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BAPTISM SITE — The chimes of church bells and unusually warm weather formed a fitting backdrop as thousands of faithful converged on the Baptism Site to celebrate Epiphany on Friday.

Epiphany marks the revelation of Jesus Christ as the son of God through his Baptism and the beginning of his public ministry, according to Christian beliefs.

During a press conference prior to the mass, Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa hailed His Majesty King Abdullah’s efforts to safeguard Jerusalem in his role as the Custodian of Muslim and Christian shrines in the holy city thanking the King for his support for Christians in Jordan and Palestine.

The archbishop reiterated the church’s view on Jerusalem as “mother of all” stressing the need for Palestinians and Israelis to reach an agreement without unilateral measures.

Also during the press meet, Tourism Minister Lina Annab conveyed Prime Minister Hani Mulki’s greetings to the pilgrims.

Lead by scouts and guides band, a procession of clergy slowly advanced to the Church of the Baptism of Jesus Christ, where, according to official figures, over 6,000 people assembled to mark the religious feast.

Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa celebrated the mass attended by Annab and senior officials. Hymns and incense permeated the air as the service progressed with the epiphany ceremony of sprinkling water and prayers for Jordan and its leadership. 

‘A blessed day’

As the mass continued in the packed church, many were left outside waiting patiently to visit the bank of the Jordan River. 

For Najham Masadeh, who came to the ceremony with family members from Karak, the solemn occasion was a time “to say a prayer for our security forces who keep our country safe”.

Visiting the site for the first time, German Mideast studies student Liana, studying Arabic in Jordan, said “the gracious occasion was half spiritual and half educational” for her.

“It’s a joyful and blessed day” for Filipino Sharon Sto Domingo and her friends working in Jordan. “We will go to the river and take water home in bottles, and also take photos for our family members back home.”

Armenian Jordanian Hagop Adranik said the occasion was a chance “to recharge spiritually” while his daughter Elisa was “proud” to see thousands from all over the world visiting the Kingdom and its holy sites.

Hailing from Iraq, Massoud Matti Yaku said though the ceremonies and rituals were almost the same back home, the safety and security of the Kingdom makes it a “stand out”.

During the ceremony, scouts and guides were available to lend a helping hand to pilgrims. “We had a nice day and we assisted a lot of pilgrims,” guide Maya Gassan said. The group is our second family, and it boosts our confidence,” the 12-year-old girl said.

Speaking to The Jordan Times after the event, Minister Annab commended the “huge turnout for the marvellous occasion”.

“The celebration at the site is gaining prominence as one of Christianity’s most important sites in the world. As the Kingdom is an amalgam of Muslims and Christians living together, it’s normal for us to celebrate each other’s occasions. But it sends a message to the world that Jordan is not only a place of interfaith harmony, but also a safe refuge to guests who fled difficulties in their home countries.” 

Director General of the Catholic Centre for Studies and Media Father Rifat Bader noted that this year’s Epiphany celebration was “special” as His Majesty had met with church leaders at the Baptism Site a few weeks earlier.

“We prayed for the preservation of the status quo in Jerusalem and for the Hashemite Custodianship of the holy city,” Bader said after the mass.

Bader commended the “unique” Jordanian tradition of marking the feast.

“Since 2000, we have been celebrating the Epiphany here at the site. Every second Friday in January is allocated for the Catholic churches and third Friday for the Orthodox churches. [Though departing from the church calendar], we need a Friday,  so that people can enjoy the occasion.”

Bader also had a word of thanks for the support of government and security forces.

“Without brotherhood and security prevailing in Jordan this would not have happened.”

AQABA — Raya and her sister Sumaya were pouring water at each other’s heads on a beach in Aqaba on an unusually warm January when their mother rushed to the water and snatched them as a speedboat approached the shoreline.

The two girls mumbled their rejection to their worried mother and ran back to their floating pink buckets. They continued splashing as they were almost crammed between parked motorboat and pedal boat.

Their mother sat on the beach and watched nervously.

