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AMMAN — Jordan on Thursday reiterated that it would not allow the reopening of the Israeli embassy in Amman and the return of its crew until an Israeli staffer who had killed two Jordanians is referred to a court of law.

"The reopening of the Israeli embassy and the return of its staff hinges on taking proper legal procedures against the Israeli staffer who killed the two Jordanians," Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani told The Jordan Times on Thursday.

On July 23rd, sixteen-year-old Mohammad Jawawdeh was killed, along with Bashar Hamarneh, a doctor, by an Israel embassy employee at a residential building rented by the Israeli embassy in Amman. The killer, who shot both Jawawdeh and Hamarneh, left Jordan to Israel protected by his diplomatic immunity, a matter which triggered widespread public anger in Jordan. 

On his return to Tel Aviv, the guard was warmly welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with the footage of the encounter insulting the sentiments of Jordanians.

“Jordan abided by the international law and allowed the staffer to leave as he enjoyed immunity…the ball is now in Israel’s field to abide by the international law,” Momani, who is also the government spokesperson, said.

Tel Aviv, he said, “should ensure that proper legal procedures are taken in this case”.

After the incident, the government tasked Justice Minister Awad Mashagbeh to follow up on the Israeli embassy case as part of a motion to “ensure that justice is served”.

The government also formed a team comprising Mashagbeh, State Minister for Legal Affairs Bisher Khasawneh and a legal representative from the Foreign Ministry to “recommend a strategy for well-planned legal action at all levels, including internationally if necessary, and to be prepared for the stage that follows the Jordanian prosecution’s completion of the investigation, the trial and the verdict”. 

The prosecutor general has indicted the killer and recommended legal action within the available channels.

AMMAN — Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani on Thursday stressed the importance of the opinion polls that acquaint the public via a scientific approach with the assessment of the overall government performance.

In his weekly interview on the Jordan Television’s morning show “News and Dialogue”, Momani said that the results of the opinion poll conducted by the Centre for Strategic Studies (CSS) provide the government with a scientific evaluation on the challenges and required priorities and enables it to make "the right decisions". 

The poll, which was announced on Wednesday, was conducted one year after the formation of Prime Minister Hani Mulki's second government. 

Momani, who is also the government spokesperson, said that talks on economic challenges reflect the current status of the national dialogue, forcing the government to deal with the rising concerns, analyse them and search for solutions, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

A diagnosis of economic challenges regularly through opinion polls obliges the government to embrace the principle of accountability and not to delay problem solving, the minister added.

He stressed that the government “does not seek popularity”, which is why it made difficult decisions that were needed to improve the economic situation, which suffered from many faults over several years and negatively affected the course of the economy.

The minister added that the government chose to deal with the economic challenges and create procedures that serve the public interest and aim at avoiding economic downfalls.

He referred to positive international reports that highlighted the Kingdom’s improvements in various sectors, noting that the government seeks to sustain progress in indicators related to public performance.

In this regard, Momani cited the Doing Business report, in which Jordan’s ranking, that has been going down over the last five years, started to recover.

The minister said that the government works following a twofold approach. First by prioritising works that seek to present better services to citizens, in order to positively affect the public mood.

Second, it aims to ensure the Kingdom’s success in overcoming regional security challenges and refugee influxes, which affected the national economy, he added.

The spokesperson stressed that the economic reform programme, which the government started at the beginning of the year, has been seeking to lower the debt-gross domestic product ratio, which stopped increasing, adding that the deficit gap also decreased by JD450 million.

Commenting on the centennial of the Balfour Declaration, Momani said that the declaration was a “black spot” in the human history, which forced a people to leave its land and created a crisis that still remains.

He reiterated Jordan’s full support to serve the Palestinian cause and its demand of establishing a Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, reminding that the lack of justice affects the regional stability, and fuels terrorism and extremism.

AMMAN — The Mexican embassy in Amman celebrated its third “Day of the Dead” on Wednesday at the Cervantes Institute, bringing an age-old and significant tradition to the Kingdom. 

The Day of the Dead festivity goes back to pre-Hispanic era, which was later adopted by the Christians. It commemorates the symbolic return of dead loved ones to remember and honour them by building an “altar” and eating traditional Mexican food, according to a statement by the Mexican embassy. 

“We believe it is a great opportunity to share with the Jordanian community a cultural tradition that is very much loved by Mexicans,” Mexican Ambassador Enrique Rojo Stein told to The Jordan Times at the event.

For the occasion, the embassy set up a colourful altar decorated with photos, food, flowers and memorabilia to commemorate three Mexican women with outstanding film careers during the 20th century. 

