All stories from the Jordan Times unless specified otherwise.
U.S. allocates $225m for Jordan
in 1999 fiscal budget
Prince Hassan calls for
more effort to eliminate obstacles hindering peace
Jordan asks Tokyo to
finance King Hussein Bridge renovation
Jordan to publish
first human development report in cooperation with UNDP
International
humanitarian law office concludes work here
Recent workshop employs
new election forecasting techniques
Graduation ceremony for new
diplomats to be held Sunday
House
speaker 'surprised' by government statement critical of deputy
U.S. allocates
$225m for Jordan in 1999 fiscal budget
WASHINGTON (Petra) - U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
on Saturday informed Foreign Minister Fayez Tarawneh of the
American administration's decision to allocate $225 million for
Jordan in the 1999 U.S. fiscal budget.
Dr. Tarawneh said the assistance reflects the U.S.
administration's appreciation of Jordan's policies and its
economic achievements as attested by international organisations.
The minister, who has been holding talks with American officials
in Washington, said senior U.S. officials informed him of
Washington's satisfaction with reports from the World Bank and
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the Kingdom's economic
situation.
The U.S. administration highly appreciates the latest legislative
amendments under the context of the economic reform programme,
according to Dr. Tarawneh.
In reply to a question on U.S. President Bill Clinton's upcoming
meetings with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli
Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, Dr. Tarawneh voiced his
optimism and described them as an indication of the American
willingness to play a pivotal and effective role at the
presidential and ministerial levels in the peace process.
Dr. Tarawneh voiced hope that the Palestinians and Israelis would
implement the Hebron protocol, which stipulates the redeployment
of Israeli forces in the West Bank by mid-1998.
Prince Hassan
calls for more effort to eliminate obstacles hindering peace
AMMAN (Petra) - His Royal Highness Crown Prince Hassan on
Saturday called for more efforts to transcend all obstacles
facing the progress of the peace process and to overcome
Islamophobia.
During a meeting with a U.S. Congress delegation, Prince Hassan
pointed to the efforts exerted by Jordan to achieve economic
development and combat poverty and unemployment.
Prime Minister Abdul Salam Majali also received the Congress
delegation and reviewed with them the latest developments in the
Middle East.
Dr. Majali lauded the American stand towards Middle East issues,
particularly those concerning Jordan, reflecting Jordan's stand
vis-a-vis the peace process which aims at removing all the
obstacles that hinder the march towards peace.
Dr. Majali also blamed the faltering peace process on the
policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu.
"Peace is no more an individual desire but rather an
international demand," said Dr. Majali.
"Security, which the Israelis call for, cannot be achieved
through creating obstacles that curb any further development and
stability in the region," he added.
Dr. Majali said that the sanctions imposed on the Iraqis denies
their basic rights and that its continuation does not serve the
objectives and principles of the international community.
Members of the delegation expressed their country's support for
Jordan's endeavours to reach a just, comprehensive and durable
peace in the region.
The delegation also met His Royal Highness Prince Talal Ben
Mohammad, director of the State Security Council and reviewed
with him the peace process and issues of common concern.
Jordan asks
Tokyo to finance King Hussein Bridge
renovation
By Tareq Ayyoub
AMMAN- Jordan has requested Japan to renew a $10 million loan
proposal to finance the renovation and expansion works of King
Hussein Bridge, which links the Kingdom with the Palestinian
self-rule areas, a cabinet official said Saturday.
Deputy Prime Minister for Development Affairs Jawad Anani said
the loan will be used to expand the wooden bridge, which was
built following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Dr. Anani said the project's designs, which were made by
Jordanian engineers, are available but awaiting the finance from
the Japanese government.
He told the Jordan Times that the designs stipulate building four
lanes, instead of the existing one lane bridge, to facilitate the
movement of passengers and trucks and building rest houses for
passengers.
Dr. Anani said the project was discussed during the two-day visit
of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to Jordan last week.
The deputy prime minister said the construction will be carried
out by the Jordanian side, where Jordan's Armed Forces are
expected to participate in the renovations works.