“I am worried that one of the boats would bump into them as it parks or leaves the shore, it could happen you know.., everywhere I look, there are boats either parked, leaving the beach or cruising nearby,” Siham, the young mother of the two girls, said.

A few metres away was another family sitting on the beach. The mother and father stood by their children as they played in the shallow water.

“The beach is busy today because it is the weekend and the weather is pleasant. You need to be extra vigilant with children playing in the water as the boats are coming and leaving,” Fouad Abu Sneneh, a father of three children aged between nine and six-months, said.

The Aqaba resident said that he takes his family to the beach almost every Friday noon when the weather is warm.

“There’s not much things to do for fun around here, the beach is our only getaway. My wife and I take the children to play at public beaches,” Abu Sneneh said as he stood watching his children playing on the popular Palm Public Beach, locally referred to as the Ghandour beach.

The “uncontrolled movement of pedal, glass and speed boats”, is not the only concern for beach goers of the Ghandour beach, according to Rania Msallam, a resident of Aqaba.

“The sand of the beach can be really dirty…, there are broken glass, cigarette butts, water bottles and plastic cups here and there, let alone, the dirty and primitive toilets,” Msallam complained.

The mother of five said that her family “cannot afford private beaches, where services and cleanliness are much better,” leaving public beaches as their only choice.

“I wish that the public beaches be improved and more regulated,” she said.

Civil society institutions and NGOs in Aqaba, Jordan’s sole seafront, have been rallying local support for a year now for improving the safety conditions and quality of services at Aqaba’s public beaches.

Eighteen civil societies, NGOs and institutions formed an alliance to advocate for better public beaches and push the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) to qualify one of the public beaches to hold the blue flag, a voluntary eco-label that indicates a certain beach or marina is clean, accessible and has high safety standards.

The campaign “Right to Safety on Beaches” argues that everyone has the right for highest levels of safety on public beaches, urging ASEZA to “build on its achievements in improving the state of the Ghandour public beach by providing basic safety requirements”.

The campaign urged ASEZA to deploy lifeguards at the Ghandour beach and to divide the beach into dedicated zones for swimming, fishing, glass boats, speedboats and water sports.

It is also urging ASEZA to provide permanent first aid units, erect “clear and sufficient” warning and instruction signs, establish sufficient and “fit for use” public toilets and matt the beach to provide people with disabilities with a path to reach the water.

Ehab Eid, executive director of the Royal Marine Conservation Society (JREDS), called on ASEZA to work for announcing at least one of Aqaba’s three public beaches as a “blue flag public beach”.

“Our claim to consider the implementation of the blue flag programme at Aqaba’s public and private beaches is based on various reasons, including but not limited to the contribution of this programme to economic growth.”

Eid indicated that Jordan’s National Green Growth Plan identified blue flag beaches as an investment opportunity in the tourism sector.

“We are also pushing for having a blue flag beach for its role in creating a suitable environment for beach visitors due to the safety criteria the world-renowned programme necessitates as well as the benefits it secures for marine environment conservation,” Eid told The Jordan Times.

JREDS, one of the NGOs advocating for safety on public beaches under the “Right to Safety on Beaches” campaign, offered ASEZA its expertise in the field.

Eid expressed JREDS’ keenness to offer its capacities, knowledge and expertise in promoting sustainable development in Aqaba, and to work hand-in-hand with ASEZA.

“We urge ASEZA to unlock the doors and initiate a dialogue to benefit from the benefits of the blue flag programme and achieve sustainable growth in Aqaba,” Eid told The Jordan Times.

ASEZA Environment Commissioner Suleiman Najadat underlined that the authority has created recently a specialised unit dedicated for the management of Aqaba’s beaches.

“We drew up a plan that regulates the usage of the beaches, whereas the beach has been divided into zones for different uses to provide safety for beach goers. Now, to soundly implement this, we need the cooperation of owners of boats to ensure the safety of swimmers and beach visitors,” Najadat told The Jordan Times.

