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AMMAN — Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, Senate Deputy President Marouf Bakhit on Friday attended the funeral of former Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Bakhit conveyed His Majesty’s condolences to Iraqi President Fuad Masoum during a ceremony held in Sulaymaniyah in the presence of a number of representatives of several countries and senior Iraqi officials.

AMMAN — Industry, Trade and Supply Minister Yarub Qudah headed a delegation of representatives from the public and private sectors to Lithuania, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The visit, which follows His Majesty King Abdullah’s visit last May, aims to discuss bilateral cooperation and the increase of Lithuanian investments in the Kingdom.

The Jordanian-Lithuanian Business Forum was held as part of the visit, where Qudah noted how “Jordan transformed economic and social challenges into investment opportunities”.

AMMAN — Labour Minister Ali Ghezawi on Saturday opened the 6th job fair, in which 68 agricultural companies offered 150 jobs, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

During the opening ceremony, Ghezawi said that the Employment Council has approved funding a project to train engineering graduates. JD158,000 were allocated to train and employ 200 engineers, according to the minister.

AMMAN — Amman Mayor Yousef Shawarbeh and Hebron Mayor Tayseer Abu Sneineh discussed bilateral relations in the field of municipal services delivery, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Saturday.

Shawarbeh said that the Greater Amman Municipality is keen on providing the Hebron Municipality with expertise in engineering, environmental and traffic fields and to raise the level of services under the twinning agreement between the two cities.

He also received the Mayor of Nablus Adly Yaish in the presence of the Deputy Director for Public Works Ahmed Malkawi and the Executive Director of Engineering Nema Qatnani. 

AMMAN — Three people were killed and three others were injured on Friday after a minivan overturned in downtown Amman, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. Civil Defence Defence (CDD) personnel administered first aid to the injured and transferred them and the dead bodies to Al Bashir Hospital.

The injured were listed in conditions ranging between fair and critical. Meanwhile, two Saudi nationals were killed on Saturday in a road accident in Maan Governorate, CDD personnel transferred the bodies to Maan Public Hospital.

Also on Friday, a 42-year-old man was killed following a road accident in Mafraq. In another incident in Naur, an Egyptian worker was killed and another was injured when a pit in which they were working collapsed on Saturday. The CDD rescue team pulled out the workers from the rubble, the team provided first aid to the injured, and transferred the injured and the dead body to Al Bashir Hospital. 

AMMAN — It is not clear whether Pella, 130km northwest of Amman, was utterly destroyed by the Hasmonean ruler Alexander Jannaeus or if it was just captured, said John Tidmarsh, former president of the Near Eastern Archaeology Foundation at the University of Sydney.

Tidmarsh cited Jewish historian Josephus' work “Jewish Antiquities”, which claimed that the city was “utterly destroyed” by Jannaeus because its inhabitants “did not promise to change to the national customs of the Jews”.

However, Tidmarsh continued, in his earlier work “The Jewish War”, the same author noted that Pella was captured by Janneus but not destroyed.

“On the main mound [Khirbet Fahl] at Pella there is evidence of a destruction around 80BC which must be that of Jannaeus,” the archaeologist said, noting that there is virtually no subsequent Early Roman habitation.

On Tell Al Husn, located at the south of the main mound and separated from it by the Wadi Jirm, there is no evidence of destruction while there is numerous evidence of early Roman settlements, including domestic structures and early Roman pottery, which is absent from the main mound, Tidmarsh told The Jordan Times in a recent e-mail interview.

“Therefore, it seems that Jannaeus destroyed the city on the main mound [Khirbet Fahl] but not on Tell Al Husn. It is possible, however, that Husn was abandoned for several decades before being resettled while the main mound was not resettled for several centuries,” he continued.

In addition to the pottery found at the site, the Hellenistic pottery from Pella and Antioch (northern Syria, modern day Turkey) is very similar in terms of forms and wares, the archaeologist claimed.

“Much of the Pella Hellenistic black-glazed ware and Eastern Sigillata ware seems to have been made at or near Antioch, and then exported to Pella [and Jabel Khalid],” Tidmarsh explained, adding that when he was working at Jabel Khalid in Syria, a Hellenistic site, "we were able to chemically analyse and compare the pottery from Jabel Khalid and Pella and also Antioch [the research team had access to the Antioch pottery stored at Princeton University in the US].” 

“Chemically, most specimens from each site were similar,” the researcher emphasised.

The expert now intends to continue excavations on Tell Al Husn in order to uncover more evidence of early Roman settlement. 

He also plans to find evidence of the Early Hellenistic settlement at Pella:” We have already found evidence of 3rd century BC settlement on Tell Al Husn [houses, pottery and coins] but not on the main mound, which does not seem to have been settled until the 2nd century BC," he stressed. 

“It is possible that, on Tell Al Husn, we may find evidence of an early garrison of Alexander the Great or one of his generals,” Tidmarsh, a co-director at the excavations of The University of Sydney, stressed. Because it is so easily defensible, Husn is ideal for a military garrison or fort as is Beth Shean, west of the Jordan River and clearly visible from Pella, where evidence for a mid-3rd century BC garrison has already been uncovered, the archaeologist pointed out.

