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AMMAN — Some local scientists recently became interested in the still widely unexplored field of cremation practices in Jordan, coming up with interesting new results.

Abdalla Nabulsi, who is affiliated with University of Hamburg undertook his scientific research to "study the biological structure of the Jordanian population in present and past times". He later got involved in a number of archaeological excavations in and outside Jordan before starting his own bioarchaeological project in Khirbet es-Samrā ancient cemetery.

"As a human biologist, one has to methodologically deal with different kinds of biological features of populations, both the living and the dead," the scholar said, noting that his interest in cremation burials was aroused when Adeib Abu Shmeis, the former head of Amman's antiquities office, asked him to look at some human bones found in a cave tomb in west Amman. 

Regarding cremation practices during the Roman period, the researcher said:" The number of confirmed Roman cremation [urn] burials, has lately increased. There are at least eight cases from five sites in the Greater Amman Area, at least three from Zarqa, and one from the north. There are also two previously unrecognised cases from Jerash and two potential cases from the Amman and Salt areas."

Two reported cases from Irbid and Amman are definitely not part of this category, just as the most likely pigeonaries and not funerary “columbaria” in Petra and Irbid areas, he explained.

These findings are a proof that Roman cremation burials in Jordan were not rare, but instead relatively frequent, representing 1-3 per cent of all burials during the first two centuries AD, with a tendency to use leaden urns, the scholar said. "Yet, the dominant burial custom at that time was inhumations in vertical shaft tombs or cave tombs," he stressed.

According to the scholar, there is no credible evidence of cremation in Jordan before the Roman period. "One has to first differentiate between the incineration of human remains as part of a funerary rites, and accidental or intentional, mostly destructive, burning of the bones," he emphasised, adding that the differentiation between the two is easily indicated by biological features and archaeological context. 

Cremation was reported in a number of sites dated between the Early Bronze and Iron ages, the scholar said, noting that the reported incidences in the Jordan Valley, Sahab, Tell Al Umairi, Jabal Nebo, Umm and Umm ed-Dananir could be directly excluded as cases of unintentional burnings.

"We recorded two prominent sites of cremation: the 13th BC century Amman [Marka] Airport temple site, where human bone fragments were collected from three layers in and outside the quadratic structure, some of which were burnt, leading the excavators to suggest cremation with different interpretations," he emphasised.

The osteological report showed that all the human bone material found in the three layers belonged to three adults, with 24 per cent of them being variably burnt, he said, noting that "cremation must therefore be excluded".

"The second case is the EBA site of Baābedh-Dhra’a’. Based on the archaeological evidence, the excavators concluded that the burnt layers in three last-to-be-used charnel [bone storage] houses were caused by fires set from outside and that these were not cremations," the scientist explained.

It is difficult to understand that many still refer to these as early cremation sites in Jordan, Nabulsi said, stressing that the introduction of Roman cremation burials in the area was most likely facilitated by the Romanisation of local communities.  

"The cultural influences detailed by many historians, are also reflected in huge files of funerary inscriptions, some of which carry the deceased’s Latin name and the Arabic name of the father," he elaborated, adding that Greek inscriptions on one leaden urn also reveal local writing variations.

"The numerous cremation cases were mostly found in familial or community cave-tombs dispersed in the vicinity of cities of the Decapolis," the researcher pointed out, noting that “Roman cremations were a costly and extravagant endeavour comparable with New Year’s fireworks".

It is not clear why any cultural change in the region always tend to be explained by migration, Nabulsi continued, adding that most cremation findings were discovered during rescue excavations of the Department of Antiquities, whereby some might have gone unnoticed.

"The presently available evidence indicates that cremation burials were not evident in Jordan before the Roman era, when it was frequently practiced, probably by some wealthy and strongly Romanised locals living in rural areas," Nabulsi concluded.

AMMAN — Turkish authorities are ready to look into Jordan’s conditions to reactivate the suspended free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries, Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply Yarub Qudah said Tuesday.

“We have received a request from Turkey to present our demands and conditions to reactivate the free trade agreement,” the minister told The Jordan Times on Tuesday, adding that an official delegation from Jordan will visit Turkey this week to meet Turkish officials over the issue.

