Local

AMMAN — Jordan is committed to implementing the Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Project despite repeated Israeli signals that it was withdrawing from the regional scheme, a source said on Sunday.

"It is clear that Israel is no longer interested in the Red-Dead Project given repeated news reports casting doubt on its necessity, feasibility and agenda," the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Jordan Times.

The official warned that Israel's frequently suggested withdrawal from the project and deliberate creation of stumbling blocks to hold the project back can "only hurt regional stability".

"We are ready to press ahead with the project, but Israel has been repeatedly hindering it for some time, now and this is disrupting regional cooperation and undermining the slightest chances for peace in the Middle East," the source noted.

A recent opinion article in The Jerusalem Post suggested that the project had a partisan political agenda, questioning Israel's need for the project.

In the article, the writer said that since Israel had already built several desalination plants, and an additional one in Jordan was "unnecessary", stressing that, if Jordan wanted its own desalination plant, Israel "should not have to pay for it".

In November last year, Israeli media reports claimed that Israel had told Jordan that a joint agreement for the construction of a pipeline transferring water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea would not go ahead until Israel is allowed to reopen its embassy in Amman.

A senior government source contacted by The Jordan Times, however, said that Jordan would go ahead with the Red-Dead project “with or without Israel”.

Jordan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Israel and Palestine in December 2013 to implement the first phase of the Red-Dead project. Under the first phase, a total of 300 million cubic metres (mcm) of water would be pumped each year. Eventually, up to 2 billion cubic metres of seawater will be transferred from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea annually, according to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation.

A total of 85-100mcm of water will be desalinated every year, while the seawater will be pumped out from an intake located in the north of the Gulf of Aqaba.

In addition, a conveyor will be extended to transfer desalinated water and a pipeline will be installed to dump the brine into the Dead Sea in order to stop its constant decline, estimated at one metre every year.

The Kingdom will receive an additional 50mcm of water from the Lake Tiberias Reservoir annually to be added to its share from the desalination station to provide Aqaba with water, according to the ministry.

The Red-Dead project’s main components will include a seawater intake structure; an intake pump station; a seawater pipeline; a desalination plant with a capacity of 65-85mcm per year; a desalination brine conveyance pipeline; two lifting pump stations; hydropower plants; and discharge facilities at the Dead Sea.

Under the signed MoU, Palestine will receive 30mcm of freshwater to cover its water deficit, while Israel will buy its share of 50mcm of desalinated water from the project at cost value, and sell Jordan the same amount of water in the northern Jordan Valley at a cost of JD0.27 per cubic metre.

AMMAN — Agriculture Minister Khaled Hneifat has referred three employees to the attorney general for allegedly tampering with official papers, according to the investigation committee recommendations, which concluded that "three ministry officials were accused of tampering with official papers for personal benefit", the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Sunday.

According to the provisions of Article 149 of the Civil Service Law and its amendments, the minister decided to "suspend employees from February 11, and to pay their legal dues until the final judicial decision is issued".

AMMAN — Jordan has ranked first in the Middle East and North Africa in renewable and clean energy growth, according to a Bloomberg report.

The Kingdom also ranked third out of 71 countries worldwide, following China and Brazil, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Sunday.

During a meeting with the ministry staff, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Saleh Kharabsheh urged personnel to enhance their teamwork to sustain the achievements made in the field of energy, in line with Royal directives.

The minister highlighted His Majesty King Abdullah's directives since 1999 that have called for the increase of the Kingdom's dependence on wind and solar power and oil shale.

The report, which was based on growth in the market of renewable and clean energy in the Kingdom, and included policies and legislation related to investment, also analysed the achieved and expected volume of investment in the country and the impact of these investments on greenhouse gas and mitigating carbon emissions, Petra reported.

The ministry also realised the security of the oil derivatives supply by implementing projects to increase storage capacities of crude oil and derivatives in central Jordan and Aqaba, in addition to opening the oil market for more companies, said Shouroq Abulghani, the ministry's head of institutional development.

He added the ministry continues to cover remote areas and underprivileged families with electricity services funded by the rural fils revenues (a tax added to the electricity bill to help cover rural areas).