AMMAN — The Mexican embassy on Thursday organised a conference in partnership with Cervantes Institute honouring Mexican writer Juan Rulfo on the centenary of his birth. 

The conference was conducted by writer, journalist and historian Jorge F. Hernández, in the presence of the Mexican Ambassador to Jordan Enrique Rojo.

Juan Rulfo reached international recognition with the short story collection “El llano en llamas” (1953) and the novel “Pedro Páramo” (1955), becoming one of the main icons of 20th century’s Hispano-american literature. 

He was granted the National Literature Award of Mexico in 1970, and the Spanish Príncipe de Asturias de las Letras award in 1983.

Hernández started the conference by paying tribute to the victims of the recent earthquake in Mexico, saying: “In the light of the past events, it is the task of the writers to improve the mood of the nation by remembering the best of what Mexico has.”

The speaker recalled the first time he met Rulfo, describing the event as “an epiphany” whereby the writer provided him with “the most invaluable gift” of teaching him how “life itself is above everything else”.

An audience member raised the question of why Rulfo stopped writing after gaining international recognition, noting that people were “eager” to read more of his writing. 

Hernández explained that “the stories he told are the ones he experienced during his childhood”, noting how the writer suffered while crafting the stories “to the point he would rip entire pages”.

The speaker praised Rulfo’s work stating that “it’s not easy to give a voice to the deceased, and to write about a Mexico that was disappearing at the time".

Mexican ambassador to Jordan Rojo joined the discussion asking Hernández about the efforts of translating “the profound sense of the metaphor” to other languages. The writer replied saying that “languages evolve and translations expire”.

“The best translator is the one who actually engages with the culture of the text and fully understands it,” he said, pointing out that the best translation so far, according to his own judgement, was the Chinese one. 

Director of Cervantes Institute Álvaro Lázaro said that the centre considers Rulfo as “one of the most renowned writers in hispanic literature”, noting that all his books are available in the centre’s library along with his photographies. 

AMMAN — Ramtha was calm on Thursday following "small-scale" rioting in the northern district by "angry young men" belonging to the tribe of a professor seen hit by policemen in a video, citizens said.

A group of young men from the Thiabat and other supporting tribes closed the main road to Ramtha, some 80 kilometres north of Amman, burning tyres in protest against the hitting of their relative, professor Mohammad Thiabat, purportedly by a group of policemen in the video.

"It was fine and calm on Thursday. The rioting at Wednesday night was actually small-scale and short-lived," Mohammad Smeirat, a Ramtha citizen, told The Jordan Times over the phone.

"The angry young men were even obliged by their elders to stop the riots," he added.   

A video has gone viral on social media showing a group of men, reportedly police, hitting a man, said to be Mohammad Abu Duleh (Thiabat).

Thiabat tribe issued a statement on Thursday, describing as "barbaric" the assault of Criminal Investigation Department's personnel on their "innocent" relative.

In the statement, a copy of which was seen by The Jordan Times, signatories claimed that the policemen did not identify themselves and started "hitting Thiabat violently and without mercy".

They also called for an immediate investigation into the incident and bringing all those involved to justice.

Ramtha MPs also issued a statement on Thursday denouncing the way the policemen handled the situation, saying “what they [policemen] did represents them and not the Public Security Department [PSD].”   

PSD said on Wednesday that it opened an investigation into the incident.

A security source told The Jordan Times that all those who appeared in the video have been referred to police court. 

AMMAN — The labour situation of Jordanians has become very much tied to the presence and situation of migrant workers and Syrian refugees, a recent report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) titled “A Challenging Market Becomes More Challenging” showed. 

Based on a comprehensive research started in September 2016, the study aimed to assess the impact of Jordan’s “extraordinarily generous contribution to host large refugee populations” in its national labour market and its working population.

The report was articulated around the questions of how to increase Jordanian employment in the national market, how to ensure decent working conditions for all workers and how to incorporate Syrian refugees without displacing Jordanian workers.

By opening its labour market to refugees and ensuring particular attention is paid to the application of minimum labour standards for migrant workers, regardless of their status, Jordan has set an example in the region, Frank Hagemann, ILO deputy regional director, said in the report.

However, many claim that the addition of some 200,000 Syrian refugees of working age has put an additional strain on an already complicated labour situation. In the past 15 years, the number of migrant workers has indeed tripled, heightening the competition on the national market to an "unprecedented level", the report showed.

“When we work on projects with Syrians, we are forced to accept a lower pay than we used to get before. If we refuse, foreigners will accept low wages and take our jobs,” said a Jordanian construction worker, who preferred to remain anonymous. 

Within the private sector, many sectors have become dominated by specific nationalities of migrant workers, the report showed, referring to the following classification: in agriculture, the dominant workforce is made of migrant workers (mostly Egyptian men) and Syrian refugee families; in manufacturing, most labourers are migrant workers (South Asian women) and Jordanian men; as for the construction sector, Jordanian, Egyptian and Syrian males are equally employed; and in the domestic work, most of the labourers are South and East Asian women.