The visit will be the first since Jordan suspended the deal in March, he said.

Earlier this month, the ministry announced several conditions for resuming the deal including the Turkish side’s consent to measures Jordan will devise to protect local industries and agreement to increase technical assistance to Jordan as stipulated by the FTA. Ankara is also requested to reconsider the “strict” rules of origin specifications it applies to Jordan’s exports.

“If the Turkish officials agree on our conditions, we will reconsider the decision to suspend the deal…Then, we will renegotiate the agreement,” Qudah said.

Jordan also wants Turkey to adopt the same relaxed rules of origin Jordan enjoys under a deal signed with the EU excluding some of the EU’s articles that condition employing Syrians for facilities to be eligible to export local products to its markets, the minister explained.

“We want to ensure fairness for both sides through this agreement….We want both countries to benefit from the FTA and we want at the same time to protect our industries,” said the minister.

According to official figures, the trade balance between the two countries has been heavily in favour of Turkey.

In 2017, Jordan’s exports to Turkey reached JD65.8 million, while imports from the partner country amounted in value to JD484 million, according to the Department of Statistics.

The decision to suspend the 7-year bilateral deal was welcomed by industrialists but slammed by traders.

At the time, government officials said that Turkey had failed to transfer know-how to improve national industries as agreed upon in the deal.

AMMAN — The Jordanian Strategy Forum (JSF) on Sunday issued a position paper calling for the increase of female representation at the chambers of industry and commerce and related organisms, criticising that “the draft law of chambers of industry and trade did not address the inclusion of businesswomen at such institutions, or ensure their representation at the boards of directors”.

JSF highlighted the importance of granting Jordanian women fair economic opportunities through just representation in the concerned bodies, recommending the allocation of seats through an electoral quota for women in each board of directors for all chambers of commerce and industry across the Kingdom.

JSF’s recommendation was supported by Amman Chamber of Industry's (ACI) Senator Ziad Homsi, who echoed the position paper by stating that the chamber believes that “the most important step in order to increase the percentage of women owning industrial companies in Jordan is to allocate an electoral quota to ensure women's representation at the different boards of directors”.

“ACI recognises the importance of women's participation in the industrial sector and supports them,” Homsi told The Jordan Times, referring to the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in cooperation with the Jordan Business and Professional Women Association (BPWA) with the aim of promoting women's participation in the business sector.

The position paper was issued in cooperation with the BPWA, according to vice president Reem Albaghdadi who stressed that the organisation believes that “economic empowerment for women will not be achieved if businesswomen are kept aside while discussing and taking decisions concerning commerce and industry in Jordan”.

“Research on the best practices related to this issue showed that most of the surrounding countries are implementing fair participation for women, while we still suffer from low female representation at the commerce and industry chambers”, Albaghdadi added, stressing: “We are way behind those practices, thus we now know that no organisation can prosper without tapping into the full mental and emotional potentials of both genders.”

Albaghdadi added that the BPWA recently approached the Parliament's women committee, calling on other organisations to “join us on this initiative so we can bring a fair representation for women at the chambers.”

The position paper also called for establishing a permanent committee for women in business affiliated to the Federation of Jordanian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, stressing that “in view of the extended efforts in supporting and empowering businesswomen, this committee shall work as an umbrella organisation capable of unifying the efforts of all civil society organisations in this matter”.

“The participation of women in the labour market and their representation on the various boards of directors is still weak and below what Jordan aspires to,” the position paper criticised, noting that the number of women in the Jordan Chamber of Commerce is one out of 174 seats (0.5 per cent), while the number of female representatives in the Chamber of Industry was slightly more positive, with 4 out of 47 seats (8 per cent). 

JSF linked the lack of representation to the low rates in female economic participation in the Kingdom, highlighting that the percentage of women employees in the public sector was 36 per cent, while females in the private sector accounted for the 21 per cent.

In this regard, the paper stressed that the representation of women in industrial and commercial chambers is “key” for the increase of female economic participation, noting that their presence in the different organisms would enable them to present the challenges faced by women in business specifically. 