“This year, to acknowledge the three talented women, we chose three important Mexican figures in the performing arts: Maria Felix, Lupita Tovar and Dolores del Rio, whose artistic and cultural work transcended borders,”  the ambassador said. 

Born in 1904, Dolores del Rio was the first Mexican movie star to gain international fame; she was associated with famous actor and Director El Indio Fernandez, and together they created “The Golden Era” of Mexican cinema during the 1940s and 1950s, he added. 

Another artist commemorated was Lupita Tovar, who captivated Hollywood during the 1930s, she performed in “Santa”, the first Mexican movie which synchronised sound and image on the same celluloid strip in 1931. Her career included more than 30 motion pictures produced in Mexico and Hollywood. 

The third honoured woman was renowned actress Maria Felix born in 1930, who was considered one of the “most beautiful film actresses of her time”. She made more than 50 films in Mexico, Spain, France, Italy and Argentina.

The altar was decorated with symbolic objects that carry special meaning in Mexican traditions; the “cempasuchitl” flower — an orange- coloured plant native to Mexico — guides the way for the dead. The candle lights accompany them through the tomb’s darkness, while the food nurtures them and signifies the importance of sharing food among family. 

People from all over Amman, including members of Diplomatic Corps, attended the event. “This event to me is a continuation of what I have learned about Mexico and the values it represents. If we set apart religion and we consider civilisations, we can establish a peaceful, sweet and humanistic relationship,” Jabra Khoury, an honourary consul of Cuba said.

The attendees gathered to appreciate the traditional decorations, enjoyed food and refreshments, and watched a video on Mexico City’s second day of the dead parade, which was celebrated three days ago to commemorate the victims of Mexico City’s recent earthquake . 

“This work is improving every year and we are happy to celebrate it; we hope this becomes a tradition in Jordan and it continues. To me, The Day of the Dead has a very special meaning” said Antonio Lazaro, director of the Cervantes Institute.  

The Day of the Dead was recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008, due to its profound cultural roots and current significance to Mexico and other Latin-American Countries, according to the statement.

AMMAN — Prime Minister Hani Mulki on Thursday met with the World Bank’s regional director for the Mashreq, Saroj Jha, who is currently visiting Jordan, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

During the meeting, attended by Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury and Finance Minister Omar Malhas, Mulki discussed ties between Jordan and the World Bank, as well as Jordan’s economic challenges in hosting thousands of Syrian refugees.

Mulki commended the World Bank’s efforts in supporting Jordan through the concessional financing of the general budget, in addition to supporting the Kingdom’s economic priorities. The prime minister stressed that Jordan’s burdens are now exceeding its capacity, noting the need for mobilising the necessary finances for continuing services to refugees and their host communities.

He noted that Jordan’s needs are only loans and grants, but more measures are required to stimulate the economy and attract investments that generate jobs.

The premier expressed his appreciation for the partnership with the bank, stressing the importance of increasing grants to support the budget and the development projects, which would help bridge the financial gap in the treasury to reduce interests and extend grace periods, leading to the restructuring of the public debt.

For his part, Fakhoury stressed that Jordan has reached a “saturated level” in regards to its capabilities in hosting the Syrian refugees “on behalf of the world”, calling for international support to the Kingdom.

During his visit, Jha is scheduled to hold various meetings with a number of ministers.

For his part, Jha praised Jordan for its holistic reforms and achievements, of which the most recent was moving forward 15 points on the index of Ease of Doing Business issued by the International Financial Foundation affiliated with the bank.     

According to Petra, under the country partnership programme with the World Bank for the period 2017-2022, the indicative value of allocations to Jordan is $1.4 billion, of which $660 million were committed to support the budget, municipal services, health sector, economic opportunities, and the small and medium enterprises.  

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld  a March Criminal Court ruling sentencing two men to five years in prison each after convicting them of threatening to expose nude pictures of a woman in one of the Kingdom’s governorate in August 2016.

The two men were declared guilty of taking photos of a woman with their phone while she was naked after threatening her at a farm on August 10 and were each sentenced to five years and four months in prison on charges of molestation.

Court papers said that the two defendants lured the woman to a deserted farm and forced her to undress before taking photos of her.

“One of the two defendants wanted the victim to help him meet her sister because he had issues with her and decided to take nude pictures of her to pressure her to help him,” court papers said. 

The victim begged the two men to erase the photos “but they refused and threatened to expose her if she informed her family”, according to court documents.

The victim did not respond to their threats and she informed her family who immediately alerted the authorities, the court added.

The defendants’ lawyers contested the ruling, stating that there “were contradictory statements by the victim and witnesses”.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Court prosecutor asked the higher court to uphold the ruling. 

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court’s ruling and the defendants deserved the appropriate punishment.