Dr. Anani said the Japanese government's reply to the Jordanian
request was expected soon.
The official said that prior to putting the designs it was not
clear to decide "with whom we should negotiate this matter.
With the Palestinian side or the Israelis."
"We could not negotiate with the Israelis because this
violates the peace treaty between Jordan and Israel," Dr.
Anani said.
Finally, it was decided that Jordan would carry out the
construction works by only notifying the Palestinians Israeli
sides of the Jordanian intention to expand the bridge.
The Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty stipulates that in the final
status negotiations, the security of crossing points between the
Palestinian territories, Jordan and Egypt should be under
Palestinian control.
But despite the presence of Palestinian officers at the western
side of the bridge, Israel is still maintaining the security at
the bridge and causing delay in the movement of trucks between
Jordan and the self-rule areas.
The Jordanian and Palestinian sides repeatedly accused Israel of
blocking the movement of trucks between the Palestinian
territories and Jordan.
Israel claimed the delay was due to security arrangements which
restricts the number of trucks that travel between the two sides
to less than 40 a day.
Jordanian and Palestinian trade officials blamed Israeli security
arrangements at the bridge for impeding the flow of goods between
the two countries.
Jordanian officials said Israel wants to maintain its monopoly
over the Palestinian market, to which it exports $2 billion of
goods annually.
Jordan to publish first human development
report in cooperation with UNDP
AMMAN (J.T.) - As part of its commitment to promote sustainable
human development and improve living standards, the government of
Jordan has approved plans to publish a National Human Development
Report in cooperation with the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), according to a UNDP press release.
The project agreement was officially signed Saturday by Ministry
of Planning Secretary General Nabil Ammari and UNDP Resident
Representative Jorgen Lissner. The total production cost of three
successive reports for the years 1998 to 2000, estimated at
$225,000, will be jointly financed by the UNDP and the British
Department for International Development. The first report is
expected to be published in the fall of 1998, the statement said.
Since 1990, the UNDP's global Human Development Report has
closely examined whether economic growth managed to translate
into tangible improvements in people's quality of life. Every
year, it ranks 174 countries around the world according to the
Human Development Index (HDI), which is based on three
socio-economic indicators - life expectancy, literacy and per
capita gross domestic product. Last year, Jordan ranked 84,
placing it in the "medium human development" category,
the announcement continued.
Like the global Human Development Report, Jordan's National Human
Development Report will place emphasis on people-centred
development, highlighting a range of socio-economic factors that
affect, both positively and negatively, Jordan's HDI ranking in
the global report. The national report is expected to convey a
more elaborate picture of human development in Jordan, using the
latest statistics and in-depth analysis, according to the press
release.
One of the outstanding features of the first edition of Jordan's
National Human Development Report will be its special focus on
youth. This theme was selected because adolescents and young
adults comprise a large segment of Jordanian society, with nearly
40 per cent of the population falling in the 15-35 age group. In
addition, the role and problems of youth in society have not
received enough attention compared to other issues such as
unemployment, poverty, environmental conservation or the
advancement of women.
More than sixty countries around the world have embarked on
projects to produce a National Human Development Report. In the
Arab region, Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, Iraq and Tunisia have
already published similar national reports, the statement
concluded.
International humanitarian
law office concludes work here
By Hind-Lara Mango
AMMAN - An advisory office on international humanitarian law
(IHL) has concluded two years of work in Amman with local and
international bodies in Lebanon, Yemen, Egypt and Jordan to
promote and disseminate provisions of IHL in national
legislation.
According to Ameur Zemmali, legal advisor for IHL advisory
services in Amman and the Arab region, many Arab states who are
parties to the Geneva Convention on human rights have little in
their national legislation pertaining to IHL.
"After studying national legislation in Jordan I found
little to nothing about IHL," noted Dr. Zemmali. Therefore,
he said, the advisory office in Amman prepared draft plans for
amendments to national legislation to enhance IHL.