However, concerning the possibility of establishing independent chambers of industry and trade for women in Jordan, the organisation noted that “although some countries have succeeded in establishing such organisms, it is not advisable to do so in the Kingdom, as the modest number of businesswomen in our country will not be sufficient for this purpose”.

AMMAN — The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) World Economic Report that was issued on Tuesday expected the economic growth in the Kingdom to go up from 2.3 per cent in 2017 to 2.5 per cent in 2018, reaching to 2.7 per cent by 2019.

These projections came in the report reviewed by Maurice Obstfeld, chief economist at IMF, in a joint conference with Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti, deputy director in the IMF Research Department, and Malhar Nabar, deputy division chief of the IMF World Economic Studies Division, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The report, showcased on the sidelines of the IMF Spring meetings, anticipated a decline in the Kingdom’s consumer prices index from 3.3 per cent in 2017 to 1.5 per cent in 2018, to rise again to 2.5 per cent in 2019. 

Meanwhile, IMF projected Jordan’s current account balance to decrease from minus 8.7 per cent in 2017 to minus 8.5 and  minus 7.9 per cent in 2018 and 2019 respectively, according to the report, a copy of which was seen by The Jordan Times.

The upswing in global investment and trade continued in the second half of 2017. At 3.8 per cent, global growth in 2017 was the fastest since 2011, the report said.

With financial conditions still supportive, global growth is expected to tick up to a 3.9 per cent rate in both 2018 and 2019.

Advanced economies will grow faster than potential this year and next; Euro area economies are set to narrow excess capacity with support from accommodative monetary policy, and expansionary fiscal policy will drive the US economy above full employment.

Aggregate growth in emerging market and developing economies is projected to firm further, with continued strong growth in emerging Asia and Europe and a modest upswing in commodity exporters after three years of weak performance.

Global growth is projected to soften beyond the next couple of years. Once their output gaps close, most advanced economies are poised to return to potential growth rates well below pre-crisis averages, held back by aging populations and lackluster productivity.

With broad-based momentum and expectations of a sizeable fiscal expansion in the United States over this year and the next, global growth is now projected at 3.9 per cent for 2018 –19, a 0.2 percentage point upgrade for both years relative to the October 2017 forecast, according to the report.

AMMAN — Fourteen cruise liners are expected drop anchors in Aqaba during April, according to an official from Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA). 

The cruise ships, three of them which already arrived, carry around 16, 000 one-day and overnight visitors, ASEZA commissioner for economic development and investment affairs, Sharhabeel Madi, told The Jordan Times on Tuesday, noting that most of the visitors come from European countries.

As well as spending time in Aqaba, the tourists’ itinerary includes other destinations in the “Golden Triangle”, the triumvirate of Aqaba, Petra and Wadi Rum, Madi said.

Some of them will also visit sites outside of the triangle such as the Baptism Site and the Dead Sea, he continued.

The port city, 330km south of Amman, usually witnesses a hike in the number of Jordanian, Arab and international visitors during April who come to the Kingdom to enjoy site-seeing, shopping and maritime activities.    

On tourism indicators for this year, Madi said that they have increased by 200 per cent compared with last year, adding that ASEZA is currently working on detailed statistics "soon to be published".

The official underscored the "huge" number when compared to the past few years, stressing that the authority is working to ensure quality services and organisations for the visitors.

Aqaba is Jordan’s only sea gate, sharing the Red Sea’s Gulf of Aqaba with Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt.

AMMAN — A feeling that millenials’ opinions are still under-represented in Arab public opinion triggered the launch of “Generation What?”, an EU project aimed at drawing portrait of the new generation through the largest cross-media youth survey ever-made.

Started with the aim of better understanding the main trends and concerns of Arab citizens and of collecting testimonies from youth between the ages of 18 and 34 years old, the 167-question survey has been made available to online users in Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Lebanon, collecting over 7,600 responses in Jordan in one month.