AMMAN — Plans are under way to revive the Jordan Gaming Taskforce and boost activities to increase the competitiveness of the Jordanian digital gaming sector, Nour Khrais, chairman of the Jordan Gaming Task Force, said on Sunday.

More than 50 per cent of apps and digital games developed in the Arab world are produced by Jordanian companies and developers, yet, there is no major positive impact in terms of revenues generated, Khrais told The Jordan Times, noting that a plan was in the pipeline to look into the situation.

“We plan to revive the taskforce and its activities to help startups and developers in the sector…We will also conduct a study on points of weakness and strength and assess what needs to be done to improve the situation,” he said, adding that the taskforce will be revived in collaboration with five of the most active digital gaming companies in the country.

According to Khrais, there are some 15 digital gaming companies as well as hundreds of indie-developers.

“Although Jordanian companies and developers in this area are ahead of others in terms of quality and quantity of apps produced, they are still not making money as they should,” he said.

More programmes and activities will be launched during the upcoming period to enhance the sector in line with an action plan that is being drafted with key players in the field.

The digital gaming sector, whose revenues exceeded $100 billion in 2017, is a promising field for startups in Jordan, according to Khrais, who said that the plan entails maximising the benefits of the sector’s startups and entrepreneurs.

“Jordan is a key player in the industry, but more efforts are needed to at least maintain the Kingdom’s ranking amidst competition,” he said.

Founded in 2011, the Jordan Gaming Taskforce is an open and independent coalition of Jordan’s premier gaming companies, according to its website. 

Operating under the umbrella of Information and Communication Technology Association of Jordan — Int@j, the Task Force’s objective is to advance Jordan’s gaming development capacity and help propel Jordanian gaming at a local, regional, and international level.

Various stakeholders have voiced their belief that Jordan stands a serious chance at becoming the Interactive Games Development capital of the Middle East, meaning original content meant for the local and global market would be generated in Jordan.

AMMAN — After a tragic car accident that left him deprived of his left arm, Abdo Naseif refused to surrender to the despair he initially felt. Forced to renounce his dream of travelling the world as a flight attendant, he turned back to his initial field of study: design. 

Despite studying interior design at Yarmouk University in Irbid and working for two years in design, Naseif had never thought he would end up actualising his passion for drawing and painting, which is currently on display at the One Hand Claps exhibition. 

“After my accident, I had to start adapting and designing new ways to perform my daily activities. When I first came home after 27 days in the hospital, I tried to plug my phone to the charger but I couldn’t do it with one hand as it would always slide away,” Naseif recalled.

“I was forced to readapt entirely to life and learn how to do the most basic things, which generated a lot of negative energy inside me. I quickly realised that all of this grief and anger would not only affect me but my surroundings too, so I convinced myself to find new techniques to develop positive thinking,” Naseif told The Jordan Times. 

The young man started jotting down lines, patterns and mixing colours on pages and canvases to express the conflicting feelings he experienced.

“I found my own way to put a deep meaning into each of my paintings, in order to deliver a positive message to all. I wanted to show people that no one should give up despite the challenges,” Naseif said, remembering how people started approaching him on social media.

“At first, I did not know those people were amputees as well, as they never posted pictures of themselves showing their disability. But, as they started seeing me uploading pictures in a tank top or wearing short sleeves, I was so happy to see that they, too, began to change their profile pictures and show their missing parts,” the artist stated, stressing that “we should not care about what people say or think. I know that this accident has not made me any different from them”.

In his bid to share hope and positivity, the 30-year-old also started uploading homemade videos on social media, in which he shows the tricks he developed to perform daily activities such as tying his shoes, clipping his nails or cleaning the house.

As part of its “Make A Wish” project, the Skyline Sushi restaurant granted Naseif the chance to hold his first ever art exhibition “to spread the spirit of hope and resilience for which he has been advocating”.

Standing in front of one of his paintings, the 30-year-old could not be more proud, voicing hope that his story will help inspire other amputees across the country and all over the world.

Inaugurated by HRH Princess Alia on Saturday, the exhibition features 21 works by the Jordanian artist, which will be on display through February 23 on the top floor of the Landmark Hotel.