Five advisory offices in the world were initiated as a result of
armed conflicts in the early 1990s. At that time, governments
felt a need for promoting and enhancing the implementation of IHL
and thus in 1995, an international conference of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Red Crescent
organisations adopted a resolution to establish IHL advisory
offices for governments in need.
There were four priority areas which the advisory office, based
at the Amman ICRC, focused on in promoting IHL in the four Arab
states. First was the development of legislation relating to the
use and protection of the ICRC and Red Crescent Society (RCS)
emblems.
War crimes and their integration into national penal legislation
was another priority area, as was the teaching of IHL at the
secondary and university levels. A draft plan was also sent to
the Jordanian government for the establishment of a national
committee for the implementation of IHL.
"This committee should act as a consultative body to aid
national authorities in implementing IHL," said Dr. Zemmali,
adding that the committee should include members of several
ministries, the Institute of Diplomacy, the RCS, and the Armed
Forces.
Since Jordan, Yemen, Egypt and Lebanon are parties to
international instruments of IHL, "they are bound...to take
national measures to apply the laws of IHL," Dr. Zemmali
stated, adding that the creation of a national committee for IHL
was therefore essential.
Recent workshop employs new election
forecasting techniques
By Hind-Lara Mango
AMMAN - For the past two weeks, researchers at Al Urdun Al Jadid
Research Centre have been analysing the results of the 1997
parliamentary elections in order to employ new concepts or
techniques on how to forecast election results.
"The use of informal network analysis procedures to study
the personal communication that occurs within tribal and family
communities is very useful," said James Danowski, an
associate professor in the department of communication at the
University of Illinois at Chicago.
Dr. Danowski, who conducted this workshop in Jordan, explained
that in today's world of fast-moving technological research, a
body of procedures has evolved to examine the linkages between
people, particularly their political inclinations.
According to Dr. Danowski, these techniques accumulate results
that can be quantified into statistics to represent the pattern
of such communication activities. This is particularly important
in political campaigns, polling, and in elections.
As for the political participation of women in American elections
and the Jordanian elections, the communication expert said it was
only at the turn of the century that women were even allowed to
vote in America, and the system is definitely
"anti-quota" in the United States.
In Jordan, however, since there are already quotas for minority
Christians and Circassians, "one could imagine an effective
quota for women here," he said.
However, he added that in the American elections, women
candidates felt that they had to act like men to be accepted by
the electorate. Dr. Danowski said women should focus on
determining the attributes that are perceived as important by
potential voters. An analysis of both positive and negative
characteristics that affect perceptions of women candidates
should be considered, he said.
"If the goal is to elect more women, then organisations
pushing for this can develop strategies to emphasise the positive
features that people are looking in women candidates," said
Dr. Danowski, adding that negative features should be addressed
directly and not covered up.
Based on Dr. Danowski's analysis, the time for candidates in
Jordan to start their campaigns for the 2001 elections would be
now.
For future elections in Jordan, it would be useful to gather more
scientific information on what goes on within various
communities, since they "engage in informal personal
communication about candidates," he stated.
Graduation ceremony for new diplomats to be
held Sunday
AMMAN (J.T.) - A graduation ceremony for the first class of
diplomats from the Institute of Diplomacy (ID) will be held
Sunday at Al Hussein Sports City in Amman under the patronage of
HRH Crown Prince Hassan.
The graduates completed the institute's l5-month Higher Diploma
Programme in Diplomacy and Foreign Service.
Prince Hassan, chairman of the ID board of directors, is expected
to award certificates to the graduates and invite them to an
iftar banquet to celebrate the occasion.
The fellows, including six women, hold bachelor of arts and
masters degrees in social sciences.
They were referred to the institute by the ministries of foreign
affairs, higher education, planning and information and the
Jordan Armed Forces, the Public Security Department and the
Investment Promotion Corporation.
The ID, established in 1994, is academically linked to the
University of Jordan. It opened its first three-term training
programme in September 1996, with courses offered in
international relations, international law, negotiations among
states, strategic and security studies, administration, settling
of disputes among states, communication skills, Arabic and
foreign languages, Arab and Islamic civilisation, and
informatics, among other topics.
