Jordan Times
Sunday, August 6, 2006
Jordan becomes hub for international relief efforts
AMMAN (JT) — Jordan continued Saturday dispatching relief aid to Lebanon and serving as a conduit for Arab and international assistance bound for the war-torn Arab country.
Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) planes yesterday carried 150 tonnes of aid donated by China.
Chinese Ambassador in Amman Luo Xingwu, who was at Marka Airport to see off the planes, said the cargo included food, medical supplies, tents, blankets and electrical generators, worth in total $2.5 million, according to a report by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.
The four planes carrying the assistance were received at Beirut airport by Jordan’s Charge d’Affaires Mohammad Fayez, who said the Kingdom had so far facilitated relief assistance from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and China, Petra said.
Another UAE flight and two other Jordanian planes landed at the airport yesterday with more relief supplies.
Fayez expressed hope that Beirut airport, which is being maintained by the Royal Engineering Corps, would be open for commercial flights, especially after Israel had bombarded all roads linking the country to the outside world.
The latest spree of shelling severed Beirut’s links with the northern part of Lebanon, which were used as the only outlets to Syria.
The main Beirut-Damascus road is totally destroyed after a series of Israeli air attacks.
Meanwhile, director of the Beirut-based Jordanian mobile hospital, Colonel Farhan Kasasbeh, said the hospital has started receiving patients inured by the attacks, noting that most of the 8,000 cases the medics have dealt with so far have been displaced Lebanese suffering from common diseases.
Yesterday, RJAF planes flew 36 elderly Lebanese women and children to Jordan. The refugees, many of whom have relatives in the Kingdom, had sought help at the Jordanian embassy, which arranged their flight.
So far, according to official figures, 15,000 Lebanese citizens and 1,000 vehicles have entered the Kingdom since the outbreak of the Israeli aggression on July 12.
In the meantime, Jordanian civil society institutions continued efforts to organise campaigns to raise donations for the Lebanese and Palestinians, who are also victims of Israel’s belligerent policies.
The Jordan Association for Construction Contractors announced yesterday a plan to organise a blood donation campaign, while the Jerusalem Forum and UNICEF Employees Committee joined efforts to sell 15,000 donation receipts at JD5 each. Proceedings, they told Petra, would go to buy relief aid for children in both war zones.
The Haya Cultural Centre has also responded to a call by the City Theatre in Beirut, which needs donations to keep running and organising activities for distressed children in a bid to ease their suffering.
The centre’s director, Dina Abu Hmeidan, said they have embarked on a series of activities to raise money for the Beirut theatre, which needs fuel for its generators and food and clothes for displaced children.
The Jordan Basketball Federation announced it would stage a match on Tuesday between the Jordanian and the Lebanese national basketball teams, with proceedings allocated to supporting Lebanon.
In another development, Minister of Environment Khalid Irani said his ministry has been contacting international environment organisations, urging them “to do what they can to spare Lebanon and the region from an environmental catastrophe due to the Israeli aggression.”
Meanwhile, the spirit of solidarity has apparently tempted a few people to take advantage of the situation to defraud people out of their money.
Police said yesterday they were hunting people who had fraudulently posed as donation collectors representing licensed charity campaigns.
Spokesperson for the Public Security Department Maj. Basheer Daaja, advised citizens to check the indentification papers of those collecting money and report anything suspicious to the authorities by calling 191.