“I realised that it is possible to deliver positive messages to the world not only through written words but also through drawing lines and colours,” Naseif recalled, noting that he hopes to spread a chain of hope among his peers.

Acknowledging the luck he has had to benefit from this project, Naseif decided to donate 15 per cent of the proceeds from the sale of his paintings to help make another person with disability’s dream come true. 

“Last summer, I was signed as an ambassador for people with disabilities for the Waragami company, through which I conduct workshops to teach disabled people how to do origami and manual work,” Naseif explained, saying that he feels a “responsibility” to help others going through the same hardship.

AMMAN — With the aim of exploring Roman military posts, the Udhruh Archaeological Project was initiated by the Petra College for Tourism and Archaeology (PCTA) of Al Hussein Bin Talal University in Wadi Musa, and three seasons of excavations were conducted in 2008, 2009 and 2011 by the PCTA, according to a Dutch scholar.

In the meantime, Dutch researchers became interested in the project when Dean of PCAT Fawzi Abudanah gave a presentation at a conference in Amsterdam in 2008, so PCAT and the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University teamed up, said Mark Driessen from Leiden University, who is co-director of the project with Abudanah..

“I knew Fawzi Abudanah from several international congresses, and during one of those events we talked about a possibility of a joint venture project related to Udhruh and its Roman legionary fortress,” said Driessen.

They discussed the possibilities with colleagues (former deans of the PCTA and Faculty of Archaeology from Leiden University Saad Twaissi and Willem Willems) and other stakeholders (former director general of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan Ziad Al Saad), Driessen noted.

The village of Udhruh, east of Petra, was an almost forgotten archaeological site until Abudanah drew attention to it again with his large scale surveys in the early 2000s, the Dutch archaeologist continued, adding that “earlier explorations — already form the 19th century — and excavations in the 80s revealed that Udhruh housed an important Nabataean settlement and a Roman legionary fortress”.

Moreover, the current village of Udhruh is dominated by and centred around the still standing remains of this fort, which was transformed into a town in post-Roman times, Driessen said, noting that classical literary and archaeological sources point to a long-term development from Nabataean till Islamic times. 

“The surrounding landscape of Udhruh, with a diversity of surviving archaeological remains, can provide pivotal information to unravel the complex cultural, socioeconomic and religious transformation processes of the region,” he emphasised, adding that the archaeological variety and perfect preservation of this region were, in combination with the intriguing site itself, “essential criteria for starting a joint archaeological project between Leiden University and Al Hussein Bin Talal University in 2011”.

The Udhruh Archaeological Project started with a field-survey programme, small-scale excavations, diverse GIS-related and subsurface-detection techniques, underlined Driessen, who received his PhD from the University of Amsterdam.

 “This was carried out with the aim to map and interpret the still visible and standing archaeological remains and to reconstruct the geomorphology of a 48sq.kilometres landscape in the Udhruh region,” he explained.

"Five years of field work revealed an actively exploited region with impressive and ingenious antique investments in agro-hydrological intensification, building material procurement, communication and security networks, military dominion and settlement development,” he added.

Especially the first: The methods of agriculture and the different means of water management employed in antiquity are "thrilling" and show that the people who lived here could have turned the steppe under semi-arid conditions — comparable with the current time — into a "green oasis", Driessen elaborated.

In 2016 and 2017, scholars started making 3D-models of the remains of the Roman fort and Byzantine-Islamic town of Udhruh by means of photogrammetry and 3D-scanning with a Leica P30 Laser scan, he said.

“With this we want to make 3D-models, which we can use for academic purposes, and which we would eventually like to convert into apps for smartphones and tablets whereby future tourists can experience the grandeur of these antique settlements standing on-site [or off-site] with their tablets/phones,” Driessen said, adding that the local community can hopefully benefit from this. 

“We also started an oral history project together with our archaeological research as oral history provides information which is complementary to information obtained through archaeological research,” the archaeologist explained.

It also gives information about historical events, stories and myths related to the local communities, and this heritage has been passed orally from generation to generation, he highlighted, stressing the negative impact of urban migration and modernisation on oral legacies which fall “into oblivion”.

