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AMMAN — Jordan on Saturday reiterated its denunciation of Israel's continued violations against the Umayyad Palaces, southwest of Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif.

Government Spokesperson Mohammad Momani urged Israel not to meddle with the Umayyad Palaces area and to ensure its return under the jurisdiction of the Jordanian Jerusalem Awqaf Department, which is the entity responsible for administering and safeguarding the site, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Israeli occupation forces have recently settled internal differences among followers of different Jewish sects at the expense of the area of the Umayyad Palaces, Petra said.

Israeli occupation forces had decided to expand a platform to allow more Jewish worshippers into the area.

The violation against the Umayyad Palaces is the latest in a long series of assaults and violations against the site, Petra said, adding that occupation forces have carried out several excavation works there, destroying Arab and Islamic heritage.

They have also stolen and moved many pieces of Islamic antiquities out of the site of the Umayyad Palaces, according to the agency.

Israeli forces put up signs with the names of different places written on them in Hebrew to be used as visitor guides and gave permission for Jewish religious ceremonies to be held at the site.

Last Thursday, Petra reported that Jerusalem Awqaf Department Director Azzam Khatib Tamimi a letter of protest sent to the occupation force chief in Jerusalem condemning Israel’s violations against the Umayyad Palaces area.

Israel, as an occupation force, is legally bound to preserve the status quo before 1967 and honour the 1994 Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty, Tamimi said in the letter, demanding that the occupation authorities halt excavations and end the destruction of Arab and Islamic heritage sites. 

He called for removing a makeshift metal roof set up in the centre of the Umayyad Palaces site.

Tamimi also demanded the removal of metal and wooden platforms set up to expand the yards designated for Jewish prayers next to Al Aqsa Mosque’s Western Wall. 

Tamimi, whose team is affiliated with the Awqaf Ministry, stressed the Hashemite custodianship Al Aqsa Mosque, urging Israel to respect everything related to Al Haram Al Sharif, Islam’s third-holiest shrine.

AMMAN — Some 1.9 million students are scheduled to commence the second semester of the 2015/2016 academic year on Sunday in schools around the Kingdom, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Saturday.

Around 100,000 teachers and principals will be returning to work for the spring term at 6,924 schools. 

The Education Ministry has taken the necessary preparations to receive students, the ministry's spokesperson, Walid Jallad said.

He said the ministry has conducted required maintenance work in the spring break.

Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat had issued directives to continue receiving students moving from private to public schools this semester, Jallad said, noting that around 67,000 students did so.

The reasons behind transferring from private to public schools differ from one student to another, but include economic burdens and a change in the student's residence or a parent's place of work, Jallad told The Jordan Times in remarks last week.

Jordan Teachers Association Spokesperson Ayman Okour has attributed the increasing demand to move students to public schools to the high tuition fees at private schools.

Okour told The Jordan Times last week that moving students at this time of year could disrupt the educational process and affect the capacity of public schools, since they have already settled enrolment for the year and have a sufficient number of students.

Thneibat, according to Jallad, has urged different teams in his ministry to continue conducting field visits to schools around the Kingdom to learn their needs and check their conditions. 

The Education Ministry has unified the academic calendar starting with this year, with the fall semester starting on September 1 and ending on January 14, while the second semester begins on February 7 and ends on June 12, Petra reported.

AMMAN — Jordan should seize the opportunity of its improved performance in the Corruption Perceptions Index to push for applying better anti-graft measures, according to experts.

The Kingdom's performance in Transparency International’s 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index has registered an improvement compared to last year, coming in 45th place among 168 countries. 

In the index, which measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption, Jordan scored 53 out of 100, along with Mauritius and Namibia.

Last year, the Kingdom was ranked 55 among 175 countries in the index, scoring 49 out of 100.

At a seminar held by the Jordanian Integrity and Transparency Coalition “Rasheed” on Thursday, participants called for entrenching the rule of law and the independence of the media, along with ensuring that ministers, senators and deputies abide by the relevant codes of conduct.