The ASEZA official also highlighted that beach goers should assume responsibility to avoid accidents while on the beach, inviting them to strict swimming activities to the part of the sea lined with floating yellow plastic balls.

Commenting on the campaign’s calls for deploying lifeguards on Ghandour public beach for a starter, Najadat said that the authority has erected several signs and warnings, noting that visitors of public beaches “swim at their own peril”.

“We are applying all safety requirements and services necessitated by the blue flag programme without having to announce a certain public beach as a blue flag beach,” he said.

Najadat highlighted that ASEZA is in the process of establishing a marina for fishermen and all types of boats, highlighting that the presence of boats on public beaches will be prohibited in the future when the project is completed.

Meanwhile, director of Operations and Logistics Support at the Ghandour beach, Khaled Adaileh, said that an ambulance from the Civil Defence Department is now stationed by the beach during weekends when the number of visitors increase.

“No drownings nor injuries took place at the Ghandour beach in the past six months,” he said.

But the campaign demands the unit to be stationed daily.

“Injuries and drowning cases don’t only happen at weekends and public holidays. A lifeguard and a permanent first aid unit are basic requirements for a busy and popular public beach such as the Ghandour, which is located in the heart of Aqaba,”Ebtihal Tarawneh, Outreach and Advocacy Programme Manager at JREDS, said.

On the right of people with disabilities to easily access the beach, Adaileh said that work is now in progress to establish a path that takes people with disabilities to the sea without the help of anyone.

The official said that to improve and sustain the level of services at public beaches, people need to cooperate and civil societies need to help in building awareness, noting that the beach’s infrastructure is often sabotaged by some beach visitors.

On deploying lifeguards, Adaileh said that he is against the suggestion.

“We have employees who observe practices at the beach, at the same time people also should abide by beach safety instructions,” Adaileh said.

As another day on the beach came to a close, Siham, the mother of Raya and Sumaya, hoped for a beach experience devoid of constant safety concern.

AMMAN — Scores of people marched in downtown Amman on Friday in protest against US President Donald Trump’s decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem and recognise it as the capital of Israel. 

Participants attended Friday sermon at Al Husseini Mosque and performed noon prayer ahead of the demonstration. 

Waving the flags of Jordan and Palestine and holding banners in solidarity with Jerusalem, the protesters chanted anti-US slogans. 

Murad Adailah, of the Islamic Movement, said that the continued protests highlight Jordanians’ constant support to Palestine. 

“Jerusalem is simply the capital of Palestine. We do not accept the pressures on Jordan to make it abandon its political decision to oppose this flagarant move,” he said as he marched with protesters. 

Adailah noted that they wanted to remind the world that Jerusalem is “not for sale” and no honourable Arab can accept “trading of the holy city on political table”. 

Hamzah Dabbas, another protester, said “Arabs will never abandon Jerusalem and this is the first and last capital of all Muslims and Palestinians”.

AMMAN — Pushed by a number of local and regional political and economic upheavals during last year, 2017 saw an increased political activism and boycott movements, raising social, political, and economic awareness among Jordanians.

Thirty-eight days after the US’ decision to move its diplomatic HQ from Tel Aviv to occupied Jerusalem, Jordanians are still taking to the streets to express their rejection of  the decision, with activists and citizens protesting in front of the US embassy in Amman turning into a “regular fixture”.

Mohammad Absi, head of “Etharrak” anti-normalisation campaign and member of Al Wihda Popular Party, said 2017 was eventful as political activists in Jordan stood in solidarity with activists in neighbouring countries and supported their movements.

“The year [2017] started with the solidarity move with the hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails when many Jordanians took a stand and opposed the mistreatment of Palestinians and Jordanians in Israeli prisons,” Absi said in remarks to The Jordan Times.

“A solidarity assembly was organised for more than a month earlier last year with many activists and political parties representatives  coming together to show solidarity with the Palestinians who suffer on a daily basis in Israeli prisons.”

Although boycotts  are the “most challenging” when it comes to political movements, Etharrak campaign had “one of its most fruitful years”, he said.

