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AMMAN — Tens of people on Wednesday held a protest next to the American embassy in Amman to denounce US President Donald Trump’s decisions to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and to relocate its embassy to the holy city.

Amid heavy security presence, the demonstrators shouted slogans denouncing the US decisions and calling for the closure of the Israeli and American embassies in Amman, as well as the summoning of Jordanian ambassadors to the US and Israel.

“Resistance is not terrorism. Resistance is the solution,” shouted the men and women standing near the US embassy in Abdoun in western Amman, while waving Jordanian, Palestinian and Muslim Brotherhood flags.

The demonstrators also shouted: “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine”, “America is the root of terrorism in the world” and “the road to Jerusalem starts with millions of martyrs”, while other slogans called for annuling the Jordanian-Israeli 1994 Wadi Araba Peace Treaty.

Leading the demonstrations, Islamist deputy Abdul Majid Al Aqtash said: “The fate of Jerusalem is the fate of the entire human race.”

“What is happening now is a coalition of Zionist-Western-crusaders that is attempting to eliminate the Arabs and Muslims.  Jerusalem is not subject to any form of negotiation,” Aqtash told The Jordan Times.

He stressed that “the fate of Jerusalem is in the hands of the Arab people. The governments are not serious enough so people of the Arab nations should unite during this difficult time”.

Aqtash said the Jordanian Parliament has done part of its role by examining the Wadi Araba Peace Treaty, but more needs to be done.

The Lower House of Parliament on Sunday tasked its legal committee to revise the Wadi Araba Peace Treaty in reaction to the US’ announcement last Wednesday.

The committee is tasked with examining all Israeli violations against its commitments under the deal, and with compiling a detailed report to be forwarded to relevant Arab and international organisations.

Islamist Deputy Dima Tahboub (Amman 3rd District) said: “Trump’s decision is an aggressive act against all Arabs and Muslims.”

“The legal committee at Parliament is currently examining the Wadi Araba Peace Treaty and we hope we will manage to annul it,” Tahboub told The Jordan Times.

She added that the announcement by President Trump erases the “entire peace process and is a clear bias towards the Zionist state”.

Meanwhile, the US embassy on Wednesday issued several warnings, urging its citizens to “maintain a low profile and stay away from demonstration areas”. 

“US citizens should remain aware of the possibility of protests, some of which have the potential to become violent. The US embassy reminds its citizens of the need for caution and awareness of personal security,” a US embassy statement said.

AMMAN — Hundreds of Jordanians took part in a candlelight vigil in Amman on Wednesday in protest of US President Donald Trump’s decision to move the American embassy to Jerusalem and to recognise it as the capital of Israel. 

Holding candles, participants marched in silence in west Amman’s Sweifieh neighbourhood towards St Mary of Nazareth Church. 

Churches bells rang as they gathered outside the church. 

Father Rifat Bader, the director of the Catholic Centre for Studies, said “Jerusalem is calling on people to stand with it,” adding that Christians and Muslims stand in unity to face any act that endangers the holy city.  

“The US decision is unjust and negatively affected Jerusalem and its history, but we as Christians and Muslims will bring back its beauty through this peaceful demonstration,” he told The Jordan Times outside the church. 

Reem Arida, one of the participants, said she took part in the vigil to affirm that Jerusalem is an Arab City. 

“This is a fact I know since I was a child.  Jerusalem is for all Arabs and these candles are symbols of peace and love,” she told The Jordan Times. 

Nimaat Hajjara, another participant, said she joined the march to emphasise unity. 

“All people from different backgrounds should come out and stand hand-in-hand,” she said while walking. 

Nisreen Mdanat did not fully support the idea of a “silent parade”. 

“We have to chant and let people listen to our voices. Maybe a silent parade won’t effectively send our message,” she added.  

AMMAN — After she attended a course called “My Story with Autism” organised on Wednesday by the Society for the Care of Gifted Autistic Children, Um Issa, a mother of a 10-year-old autistic child said “a mother has to be her own child’s school.”

