as the main source of food,” says Dana Bajjali, UNHCR Mass Information Assistant.

Mounira Mohammad, works at a Salon in Amman. She recently asked a truck driver traveling from Saudi Arabia to Jordan to bring her children powdered milk. “The milk is cheaper there and we are lucky that we are able to buy it from the trucker at a cheaper price,” she says.   On her day off, Mounira usually visits her neighbors who told her recently they stopped buying milk altogether. “One day I visited my neighbor and she was giving her two-year old a cup of tea instead of milk because it’s cheaper,” she explains. “The children no longer know what milk tastes like.” According to a survey conducted in 2004 by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation then published in the local newspapers last year, the number of poverty pockets in Jordan increased to 42 areas, while in 2004, only 20 areas were categorized officially as poverty pockets. One of the highlights recorded in the survey suggests families in poverty do not use different types of nutrients, but rather consume more quantities of tea and bread for long periods and use these items as main sources of food. As a result, this causes imbalances in the nutrient values and calorie intake. However, learning how to use different types of food despite the limited income may increase the value of nutrition. “We don’t really need to have meat, chicken or fish everyday to get optimum nutrition,” explains Amal Nasser, a Diet, Nutrition Consultant and Founder of ANANA Wellness centre in Amman. “We need to educate people through campaigns and give them simple, straight forward messages on how to combine the different foods.” With certain combinations and on a fixed budget various sectors in society would able to educate people how to prepare certain foods, to ensure their family receives the maximum benefits, nutrients and calories they need, says Nasser. “It’s not about having a kilogram of meat everyday that you end up being healthy.”

Like in many natural and man-made disasters, it is usually children who are hit the hardest. Worldwide, malnutrition plays a role in the death of 6 million children a year—which equals the entire population of Jordan. Due to the rise in food prices and drought, more than 4 million people in Ethiopia are in need of emergency food assistance and widespread famine may be imminent, reported Concerned Worldwide, an international humanitarian relief and development organization. In Iraq more then a quarter of the country’s children are malnourished. At least 4 million Iraqis depend on food assistance, according to an Oxfam report. “When we used to live in Iraq before the war, we never worried about food or water because the government provided it free of charge but now Iraqis living there are starving,” says Sabri Ilia who owned a factory in Iraq but is now unemployed and living with his married children in Amman

The 2007 JPFHS survey measured malnutrition according to international standards–children’s height for age and weight for age. The survey indicates that malnutrition among children under the age of five rose by 2-6 percent from 2002. However, there are conflicting reports. According to JPFHS survey, 12 per cent of children were classified as stunted in 2007 (as opposed to 14 per cent according to the WHO Child Growth standards), compared with nine percent in 2002. A joint WFP and JAAH survey is being conducted regarding malnutrition in poverty pockets already identified by the government to assess the threat of food security due to the rise in food prices. “Once the survey comes out, we will be able to assess accurately the extent and severity of malnutrition due to the rise in food prices in poverty pockets households,” says Ismail.

Moreover, the JPFHS survey indicates factors such as the quality of mother-child care and infancy feeding patterns also play an important role. Patterns of breastfeeding have changed in the past five years and responsible to a certain extent to the deterioration in children’s nutritional status. WFP reports exemplify how malnutrition in early childhood undermines children’s physical and cognitive abilities, therefore hindering their performance in school. If girls are malnourished they give birth to underweight babies, and the cycle continues into the next generation. The report also listed the five most critical threats to the lives of children under age five in developing countries: newborn disorders, malnutrition, pneumonia, diarrhea and measles. Effective measures to fight these killers is not expensive. Yet millions of children still die each year because they are not being reached. “We don’t want poor Jordanians to get to a point where they become dependent on food aid, but we want to continue with the notion of food-for-work’, explains Sawsan Al Fayez of JAAH. “Food-for-work means, we give needy family food packages but at the same time, we give them an income generating project until we assess and know that they have become independent.” However, Al Fayez says she worries that cases of malnutrition are increasing. “In my line of work, I see there is an increase in both malnutrition and even hunger in Jordan that is not being recorded,” she adds.

Meanwhile, Swenda, the Jordanian taxi driver, continues to worry about his children’s future. “Sometimes I drive around and see poor children inside the big rubbish bins and think my family is lucky but then I wonder about the future of our people.”

Risks to Food Security in Jordan

Source: WFP

 

Lack of job opportunities and low income

 

Decline in economic indicators

 

Low and erratic annual precipitation

 

Agricultural land degradation

 

Self insufficiency in food products, especially cereals

 

Water scarcity, with Jordan ranking among the 10 most water-deficit countries

 

Food Production: Cereals, vegetables, fruit, poultry and eggs. Dependent on imports for a substantial part of the food supply.