In June, he said, the campaign contributed to stopping the screening of the “Wonder Woman” film in Jordanian cinemas as it starred Gal Gadot. As the actress was enlisted in the Israeli army for two years after high school, political activists, boycott movements and political parties called for banning the screening of the movie in Jordan. 

The movie was banned from screening in several Arab countries in a statement against the “normalisation of ties with Israel”, including in Lebanon, Tunisia, and Algeria. “That was among the major accomplishments of 2017,” he said.

Jumana Ismail, founding member of the Jordan BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement), said the boycott culture gained more momentum and popularity in 2017, adding that a key mission of the BDS is to instill the “culture of boycotting” among school and university students.

After celebrating three years of its launch, Ismail said that “the Jordan BDS is currently working towards raising social awareness among individuals and the younger generation of Jordan, despite the changes in the curricula after the peace treaty [with Israel] and changes on the local and international levels”.

Jordan BDS is now a partner with 103 organisations that believe in the culture of boycott and its importance, Ismail said, adding that Jordan BDS succeeded in reaching 11 local companies to end their cooperation with G4S Security Company that serviced the separation wall in occupied Palestine and trained Israeli soldiers in occupied Jerusalem. 

Omar Awad, member of the Jordanian Communist Party, said the highlight of political movements in 2017 was the decision of US President Donald Trump to move the US embassy to Jerusalem and to recognise the occupied city as the capital of Israel. 

He said the political activists considered the move as an “aggression on the Palestinian and Jordanian territorial integrity”.

The attack on the two Jordanian citizens in the building that belonged to the Israeli embassy in Amman in July also affected the way Jordanians view Zionist policies carried out in the occupied land, Awwad said.

“What made people more furious was the Israeli government’s reaction and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu receiving the murderer as a hero, which also emphasised the notion that the Israeli occupation does not have respect towards international and regional agreements and peace treaties,” he told The Jordan Times.

“The gas deal with the Israeli government, the Israeli embassy incident and Trump’s Jerusalem move should all be used as tools to pressure both Israel and the US for their disrespect of the international law,” he said.

“As Jordanian activists, we were more assertive than ever that we [Jordan] needed to revise our foreign policy.”

“The incidents that occurred this year on the local, regional, and international levels emphasise one thing: It is about time we widen our horizons and welcome new allies on the regional level,” Awwad noted.

“Boycott movements only mean that there is an overall social disapproval among the people... disapproval of the foreign policies that normalise ties with Israel,” he added.

There was an “improved cohesive performance of Jordanian parties and more cooperation on all levels” through conferences fighting social discrimination and fighting normalisation with the Zionists”.

Political activist Hanadi Dweik of the Nationalist Movement Party (Al Haraka Al Qawmiyyah) said 2017 saw more youngsters taking part in protests to demand rights and boycott of Israeli products.

“We noticed there is a positive trend among the youth this year [2017]. Even those with no political backgrounds took to the streets and participated in protests, because they felt there is a threat to sacredness of the occupied city of Jerusalem,” Dweik said.

“People are more aware about the boycott movements because they understand any decision regarding Palestine from the West will be contributing to the compromise of Jordan and its people.” 

Dweik told The Jordan Times that activists must also demand more changes on the school and university curricula to include more lessons on the history of the Levant, in order to understand the present day political events.

“It is when we understand the history of Jordan, Palestine and the Levant; its culture and heritage, we can defend, resist the occupation, protest and boycott Zionist produce and any agreements signed with the Israeli government,” the activist said.

From an Islamist bloc, an activist, who preferred anonymity, stressed the importance of taking protests to the streets and expressing solidarity with Palestinians and Jerusalemites. 

This year, he said the boycott campaigns will work more on strengthening field work and fill the gaps present. 

‘United we stand’

Absi added that the 2018 budget approved by the government will “spark more discussions and demands from the political activists”, in addition to the gas deal, which is still on the table, he said.

“The 2018 budget targets Jordanians from all social classes as it will affect all families and is unjust,” the activist added. 