“The course was entertaining and very helpful. Although I have taken several courses on the subject, I realised I didn’t know the difference between different disorders,” she said following the event. 

Um Issa said she found out that her son is autistic when he was two years old, after he stopped talking completely.

“He is now in fourth grade and I’m his ‘shadow teacher’. Other students love him because he is not violent or harmful, but I would like for him to make at least one friend. That would make me feel relieved,” she told The Jordan Times.

Um Issa highlighted the changes in her son’s behaviour after he enrolled in the Society for the Care of Gifted Autistic Children, changes that she said “anyone can notice”.

Nadine Chour, director of the society, said that since its establishment three years ago, the society has been training mothers of autistic children, helping them to become specialists in dealing with the developmental disorder. 

She stressed the importance of supporting and educating the mother, who has an active role in solving the problems of families who have children with autism, by helping them to support their children from an early age so as to help them develop into productive youth capable of reaching self-independency. 

“This course is one of dozens or courses that the society has organised for the mothers in order to raise awareness and education in this field,” Chour noted, voicing her hope to organise more courses with experts in the field in the next year.

Hanan Mohammad said that her son Amer, whom she enrolled in the society as soon as it was established, used to be “very quiet and secluded”.

“Amer has changed a lot since he started here. He improved a lot with the help of specialised trainers, who also help parents to be more cautious and educated when it comes to dealing with their children,” she noted.

Mohammad said she believes her son improved by more than 70 per cent, with only the issue of pronunciation remaining now.

“The problem we face as mothers of autistic children is that public schools don’t accept our children,” she noted.

Najah Fouad, technical director at the society, served as the moderator for Wednesday’s course, which aimed at raising awareness among mothers of the difference between autism and other disorders.

“What I wanted is for them to know which category each of their children belongs to, so we can work on curing them in specific ways,” Fouad stated.

The society’s eight employees support over 27 children, with a special focus on children whose families are from middle and lower income backgrounds.

AMMAN — Participants in a regional meeting, organised by the Education Ministry and the Queen Rania Foundation for Education and Development (QRF), in cooperation with the World Bank (WB), on Wednesday, stressed that education in the Arab world is facing similar challenges.

The two-day meetings aim at discussing the World Development Report 2018, which is the “first ever report” by the WB entirely devoted to education, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The report, titled: “Learning to Realise Education’s Promise”, focused on the Middle East and North Africa region.

Participants in the meetings said that it is time to change the educational system in the Arab world to cope with the latest developments and meet the needs of Arab children.

Education Minister Omar Razzaz said that education ministries cannot face challenges alone and need partners to address the sector’s obstacles that include enhancing the students’ feelings of loyalty towards their schools and countries, reducing differences in educational outcomes to achieve social justice and equal opportunities in education. 

Solutions to such challenges, the minister said, include having a system that coordinates the roles of teachers, curricula and technologies with the role of the students.

Vice President of the WB for Middle East and North Africa Hafez Ghanem highlighted the importance of education in realising progress, security and stability in the region, adding that focusing on the quality of education will lead to improving the youth’s skills and qualify them to better jobs.

QRF CEO Haifa Attia stressed the need to offer quality education to all children, highlighting the importance of having an educational system that enhances learning, diversity and creativity, so as to ensure the success of future generations.  

AMMAN — The Ministry of Labour is considering enacting the necessary legislation to include all workers in the agricultural field under the provisions of the law to encourage Jordanians to engage in the sector, Labour Ministry Spokesperson Haitham Khasawneh has told The Jordan Times. 

The remarks came as a response to the demands made by several workers in the field during a seminar titled “Working Conditions of Women in the Agricultural Sector” held at the Tamkeen Centre for Legal Aid and Human Rights on December 6.

During the event, participants called on the Ministry of Labour to establish a system to regulate the work in the agricultural sector and to guarantee the rights of both workers and employers, noting that the lack of such arrangement has contributed to several violations faced by both sides. 