“We would like eventually — if we have the required funds for this — to publish collected narratives by a local printing company in both Arabic as in English,” Driessen said, adding that the future booklet would be distributed as a present to all local families and/or households as well as professionals and visitors.

“What the preliminary results up till now can show us is that the people in antiquity were employing a very sustainable approach to water management. I think that in close cooperation with different stakeholders and in an interdisciplinary research, we might be able to unravel these systems,” the scholar said.

“And I think these might give us insights for future solutions for agriculture and water, as we all know not only Jordan has problems with droughts, and access to fresh water is one of the greatest global challenges of the 21st century," Driessen concluded. 

AMMAN — In rejection of the government's tax policies, citizens and traders in northern and southern districts said they are waging boycott campaigns of the commodities whose prices have been raised.

Citing keenness towards citizens' interests, traders in Karak's Al Qasr District issued a joint statement saying they have embarked on a boycott campaign of commodities experiencing a respective increase in prices, especially dairy products and soda drinks. 

In their statement, a copy of which was sent to The Jordan Times, traders said that their move aimed at pressing companies to cancel the price hikes of these products.

Signatories of the statement said that the approach of the government's price hikes, which has added more pressure on the "already-burdened citizens", was the main motive behind their move.

Karak's Al Qasr District, with a population of around 22,000 people, includes seven villages: Al Rabbah, Asmakiyeh, Al Yarout, Damneh, Shihan, Al Rawdah and Al Rashadiyeh.

Last weekend, Karak, located 140km south of Amman, witnessed protests over the price hikes, some of which turned into small-scale riots that required security forces' intervention.

Residents of Irbid's Al Taybeh District also said they have begun a boycott campaign against the price hike of commodities. 

Organisers of the campaign said that residents of the district's six villages are gradually moving from "pseudo-boycotters" to fully fledged ones of all commodities that saw an increase in prices.

"Our campaign was launched a week ago and it has been gaining considerable support by consumers and traders," one of the organisers previously told The Jordan Times.

Requesting anonymity, the organiser said that the campaign has been launched on Facebook, where residents of the district were called upon to shy away from buying all products whose prices have been raised, "primarily soda drinks and dairy products".

"Shop owners were very cooperative. They stopped buying in bulk all products that experienced price hikes under the government's recent decision."

The northern district of Taybeh in Irbid, some 90km north of Amman, combines the villages Samma, Deir El Seaneh, Makhraba, Mandah, Zabdah and Ibsar Abu Ali with a population of around 52,000. 

AMMAN — The Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (JEDCO) on Tuesday issued a study recommending entrepreneurs analyse their projects “thoroughly” prior to execution, and calling on the public and private sectors to grant exemptions and tax incentives to those pursuing a business in the early years of the project  in order to avoid failure. 

The recommendations came after Jordan was found to be the 16th country worldwide and the 4th in the Arab region in business interruption among a total of 65 surveyed countries, followed by Morocco, Egypt and Lebanon. 

Around 55.4 per cent of former entrepreneurs whose businesses have failed in Jordan attributed the cessation to the lack of profits, while 16 per cent blamed it on the difficulties of obtaining funding, and 7.2 per cent on government policies. 

“A large percentage of the non-success cases are based on the lack of profit, coupled with the issue of financing,” economist Wajdi Makhamreh told The Jordan Times, pointing out that “in order to stop this cycle, there must be more financial support programmes for emerging businesses”. 

In light of the results, the report stressed the need to “increase awareness on the importance of entrepreneurship in order to avoid failure in project management”, recommending the development of practical courses aimed at introducing the concept of entrepreneurship in both primary and higher education.

In addition, the study called for the activation of the role of the private sector and its partnership with governmental agencies in order to “encourage entrepreneurs to continue to lead, to help them find suitable financing for their projects, and to increase the grants and support for new ideas”.

In this regard, the report urged the public and private sectors to provide financial and technical support programmes for the evolution of entrepreneurial projects into their medium enterprise phase, pointing out the need to encourage new companies to “diversify their products to increase their competitiveness with the existing companies and their export capacity”.

“Creating centres focused on the development of business leadership in both schools and universities is essential,” Makhamreh said, noting that “many projects fail due to the lack of enough education background on how to do business”.

