JEA campaign to revamp old buildings in Jerusalem returns for sixth year

AMMAN — The Jordan Engineers Association (JEA) has continued organising its annual fundraising campaign aimed at revamping old houses and schools in Jerusalem for the sixth year. 

Bader Naser, the campaign chief, said that Jordanian donors took part in the campaign with “great enthusiasm”, especially on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. 

On November 2, 1917, British foreign secretary Arthur James Balfour wrote a letter to Britain’s Jewish citizen Baron Lionel Walter Rothschild, expressing the government’s support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

The letter came to be known as the Balfour Declaration.

“Many Jordanians, of all ages, took part in the campaign. Around 80 per cent of university students participated in this fundraising,” he told The Jordan Times over the phone. 

Naser said donors were not only Jordanians, but also Arabs and Jordanians living abroad. 

“During the past campaigns, we collected around JD5 million, renovating 218 residential units in old Jerusalem and revamping two education facilities. A total of 1,400 people benefited from our campaign,” he added. 

Khattab Al Bana, a businessman, said this is the fourth time he donated to the campaign. 

“It is our duty to donate for Al Aqsa. Also, this year’s Balfour Declaration’s centenary encouraged me to donate more because this declaration gave something to someone that does not belong to them,” he added.  

Ahmad Shyoukhi, another donor, said the details and documents of the campaign published and circulated by the organisers encouraged many to support the campaign. 

“This gave us the opportunity to donate and gave us the satisfaction to have contributed to support something in Jerusalem,” he added.

The campaign, which started on November 1, will run until November 1, 2018.