In this regard, Khasawneh pointed out that a system of categories for the agricultural workers subject to the provisions of the Labour Law was promulgated and came into effect as of the date of its publication in the Official Gazette on December 7, 2003.

“Although seasonal workers are not included in the Labor Law, the ministry works to preserve the rights of all agricultural workers by reviewing the complaints submitted to labour inspectors, and guiding the workers through the legal methods that enable them to obtain their rights through resorting to magistrate courts,” Khasawneh continued. 

The attendees at the seminar also recommended that detailed data on the number of workers in the sector shall be provided to assist in the development of agricultural plans, programmes and policies. 

“The Department of Statistics, as the official concerned body, provides statistical information and data in general,” Khasawneh said, noting that “as for employment in the agricultural sector, they also provide surveys and censuses that are carried out during different periods of time”.

Regarding the situation of female employees in the field, the participants at the seminar concluded that women face more violations in the workplace than their male counterparts, suffering from a lower wage and a lack of health conditions and proper transportation, with many of them being engaged in the informal sector. 

In this regard, Khasawneh noted that the minimum wage of JOD220 is applied to all workers without exception.

“The ministry encourages the transfer of workers from the informal sector to the formal sector, since most workers in the agricultural sector work in an irregular manner,” he added, noting that “companies and farms under the provisions of the law are obliged to provide full social protection and appropriate working conditions.”

AMMAN — The inflation rate in the first 11 months of 2017 increased by 3.3 per cent, while it stood at 0.9 per cent in the same period last year, the Department of Statistics (DoS) announced on Wednesday.

DoS figures, cited by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, showed that the main categories that led to the increase were transportation (13 per cent), health (8.7 per cent), tobacco and cigarettes (8 per cent), vegetables and legumes (5.2 per cent) and rents (2.5 per cent).

Meanwhile, the main items that saw a price decrease are meat and poultry (5.5 per cent), fruits and nuts (3.2 per cent) and clothes (2.9 per cent).

AMMAN — The lack of a government decision to extend or terminate a partial exemption from sales tax on hybrid cars has sent the local market into chaos, a sector leader has said. 

Jordan Free Zone Investor Commission (JFZIC) President Nabeel Rumman said that dealers and ordinary customers are now at a standstill, reluctant to make any business decision, pending the government’s final say, especially, as the exemption period ends by yearend.  

Hybrid cars pay a reduced special sales tax of 25 per cent of its price, instead of 55 per cent for regular fuel cars. The decision came into effect in 2012 and has been renewed every year henceforth. 

People are also given the choice to de-registrate old fully gasoline-operated cars (10 years or older), hand them to authorities and receive a partial exemption from the special sales tax to register a new hybrid car, on which the tax levied is 12.5 per cent, instead of 40 per cent for regular cars.  

“We urge the government to extend it for next year and we have requested that in a memo we forwarded to Prime Minister Hani Mulki because we believe it is in the best interest of the people and the country.” 

Both kinds of exemption, JFZIC chief said, have encouraged middle-income people to buy this type of vehicle due to its low cost and fuel-effectiveness, while the country would see less fume emission from vehicles as hybrid cars are environment friendly.  

“Hybrid cars are the better choice in the absence of a decent public transport system,” he added.

Besides, he said, hybrid cars are not fully exempted from the tax, as every car costs from around JD6,000 to JD10,000 as a sales tax. “In the past 11 months, JD240 million was earned in Treasury revenues just from hybrid cars.”

According to Rumman, “every year, the extension decision is made at the end of September, but this year is different”, Rumman noted.

“Even if there was a hike in the fees, the government should inform us, so people, including dealers, would know what to do,” Rumman said.

If the exemption is not extended, the difference in the value of the tax translates into additional cost on the buyer and this will make people stop importing or buying cars from the Duty Free Zone, which will harm the business, the sector leader said. 

If the tax is 55 per cent again, the demand will decrease by 60 or 70 per cent, which will slash public revenues by JD40 or JD50 million, he added.