Out of the only five Arab countries that passed the index, Jordan is the sole non-oil country, which is mainly due to the level of security it enjoys, they said.

Since the publication of the index last week, Jordanians have expressed "scepticism" over the results, participants at the seminar said.

"We have heard people saying that they did not sense the outcomes of the index on the ground, and that they believe that describing corruption as declining will give a lifeline to the corrupt," said Rasheed Deputy Chairman Osama Azzam.

The Kingdom’s score exceeded the average regional score of 39 out of 100, which fell four points below the global average score of 43 out of 100. 

At a Cabinet meeting last Wednesday, Public Sector Development Minister Khleef Al Khawaldeh said Jordan’s performance is “good” when compared to the 168 countries included in the index, as the evaluation of anti-corruption efforts in the Kingdom are better than 68 per cent of the countries surveyed.

The minister attributed Jordan’s four-point-progress over last year’s score to the collective efforts to enhance transparency, integrity and accountability in public agencies, through the adoption of several programmes and initiatives.

On a regional scale, Jordan ranked fourth after Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Israel, while Sudan and Somalia ranked the lowest in the region.

The report placed emphasis on the need for anti-corruption efforts and development to be interlinked, especially with the inclusion of fighting corruption among the new Sustainable Development Goals.

During the seminar, Anti-Corruption Commission President Mohammad Allaf said the Kingdom's political reforms realised during the last decade have contributed to improving its performance in the index, noting that efforts are under way to establish an independent entity responsible for retrieving illicit gains.

On the other hand, Omar Razzaz, who chairs the Privatisation Evaluation Committee, suggested introducing a local index for corruption and integrity along with the international indicators.

AMMAN — The Water Ministry said on Saturday it has dismantled 20,478 illegal fixtures on water mains and resources since 2013, adding that it will deploy new technologies to uncover violation attempts.

"Strict, intensified monitoring and inspection using new and advanced technologies will start soon to detect attempted violations on water resources," an official at the ministry told The Jordan Times over the phone. 

The ministry's teams, he added, will also carry out inspections in different areas and will be escorted by security forces to remove violations.

The official highlighted that utilising state-of-the-art technologies, such as satellite images and remote sensing, to stop water theft and violations on resources is part of the ministry's ongoing national campaign launched in 2013 to end violations on water networks and resources.

Under the campaign, the Water Ministry and security authorities sealed 713 illegal wells and seized and confiscated 38 drilling rigs, the official said.

The ministry banned the drilling of wells in 1997 to limit random pumping of water and preserve aquifers from depletion and salinity.

"A significant number of water theft cases have been referred to court. We expect their rulings to be announced soon, including hefty fines and imprisonment," the official underscored.

Water theft in Jordan is blamed for 70 per cent of water loss, according to the ministry, which seeks to save an estimated 35-50 million cubic metres of water stolen or wasted via illegal fixtures and the drilling of illegal wells.

The amended Water Authority of Jordan Law stipulates stiffer penalties against those who abuse any element of the water system.

Those who abuse water carriers and mains, wastewater, pumping, purification or desalination stations; or cause the pollution of water resources, pipes or stations used for drinking water; and dig or are involved in the digging of wells without obtaining a licence, face a prison sentence of up to five years and fines up to JD7,000.

In addition, violators of water and wastewater projects are jailed for up to three years and fined up to JD5,000, according to the amendments.

All penalties stipulated under the law are doubled in the case of repeat offences.

AMMAN — Two radio presenters in Jordan have broken the Guinness World Record for the longest live radio show performed by a team, staying on the air for 61 continuous hours.

Breaking the record set by a 60-hour talk show performed by a Russian group in 2015, Jordanian actor and director Amjad Hijazeen and Lebanese radio host at Sawt El Ghad Jessy Abu Faysal started the challenge last Tuesday at 8am and continued until 9pm last Thursday. 

Their show was broadcast on Sawt El Ghad (101.5 FM), Play FM (99.6) and Nashama FM (105.1).

Welcoming more than 400 guests, the radio hosts discussed several topics “that are of interest to the public”, Hijazeen said, adding that listeners became more active when general knowledge and everyday advice were provided. 