“We wanted to make young peoples’ voices heard by allowing them to express their opinions on work, family, future, equality, love and power, among many other topics,” Valerio Caruso, the projects’s team leader, told The Jordan Times, noting that “this will allow us to compare the answers with those of thousands of other Arab and European young people and draw a clearer picture of this new generation”. 

Launched only a month ago, the campaign has already revealed a number of results, highlighting education, health and job opportunities as the main concerns for young Arabs, and a surprising closeness of opinions with youth from other parts of the world.

“We asked participants to choose their three biggest concerns out of a list of 16 propositions, ranking them from the ‘most concerned about’ to the ‘least’ and we found out that many of the tendencies were similar to the ones observed in Europe and other continents,” Caruso remarked.

The survey, which was drafted by an international team of sociologists to ensure scientific accuracy, pointed to the education system as the first and foremost concern for Arab millennials, with 51 per cent of them ranking this as "the top of their concerns".

The health system came second (40 per cent), just before getting a job (38 per cent). Other challenges included insecurity, ranked fourth with 32 per cent, the recession and the financial crisis, reaching 27 per cent, while environment, spending power and access to housing were ranked roughly the same at 20 per cent.

“This first general tendency is only but a sketch for now — we will have to wait six months to get the consolidated results, as the current sample only contains 2,500 young people. But what stroke the sociologist working on the survey is the similarity of these concerns compared to millenials in other parts of the world,” the Generation What? Team said, citing European youth's ranking of education as one of the top concerns with 28 per cent (going up to 37 per cent in France).

"Each participating country has its own website, with a survey tailored to the country's cultural and political context," Caruso explained, stressing that thanks to a database updated in real time, users can instantly compare their answers to those of youth from their country, region and the world on interactive maps. They can also watch video compilations of millennials taking the survey, showing different opinions they can relate to."

According to the team leader, this survey has a double mission. "On one hand, we offer young people a tool for dialogue, while assessing their identity; the 18-34 generation is inheriting a chaotic, globalised and interconnected world, where they do not yet have a place. It is the most educated generation in history, one that will be tasked with building the 21st century. Therefore, we need to provide them with the means to express themselves and their identity," he said.

"On the other hand, the programme also allows broadcasters to reconnect with a generation that today abandons them for social networks. The survey itself is only the very first step of a much broader communication strategy that involves not only the media but civil society and youth associations working together towards the same goal of dialogue and participation," Caruso continued.

Four to six months after the launch of the campaign, the findings will be made public, with the aim of generating wide-ranging debate in each country and across the region. 

The Jordanian survey already allowed a number of issues to be raised, mainly surrounding the youth's distrust of politicians, with 90 per cent of them considering politicians to be "fully or at least partly corrupted" and 64 per cent considering that “politicians no longer have any power”.

This distrust extended to the entire field of politics, with 46 per cent saying they “do not trust politics at all” and another 48 per cent who “do not trust them or trust them partly”. 

However, young Jordanians expressed a much higher opinion towards security forces with 60 per cent voicing their trust of the police and 68 for the army. Other groups of concern included the legal system, religious, political and humanitarian organisations, and the media.

An interesting outcome was the youth’s reliance on news media, with almost 80 per cent saying that “they could not be happy without news reports”.

Further results about the Kingdom and the region can be found at arab.generation-what.org.

Generation What? Arabic is financed by the European Union and implemented by the European Broadcasting Union in cooperation with the Arab States Broadcasting Union and the Permanent Conference of the Mediterranean Audiovisual Operators following a concept developed by YAMI2 and Upian, according to its website.

AMMAN — Foreign officials and music fans on Monday enjoyed a night of music held to celebrate the power of culture in building communities’ resilience and social cohesion.

Organised by the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) on behalf of the EU delegation, “Turath: A musical night” witnessed the performances of Syrian troupe Salateen Al Tarab and young aspiring artists members of Turning Tables (TT).

“We are really proud to see such a show being organised to shed light on the cultural aspect of the Syrian crisis, showing the positive artistic dimension stemming from an otherwise tragic phenomenon,” head of cooperation at the EU delegation in Jordan Ibrahim Laafia told The Jordan Times.