AMMAN — Minister of Environment Yaseen Khayyat is heading the Jordanian delegation to the “One Planet Summit” in Paris where delegations from over 100 countries and representatives of international organisations in the environmental sector have convened, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Wednesday.

During the summit, participants will discuss ways to find the necessary sources of funding to accelerate the process of introducing eco-friendly economic and technological systems, and to renew the commitment of developed countries to meet their financial and technical obligations towards developing countries.

A statement by the Environment Ministry said that Jordan has adopted an integrated policy on climate change until 2020 which serves as a guide for the work of the National Climate Change Committee. The summit witnessed a number of initiatives including the World Bank’s pledge to stop funding oil and gas exploration projects by 2019, and the announcement of a 12 billion euro allocation to support green investment by 2020.

AMMAN — The Lower House Financial Committee headed by MP Ahmad Safadi has proposed removing the four fils price hike for households consuming 300 kilowatts or less, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Wednesday.

Safadi stressed that this recommendation would be better than a previous agreement targeting only households consuming up to160kW in a month. During a meeting held by the committee to discuss the Energy Ministry’s budget in the presence of Energy Minister Saleh Kharabsheh, the MP said that the committee is keen on making any proposals and recommendations that will contribute to reducing financial burdens on citizens and to protect the middle and lower income classes.

Safadi added that the committee is aware of the challenges faced by the Energy Ministry in light of the regional situation.

AMMAN — The Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD) - Legal Aid on Monday launched a toolkit to address gender-based violence (GBV) in Jordan, aimed at initiating a social dialogue that can foster positive changes in attitudes towards women and girls.

Lana Zananiri, gender unit manager at the ARDD, told The Jordan Times that “our main aim is to achieve access to justice regardless of status, and an important component is an environment that supports women and girls and supports eliminating violence in all of its forms”.

While she expressed hopes for the toolkit to be “a useful guide for all practitioners and decision makers in moving forward with this supportive environment”, she stressed that “the toolkit is not the end of our work. The ARDD is building on the foundation the toolkit provides by continuing to engage key actors and stakeholders to reach our shared goals”.

The guide, which comes as part of the UN-funded “Know Her Rights” project for gender equality, contains measures that will “contribute to the promotion of legislative and policy changes towards the elimination of GBV and to the promotion of gender mainstreaming in several sectors”, a ARDD official told The Jordan Times.

“Although the toolkit targeted stakeholders in the government, media, education and health sectors for them to take action and promote increased gender sensitivity in the provision of information and services in their sectors, it has been purposely written avoiding the use of any technical terminologies to enhance wide dissemination of its content and messages among different audiences,” the official noted.

“The ARDD hopes that this toolkit will serve as a mechanism that educates and sensitises targeted stakeholders on the multiple forms and impact of violence against women and girls, as well as supporting the participatory approach based on human rights and advocacy,” the source added, noting that the toolkit will also be used for the production of training materials for future projects of the ARDD and other civil society organisations (CSOs).

The content of the guide is the result of a project that incorporated consultations with stakeholders representing the different sectors of society, including international NGOs, CSOs, and representatives from the government, media, and education sectors.

“After the ARDD’s research and legal teams drafted the toolkit, a significant number of gender specialists and experts provided their recommendations and feedback to facilitate the understanding and implementation of the toolkit,” sources from the ARDD said, noting that “together, these actors have a significant public outreach and have the ability to influence societal norms and overall public policy”.

The first section of the guide addresses the legal gaps affecting the issue of gender, and the “state of silence” regarding topics such as domestic violence, honour and partial rights.

The rest of the guide is focused on recommendations on how to address violence against females in the targeted sectors, with evidence based information on how actors in these sectors can play a role in eliminating GBV.

The guide also includes key messages, boxes outlining commendable campaigns and initiatives, policy highlights, and checklists and activities to promote gender sensitivity.

The toolkit will be available on the ARDD’s website as well as its partners’ websites, and hard copies will be distributed among stakeholders such as representatives of local NGOs, government, media, education and health officials.