Activists agreed on the need for more cooperation and discussions on the 2018 budget.

Ibrahim Taleb, an activist, said the performance of Parliament over the past year “did not reach the minimum effort expected”, adding that the “younger generation became more familiar with the Palestinian cause, despite international efforts to normalise with Israel”.

“No matter what the world will say, I think we proved to everyone this year that we will stand united always and resist apartheid systems,” the 23-year-old said.

AMMAN — The Agriculture Ministry on Saturday refuted reports that it has directed farmers to double their produce of tomatoes after the reopening of Turaibil border crossing with Iraq, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

In a statement carried by Petra, the ministry said that after the closure of the borders, Iraq found other markets and it will take time to resume certain Jordanian produce imports such as tomatoes.

The ministry stressed that it is following up on the drop of prices of tomatoes in Jordan that resulted from “large supply and low demand”.  

The ministry said that it exerts numerous efforts to protect farmers and stakeholders and implements projects worth millions to help farmers and improve their produce. 

The government has allocated JD20 million as interest-free loans for farmers through the Agriculture Credit Fund.

The ministry said it is in contact with farmers through media outlets and agricultural associations to provide them with advise and technical opinion on produce, according to the statement.

The ministry called on farmers to plant potatoes, onions, garlic, carrot and citrus, noting that imports of potatoes dropped from 10,500 tonnes in 2016 to 1,600 tonnes in 2017. 

For onions, the imports dropped from 25,000 tonnes in 2016 to 5,000 tonnes last year. Also Jordan imported 4,100 tonnes of dates in 2016 while it imported 3,400 tonnes last year.

The ministry also said that it also resumed work on a project to dry tomatoes which began in 2015. The project will be administered by the Farmers Union.

Another factory for drying tomatoes will be built in Mafraq by the end of this year, said the statement.     

AMMAN — The Health Ministry has begun a campaign on licensed restaurants and cafes to ensure their commitment to the regulations of serving argileh (water pipe), an official said on Saturday.

Regulations released in April 2014, stipulate that facilities can either stop serving food to be allowed to continue serving argileh, or stop serving argileh and only serve food. Under a third option, cafés should designate two separate areas, one to serve food and the other to serve argileh, the official said.

The regulation also bans serving argileh to minors, Health Ministry Spokesperson Hatem Azrui told The Jordan Times. 

The government has granted a grace period to facilities, which were not able to meet the requirements, to rectify their status till December 31, 2017, Azrui said.

The campaigns have started as of January 1, 2018, and any violating restaurant or cafe will be subject to penalties that range between three to six months imprisonment and a fine of no less than JD3,000 and no more than JD6,000, under the Public Health Law 47/2008. The health minister has also the authority to close the facility, according to Azrui.

According to the law, smoking is prohibited in hospitals, healthcare centres, schools, cinemas, theatres, libraries, museums, public and non-governmental buildings, public transport vehicles, airports, closed playgrounds, lecture halls and any other location as determined by the health minister.   

 The campaign comes as part of Jordan’s endeavours to combat tobacco, said the official, adding that the Kingdom was one the first countries in the regions to join the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

According to Feras Hawari, director of the cancer control office at the King Hussein Cancer Centre, a single session of argileh smoking can be as damaging to health as smoking between 3 and 10 packets of cigarettes.

Coal, used to heat the argileh, is “extremely toxic” and releases up to 100 parts per million carbon monoxide emissions, the physician told The Jordan Times in previous remarks, adding that such emissions could cause asphyxiation among smokers as well as affecting passive smokers.

AMMAN — The Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD) on Wednesday published “Legal Information for the Worker and the Employer”, an electronic guide on the Jordanian labour legal framework aimed at promoting awareness in matters related to the Labour Law.

The document, prepared in collaboration with the Jordan Labour Watch at the Phenix Centre, provides the readers with an overview about the rights of the employee, with a compilation of over 140 legal consultations divided into a total of 22 sections classified according to the subject and the nature of the questions raised in the consultation. 