Held a week ahead of the second Brussels Conference on Syria, scheduled on April 24-25, the show aimed to highlight the cultural resilience amidst the regional turmoil, and the positive impact it had on the lives of refugees and host communities.

 “Music is an incredible means that can be used to reflect on individuals and communities’ lives, and to convey the message that, in spite of their differences, all people have comon denominators that federates them,” said Martin Fernando Jakobsen, founder of TT, an organisation aimed at empowering marginalised youth through creative activities.

“The young people of TT carry with them an extremely rich culture, which has helped them build resilience in the face of chaos and this is what our work seeks to showcase,” he told The Jordan Times at the event, noting that “it doesn’t matter to us how good these kids are when they join, it is rather about the process of using creative means to induce self reflection and social interaction”.

Zaid, a Syrian refugee, opened the concert with a powerful solo interpretation using the Persian ney (an end-blown flute prominently used in Middle Eastern music), while 19-year-old Alaa' moved the audience with an a cappella song. 

They were followed by 19-year-old guitarist and singer Omar, from Iraq.

Started in 2010 in Jordan, TT “provides excluded youth with the means to voice their travesties and visions of a better tomorrow in a non-violent manner”, according to its founder.

“Through our various activities, we seek to create individual empowerment and raise collective awareness to instigate change in the community, allowing young people to express their grievances, hopes and dreams in music and film,” he explained, adding: “we strive to provide these youth with new skills and spaces to share their experiences in order to enhance their resilience and prevent negative coping mechanisms.”

The organisation has been working with young talents from Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Palestine, among other countries, mobilising them around a common goal to enhance their sense of belonging to the community.

Speaking at the event, French Ambassador to Jordan David Bertolotti praised a “great initiative” that “showed for once the bright side of the refugee crisis, where culture unites youth, whether from the local communities or from war-torn countries”.

"Turning Tables did a great job empowering those young and talented people: the show they produced was really moving," he told The Jordan Times.

The concert continued with a performance by Salateen Al Tarab, a Syrian troupe formed in Syria in 1992 and reunited in Jordan after the civil war began.

Playing in the authentic Shami dress composed of kanzab, shawl and turboch, the musicians seek to “give spectators a sense of the old, authentic Arabic character,” according to founder and manager of the group Mostafa Abdel Razzaq Al Saghir.

The band performs the Tarab of Aleppo and Almowashahat while also offering Egyptian, Iraqi, Jordanian and Lebanese Tarab. “We strive to preserve a heritage that has become too rare nowadays but still echoes in many people in our audience,” he said.

The concert also witnessed the recitation of a poem by Nizar Qabbani, noted Syrian poet and diplomat by EU Ambassador to Jordan Andrea Matteo Fontana.

The night also included the world premiere of Turning Tables' music video "A Better Tomorrow" produced in partnership with EUNIC and EU for the upcoming Brussels conference. 

“EUNIC Jordan, which is one of the 100 clusters of this global network, has truly established itself as of model of bringing European cultural policies to partner countries, helping the EU to reflect its cultural dimension in cooperation with countries like Jordan,” Laffia concluded, praising a “very successful initiative to convey the regional cultural angle to the upcoming conference”.

AMMAN — The Lower House on Tuesday recommended that the Social Security Corporation’s (SSC) investment fund abide by its bylaws and refer to the Chamber quarterly reports on its investment decisions.

Concluding a general session on Tuesday, the House also recommended that the SSC Investment Fund (SSIF) always coordinate with the corporation’s board of directors in taking its investment decisions.

MPs also recommended that the SSIF is provided with more qualified staff to enhance its investments.

The session, which was held upon the request of around 80 MPs, saw several lawmakers calling for more centralised work of the SSIF and that all its investments are approved by the SSC.

Some MPs called for giving the House more monitoring powers into the SSIF’s work and investments, while others claimed that the fund has incurred losses in some of its investments because they were not well-studied. 

Without giving names, Deputy Abdulkarim Dughmi accused external sides of having “omniscient authority” over the SSIF seeking “its bankruptcy”. 

The same remarks were echoed by MP Hazem Majali who claimed that the government has no authority over the appointment of the directors of the SSC and SSIF.