The Court of Cassation comprised of Judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Yassin Abdullat, Naji Zu’bi, Bassem Mubeidin and Nayef Samarat.

AMMAN — Jordan was ranked 10th in the region on the ease of doing business in the "Doing Business 2018: Reforming to Create Jobs" report published by the World Bank Group on Tuesday.

The encouraging regional rank, which increased by 2.38 percentage points compared to 2017, contrasted with Jordan's position internationally, which stood at the 103rd rank out of 190 economies.

“All in all, Jordan’s position is not that good but it has definitely witnessed an improvement. We gained 15 ranks since last year’s report [Jordan was ranked 118th in 2017] which means that the government has worked hard to improve the criteria,” economist Jumana Ghneimat told The Jordan Times in a phone interview.

"Doing Business 2018" looked at domestic small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) to compare business regulation environments across economies and over time with the aim of encouraging economies to compete towards more efficient regulation, according to the report.

Divided into subnational and regional level analyses, the report covered 11 indicator sets including starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.

Jordan stood above the regional average of 115, coming after the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Malta, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The Kingdom topped Palestine, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, Djibouti, Algeria, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen. 

While the report pointed out the fact that it takes less time and human resources to start a business in Jordan than in the region, it showed that the costs incurred in the process are above the regional average, with 24.2 per cent of income per capita required, compared with 18.8 regionally.

By analysing 190 economies and selected cities across the globe through comprehensive quantitative data, the report examined the regulations applied to SMEs through their life cycle to “uncover red tape and road blocks” they face.

“I believe that we need to exert more efforts to keep improving our situation, especially regarding the indicators to make the decision to invest or not. The legislation, including the tax law and the investment law, should ensure the protection of investors, who are key to the improvement of our economic state,” Ghneimat said.

The report listed a number of strengths displayed by the Jordanian economy, including the ease to get electricity, to register a property, to trade across borders and, to a certain extent, to pay taxes.

However, the country ranked rather low on the easiness level to get credit, to protect minority investors, to resolve insolvency, to enforce contracts and to deal with construction permits.

“In the last three years, law enforcement has been unstable. People have been trying to circumvent the law to their own advantage and we really need to work hard to change that,” the economist stated, calling for a change in citizens’ mentality towards the business environment.

“Although the Mulki government has been exerting great efforts to enforce these laws, we still need to convince people that investments are central to solving the problems we face such as unemployment and poverty, among others,” she highlighted.

The Kingdom’s economic environment witnessed improvements in four indicators, and minor deterioration in four others since last year’s report.

New Zealand, Singapore, Denmark and Korea reached the top of the list, while unstable countries like Yemen, South Sudan, Venezuela, Eritrea and Somalia were cited as the least friendly business environments. 

Overall, the report found that economies in all regions of the world have been implementing reforms to ease the process of doing business, with 264 business reforms documented worldwide.

AMMAN — A total of 19 students at an UNRWA school in Irbid’s Al Hassan Industrial Estate area on Thursday suffered from food poisoning after eating “rotten food” from a restaurant nearby. 

Personnel at the Eastern Irbid Civil Defence Department rushed to the area and administered first aid to the students before transferring them to the Princess Rahma Educational Hospital, where they were listed in fair condition, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

AMMAN — Public Works Minister Sami Halaseh announced on Thursday that the construction of the Amman-Jerash road, damaged after a landslide earlier this year, is nearly completed, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

During briefings with the technical committee, which was established by Prime Minister Hani Mulki, Halaseh said that the work progress is at its final stage and will open within two weeks. The road construction will continue with plans to add two extra lanes, making it a total of six.

AMMAN — The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) is scheduled to start the work on the second phase to extend the rainwater drainage in Abdul Monem Riad Street within the Zahran area on Friday morning until Sunday, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Thursday.

GAM director of joint management Mohammad Faouri said that a partial closure of the route from the 3rd Circle towards Al Muhajereen traffic light will take place during the construction. The work will start at 1 am until 10 am on Friday and Saturday, and from 1 am to 6 am on Sunday. Faouri explained that GAM and the Central Traffic Department will provide assistance to motorists. 

AMMAN —The press in Jordan on Thursday suspended work for an hour to express its continued condemnation of the Balfour Declaration, where Britain granted Zionists the right to establish a state in Palestine causing the displacement of the Palestinians from their homeland, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The act came on behalf of the Jordan Press Association (JPA), which also sent a letter to the British government through its embassy in Amman, denying the centennial anniversary of the declaration. The JPA believes this anniversary calls for an apology not a celebration. The association urged the British government to correct the “historic sin” that caused the uprooting and the killing of thousands of Palestinians.