While Jordanians are on average more highly educated than their peers in the two other groups, migrant workers and Syrian refugees, a large share of unemployed Jordanians have no more education than migrant workers, the report showed. Therefore, much of the labour market segmentation has been based not on education or initial skills, but rather on nationality.  

For instance, most Egyptian construction workers have entered the sector with no prior experience or vocational training advantage over Jordanians, but because they were willing to accept less decent working conditions than their Jordanian peers, the report said.

Mahmood Abu Nada, a Syrian waiter at a local café, said: “In most cases, I work 10 hours a day; if there are customers, I stay longer. But I don’t get paid more than my usual salary.”

For economist Isam Qadamani, the foreign workforce is not the issue. “We see 600,000 Egyptians and 1 million Syrian refugees in the labour market. If they couldn’t find jobs here, they would have left. Jordan has huge working opportunities but Jordanians refuse to seize them,” he told The Jordan Times over the phone.

Because Jordanians are willing to work in all sectors and occupations only under the right circumstances, the study suggested that there is a significant scope to increase their employment, contrary to the common belief. 

The working conditions identified by Jordanians as important in any job have put them in a disadvantageous competition with migrant workers and Syrian refugees who are willing to accept late-payment of wages, non-payment for overtime or long and unpredictable working hours, among others, the report indicated. 

“In Jordan, we have to accept if the employer treats us in a bad way, because we are not in our country and we have no safety if we just leave the job. That’s why employers have high demand for Egyptian workers,” Qusai Dalal, an Egyptian construction worker told The Jordan Times at his workplace. 

In an effort to avoid a “lost generation” dependent on handouts and disenfranchised, the government has recently allowed Syrian refugees to penetrate the labour market.

For Qadamani, this did not create an additional strain on the local workforce, despite the popular opinion. “Since Jordan officially allowed Syrians to work [in July this year], we have not seen a huge turnout to obtain work permits,” he claimed. 

There are about 1.4 million Jordanians currently working and another 210,000 unemployed, according to the Labour Ministry. 

Although precise numbers are not available, the ministry recently suggested there may be as many as 1.4 million non-Jordanians working — about the same as the number of Jordanians.

The study highlighted a number of upsides to the integration of Syrian refugees into the market. Contrary to migrant workers who send most of their wages back home as remittances, the Jordanian economy benefits from the multiplier effect of Syrian wages being spent inside Jordan, the report stated.

For Qadamani, this is a utopian vision as he claimed that most Syrian refugees refrain from spending their earnings in the national market in hopes for a swift return to the neighbouring country.  

“The issue does not pertain so much to the pressure on local labourers since the increase of competition can only benefit a free market, but rather to the pressure on the economy as a whole,” he explained, noting that due to a lack of training and legal status, the foreign workforce tends to work in informal sectors, therefore not contributing to the national economy. 

AMMAN — The Jordan Ayla Golf Championship on Wednesday started in Aqaba, marking the beginning of a “first of its kind” event in the Kingdom, under the patronage of HRH Prince Feisal, a statement from the organisers said. 

Taking place at the Ayla Golf Club, the championship will feature the participation of local and international players, as part of the seventh edition of the MENA Golf Tour. 

Ayla’s Managing Director Sahl Dudin said in the statement that the tournament has been a “key focus” for Ayla since the launch of the Ayla Golf Club a year ago, in order to make the unprecedented event a success by securing all the necessary facilities and provisions and inviting some of the most talented players in the world to compete. 

Northern Ireland champion Darren Clarke is expected to be the standout performer of the tournament, along with other global champions such as Zane Scotland, Luke Joy, and young Jordanian golfer Shergo Kurdi, in addition to Emirati golf champions Khalid Yousef and Ahmad Skeik, the statement said. 

“Jordan has offered us a unique opportunity to join efforts towards supporting the sport of golf on a much broader scale, which will allow us to highlight the importance of the MENA Golf Tour as it marches proudly towards international status for the benefit of players and golf enthusiasts region wide,” MENA Golf Tour Adviser David Spencer was quoted in the statement as saying. 

Spencer announced the details of the current round of the MENA Golf Tour, which launched in March with a qualifying tournament in Morocco, followed by nine others that spanned Ras Al Khaimah, Thailand and Africa. The second season of the tournament launched last month in Dubai and spanned Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Kuwait and for the first time Jordan, according to the statement. 

The director of operations at Ayla and golf specialist, Chris White, emphasised the readiness of the Ayla Golf Club to host this tournament, noting that the course has been designed in line with the highest international standards with the aim of positioning Jordan as a key destination for golf championships. 

Designed by Greg Norman, the championship course is “the largest in the Middle East and rivals the best courses worldwide”, as the facilities of the Ayla Golf Academy use solar power to provide adequate lighting that allows players to make use of the course during nighttime, White said in the statement.