MP Khaled Fanatseh claimed that the government has borrowed JD4.5 billion from the SSIF’s JD9.2 billion reserves. He also charged that the fund has made no profits since ten years from JD300 million tourism investments it owns.

Deputy Mutaz Abu Rumman said that the fund’s revenues comes “mostly from buying treasury bonds”, expressing concern for the SSC turning into a lender for the government. 

For MP Tareq Khouri, the best way to inform the public about the actual value of the SSIF’s investments is to hire an international aditing company to check the fund’s files and come up with a “clear and concise” report about its operations.

To ensure transparency and integrity for the SSC’s work, MP Mesleh Tarawneh suggested that its future directors be appointed based on professionalism and not on “policy of appeasement” to former officials.   

AMMAN — HRH Princess Muna, patron for nursing and midwifery in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and president of the Jordan Nursing Council (JNC), on Tuesday attended the Health Policy Forum, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The forum, titled “investing in the Human Resources of Nursing”, marks the celebration of Jordan’s Nursing Day, Princess Muna’s birthday on April 25 and World Health Day.

Local, regional and global experts participated in the event, which saw the launch of a national campaign, dubbed “Nursing Now”, as part of the international campaign that was launched by the International Council of Nurses. 

In her speech at the forum, the princess said that, despite the fact that nurses are the largest segment among workers in the health sector, the nursing profession still faces challenges such as education, services and laws.

She raised questions over the impact of nurses on society the way decision makers respond to the domestic and international needs of nurses, and the best strategies to identify their role in dealing with health.

For his part, JNC Secretary General Mohammad Yousef Saleh said that nurses currently face more challenges than any other time before.

Saleh said that the forum is an opportunity for decision makers, health and nursing leaders, academics, and nursing students to discuss approaches used to support the sector and enhance its role. 

The princess also launched the action plan for mental health and substance abuse in 2018-2021, which aims to improve the mental health system with a focus on strategies to end society’s negative perception of mental health.

During the event, the Jordanian Nursing Council in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the WHO Country Office in Jordan celebrated the World Health Day 2018 which commemorates WHO 70th anniversary under the theme “Universal Health Coverage: Everyone, Everywhere” and the 40th anniversary of the Alma-Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care, which set the goal of “Health for All”.

The celebration strongly highlighted the need to strengthen the health system which is vital for sustainable improvement, protecting health, and achieving universal health coverage. Universal Health Coverage means ensuring access to quality health services without any financial hardship for “Everyone, Everywhere”.

The World Health Day 2018 called for pledging  commitment to “Health for All”, without discrimination; leaving no one behind to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

Specialised workshops and panel discussions on improving nurses’ work and enhancing their role in drafting health policies were scheduled during the two-day event.

AMMAN — Prices of gold at the local market increased by JD0.50 per gramme after levying a new tax on stamp, a sector leader said.

The government recently imposed a 16 per cent fees on the JD0.75 stamp for each gramme, which took effect on Sunday.

The hike was slowed down by the decline of the international price of gold ounce after the recent US strike against Syria were found to be less influential than economists’ expectations, Jordan Jewellers Association’s Secretary General Ribhy Allan told The Jordan Times on Tuesday.

Before the strike on Friday, the ounce price jumped to $1,365 while it plummeted down to $1,335 after the strike and currently settled at $1,345, according to the secretary. 

The price of 21-karat gold stood at JD28.3 per gramme on Monday, compared with JD72.8 last week, Allan noted, adding that for other karats, the price of 24-karat gold stood at JD33 per gramme, while 18-karat gold was worth JD25.2 per gramme.

The price of a Rashadi lira, weighing seven grammes, stood at JD195, while an English lira, which weighs eight grammes, is worth JD226, according to Allan.

The official said that the difference in prices will not be significant for people who buy gold for wedding dowries or as accessories; however, it will be for those buying large amounts for saving and investment.

In 2017, Jordanians bought 10 tonnes of gold with a value of around JD250 million, 60 per cent of which were for accessory purposes, and 40 per cent for saving and investment purposes, according to the association’s statistics.