The trainees also attended workshops in which academics and
diplomats from Jordan and other countries gave lectures on
development, politics and the economy.
House
speaker
'surprised' by government statement critical of deputy
By Fairouz Abu-Ghazaleh
AMMAN - Lower House Speaker Sa'd Hayel Srour on Saturday said he
was "surprised" by a recent government statement
critical of a deputy and stated that lawmakers have the right to
express themselves freely under the dome of Parliament.
Meanwhile, deputy Ahmad Oweidi Abbadi said he was planning to sue
the government for JD5 million in compensation for damages caused
by Wednesday's harsh statement.
The government, responding to Dr. Abbadi's allegations of
official corruption, nepotism and favouritism, had attacked him
without naming him and said the deputy threatened "national
unity."
"The [House's] general discussion is an opportunity for all
those wishing to speak to express themselves under Parliament's
dome," said Mr. Srour. "I was surprised by the
government's statement because the podium is accessible to both
the government and House deputies," he said before deputies
resumed discussions of the 1998 draft budget.
Mr. Srour, who returned to Parliament yesterday after leading
Jordan's delegation to an Arab parliamentary meeting in Luxor,
said the House was committed to official regulations and would
not tolerate any offence to Jordanians and their institutions.
"Any member of Parliament is free to express himself openly
as long as he adheres to internal regulations," he added.
The government denounced the deputy for "deviating from the
subject while discussing [the budget], not telling the truth and
using personal and offensive language when referring to public
officials."
Dr. Abbadi, who cast a vote of confidence for the Cabinet of
Abdul Salam Majali on Dec. 15, lashed out at the government and
many of its ministers and accused present and past governments of
putting the wrong man in the wrong place.
In a lengthy and often heated speech that was broadcast live on
Jordan Television, Dr. Abbadi called on the government to stop
granting citizenship to "the bedouins and citizens of
neighbouring Arab countries" - an implicit reference to
Palestinians who form a large percentage of the Kingdom's 4.5
million population.
Meanwhile, 360 members of the Abbadi tribe signed a petition
condemning Dr. Abbadi's speech, saying that it contained
"lies and falsehoods designed to serve personal
interests."
In an advertisement placed in a local paper, the tribesmen said:
"We, the sons of the Abbad tribe in Jordan, who believe in
the country's national unity...denounce the statements made by
Dr. Abbadi."
Dr. Abbadi's speech and the government's statement have generated
a barrage of criticism from many deputies.
On the street, many ordinary Jordanians said they were shocked by
parts of the speech that questioned citizenship rights. Newspaper
columnists were equally divided.
"I was dismayed to hear [certain deputies] slandering and
harming the country's national unity in a manner that is
contradictory to our constitution, regulations and Arab and
Islamic ethics," deputy Nawaf Khawaldeh told the house on
Saturday. "We had also hoped that our discussions would only
take place in Parliament and not outside it, in the form of
statements."
During Saturday's session, Islamist deputy Mohammad Ra'fat, who
enraged the House by a recent visit to Israel, was finally able
to deliver his speech.
In his previous attempt during Wednesday's session, more than ten
deputies withdrew from the session when Mr. Ra'fat took to the
podium to read his speech, breaking the House's quorum. On
Saturday, more than 12 deputies left the hall before he spoke,
but the quorum was not affected as the overall deputy turnout was
higher than that of the last session.
The deputies who left the hall said they wanted to protest
against Mr. Ra'fat and fellow deputy Hamadeh Fara'neh for
visiting Arab east Jerusalem on Dec. 18 and meeting with Israeli
Knesset Speaker Dan Tichon and other officials.
The House is expected to vote on the budget on Monday after the
government replies to issues raised in deputies' speeches. Many
lawmakers questioned the government on soaring poverty and
unemployment and on Jordan's IMF-agreed economic reforms launched
in 1989.