“The guide is based on the assistance provided by the ARDD over the past year, which amounts to over 245 legal consultations on the Labour Law in response to queries received through the Jordan Labour Watch´s official website,” ARDD co-founder and CEO Samar Muhareb told The Jordan Times in a recent interview.

Low wages, contracts terminated without notice or compensation, gender-based violence (GBV) in the workplace, harassment and refugees being subject to exploitation are the most “urgent” issues to be addressed, according to Muhareb. 

Only a 26.5 per cent of the queries received by the organisations were sent by women, which Muhareb attributed to “the fact that Jordan has one of the smallest percentages of female participation in the labour market worldwide”.

“In addition, women are generally more hesitant when it comes to complaining because they fear that starting legal action will end up consuming their resources,” the CEO continued, pointing out that “many women prefer to minimise their exposure when it comes to issues at work to prevent their families from making them stop working”.

When asked about the objective of the guide, Muhareb explained that the ARDD’s objective was “to enable an environment that allows workers from all nationalities to participate safely in the Jordanian labour market,” adding that the guide will “inform the concerned stakeholders and help workers to abide by the current regulations”.

 In addition, the lawyer stressed the “urgent” need for such guides to assist workers on legalising their situation, expressing her condolences for a migrant worker who passed away last week “while trying to escape after being prosecuted by the Ministry of Labour”.

“This is why we want to remind all workers that it is possible to ensure your legal presence as a worker, that it is possible to abide by the law, and that many private sector [institutions] are now investing and creating opportunities,” Muhareb said, expressing that “all together, we can change this situation”.

“This document is very necessary because workers in Jordan do not know about their rights,” director of the Phenix Centre Ahmad Awad told The Jordan Times, noting that “there is a dire need to increase awareness, considering that an approximate 95 per cent of the workers are not registered with trade unions”. 

“Even when they are registered with them [trade unions], they do not really function in a real democratic way, and most of them are just about bureaucracy,” Awad continued, concluding that “someone has to tell the workers about their rights”. 

AMMAN — Police are investigating a traffic accident that resulted in the death of a trailer driver during a reported chase by a Jordan Customs Department (JCD) patrol while driving in the opposite direction on the Aqaba Highway over the weekend, official sources said.

The driver of the trailer allegedly evaded a routine customs point by driving in the opposite direction of the four-lane highway on Friday, a senior JCD official said.

“A customs patrol chased the trailer for a couple of minutes and it slammed head on into an oncoming tipper,” the JCD official told The Jordan Times.

The driver of the trailer died instantly, the JCD official added, while the driver of the tipper was rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition.

The driver of the tipper was admitted to the intensive care unit and was released to a room on Saturday but his situation remains critical, according to the JCD official.

 “We are looking for answers since nothing illegal was found in the possession of the deceased driver or in his trailer,” the JCD official said.

A video of the alleged chase went viral and showed a car with flashing lights chasing a trailer.  By the end of the almost one-minute video clip, the trailer could be seeing veering to the left and slamming head on with the tipper.

Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi told The Jordan Times that investigations are ongoing.

“We are currently investigating the incident and once the investigation is over we will refer the case to the judiciary,” the police official said.

AMMAN — Minister of State for Investment Affairs Muhannad Shehadeh on Saturday paid a visit to Huawei Jordan, where he was briefed on the services and products the Chinese communications giant offers, including the training of Jordanian engineers and technicians, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

He met with top executives who gave presentations outlining the needs of the company as a key foreign investor and plans to support the ITC sector in the Kingdom.

Huawei, which has been active in Jordan for more than a decade, has launched ICT Capabilities Centres in Amman, which includes a Regional Network Optimisation Centre and a Local ICT Training Centre. 

AMMAN — Jordan chambers of commerce and industry are scheduled to organise the Jordanian-Algerian business forum on Tuesday in Algiers, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The forum aims to discuss means of enhancing economic relations between the two countries and increasing mutual trade. It will be held on the sidelines of the 8th meeting of Jordanian-Algerian committee in the Algerian capital between Monday and Wednesday.