Regarding the results per governorate, the report stressed the need to strengthen governmental support in rural areas in order to increase their employment rate, pointing out that “the levels of interruption of work exceeded those of entrepreneurship in the governorates of Mafraq, Madaba and Tafileh”. 

“There is a huge deficit in the support that the government is providing to projects based in the most underprivileged areas, which turns into less employment opportunities and increased unemployment rates,” Makhamreh said when asked about the issue. 

The study comes in line with a previous report issued by JEDCO, which called for increasing support of the business culture among Jordanian women and recommended the development of programmes aimed at enhancing their confidence in order to become entrepreneurs.

The lack of guaranteed access to financial resources was the reason for most of the surveyed women behind not starting a business, according to the study, while 42 per cent reported fear of failure as the main reason preventing them from pursuing business. 

AMMAN — The members of an independent network of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) operating in Jordan this week started meeting with civil society representatives to prepare for the upcoming Brussels conference.

Formally established in 2014, the Jordan INGO Forum (JIF) regroups 61 INGOs working in the field of development and humanitarian programmes to respond to the needs of vulnerable communities in Jordan, according to JIF advocacy coordinator Mathilde Vu.

"In countries where there is a large concentration of NGOs due to humanitarian crises or other events, creating a network to federate all these entities becomes essential,” Vu told The Jordan Times, adding “we are completely neutral and detached from any political institutions, which allows us a great freedom of speech and communication”.

Through regular meetings and workshops held to facilitate exchange and resource-sharing between its 61 members, JIF provides a joint platform to help INGOs efficiently address issues of common interest. 

“Most of these organisations have common stances towards major issues, therefore, by coming together, it becomes easier to defend those positions or at least to have them heard at the higher levels,” Vu explained, highlighting the publication of an annual report outlining those positions.

In addition to the annual report, JIF also produces regular research on several issues, most especially some which tend to be overlooked by other agencies. 

These include, for instance, a recent report by Terre des Hommes, a Swiss child relief agency, on barbering workshops to empower juvenile youth in detention centres and an article on a Syrian youth with visual impairment who used photography to regain hope.

“By publishing such research, we shed light on issues that affect vulnerable communities living in Jordan and that are important to our members,” said Yannick Martin, JIF coordinator, stressing that JIF ensures an “effective and transparent” sharing of information both internally and externally.

The network also serves as an advocacy tool for these INGOs, who see their interests being defended at a global level, like the Brussels Conference.

“All our members have an equal voice, irrespective of the size of their organisation or the funding they receive. All of them have something relevant to contribute based on their expertise and field work,” Martin explained.

For Nasuh Majali, liaison adviser for Humanity & Inclusion — formerly Handicap International — "being a JIF member offers opportunities to meet INGO counterparts to share our views and challenges on humanitarian and development operations in Jordan. It enables us to jointly raise our voice on identified concerns and to spread lessons learnt among key stakeholders in order to enhance the impact of our actions for the populations we serve”.

Nivedita Monga, Oxfam country director in Jordan, said: “Working with JIF allows us to coordinate with other actors and share information on what works. This means that we and our local partners can better deliver to those who need the help most, which are not just Syrian refugees, but also Jordanian communities hosting them."

“INGOs are used to coordinate their programmes with each other, to ensure complementarity and avoid duplication. JIF gives them a sort of peer-to-peer platform, where lessons are learnt and good practices are shared, and where they work collectively on improving the response delivered to people in need,” Vu concluded.

AMMAN — Concerned security agencies on Saturday were examining parts of a "military object" that fell in an uninhabited area in Malka town in Irbid (near the Syrian-Israeli borders), according to a security source.

The source added that there were no casualties as a result of the incident, noting that the concerned agencies were still dealing with the military object to determine its type and source.

Photos shared by JT readers show remains of a military projectile, widely believed to be linked to the showdown between Israel and Syria and Iran, which saw the former attack Syrian military sites after claims of downing Iranian drone that allegedly crossed the border into Israel.   

An Israeli fighter jet crashed under fire from Syrian air defences, which prompted Israel to unleash a dozen retaliatory strikes on both Syrian and Iranian targets inside Syria, Agence France-Presse reported.