During the three-day broadcast, the hosts interviewed people working in different fields, including security sources, artists, media figures, social media experts, singers and comedians.

The supervisor from Guinness World Records attended the marathon and handed them the certificate after the show on Thursday, Hijazeen said.

The actor and director added that physicians present during the marathon did not inform him and his co-host of the severity of their medical conditions until the show was over.

“The hardest part was the night before the last. It was from 12am to 7am, and we were physically exhausted and nervous. I even felt that I was about to lose some of my senses,” he told The Jordan Times.

“Our blood pressure ranged between 170/110 and 180/110 [mmHg]. However, the doctors did not inform us. They gave us vitamins and fibres to solve the problem without us knowing so that we wouldn’t panic,” Hijazeen said. 

Normal blood pressure is below 120/80 mmHg (millimetres of mercury), and a reading above 180/110 necessitates emergency care, according to the American Heart Association's website.

The presenters were given meals that are not heavy on the stomach, including brown bread and light snacks such as honey and nuts, Hijazeen noted.

Social media users and fans inside and outside the Kingdom supported the presenters using the hashtag #JessyBreaktherecordAmjad over the three-day show.

Abu Faysal and Hijazeen spent a month preparing topics, interviews, questions and reports for the challenge, according to the latter.

“We had around 1,200 pages to read on air in addition to receiving calls and reading comments,” he noted.   

Hijazeen stressed the importance of Jordan entering the global records book in the field of media.

“Not everyone will approve of everything you do. If they did, there would be something wrong. This is something we offered from our field to show the world we are up to the challenge,” he said. 

Jordan has entered the Guinness Book of World Records several times, including for making the largest falafel sandwich in July 2012 at the Landmark Hotel and for having a street with the largest number of Internet cafés per capita (Irbid’s University Street) as of 2006.

In May 2012, the then-largest sand structure was created by the Jordan Tourism Board and displayed in Berlin, while in October 2014, 262 people formed the then- largest floating human logo with a peace sign at the Dead Sea.

 The Kingdom also has the world's oldest purpose-built Christian church, built in 293-303 AD and located in Aqaba. 

The latest record broken by Jordan prior to the radio marathon was in October 2015, when the world's longest slip and slide at 611.7m was achieved in an event organised by Orange Jordan, Ziyad Mazzawi Corporation and Monaco Business Development in Amman.

AMMAN — Supporting Jordan's humanitarian services to Syrian refugees is an "international duty", especially with the latest official figures putting the number of Syrian refugees in the resource-limited Kingdom at 1.3 million, Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh said Saturday.

At a meeting with German Bundestag President Norbert Lammert in Amman, Tarawneh voiced the House's full support to His Majesty King Abdullah's position, expressed at donor conference in London last Thursday, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

He also said that Jordan is determined to protect its national interests despite the tremendous challenges it is facing and calls for finding political solutions to the region's crises.

The Kingdom, Tarawneh noted, has been calling for a comprehensive political solution to Syria's conflict that can end bloodshed and safeguard the country's territorial unity, adding that the widespread influence of terrorist groups in Syria is the result of the world's inability to heed Jordan's calls.

Turning to Iraq, he blamed the domestic sectarian politics and marginalisation of certain social segments for the Daesh terror groups' control over vast swathes of land, according to Petra.

Tarawneh also placed the long-running Palestinian-Israeli conflict at the heart of the region's woes, saying also that Israeli attacks on Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem and its calls for a Jewish state all "provoke young people and push them to join radical groups".

For his part, Lammert said Germany is working intensively on resolving the Middle East's problems because the region's woes will sooner or later have their consequences on Europe, Petra reported.

He also noted that both Jordan and Germany suffer from the same refugee dilemma, noting that solving the region's problems requires identifying their real causes.

During a field visit to the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Mafraq, some 90km northeast of Amman, Lammert said the international community is required to support refugee-burdened Jordan which, he said, is handling the Syrian refugee crisis on behalf of the world.

The German official arrived in Amman on Friday on a three-day visit, according to Petra.

AMMAN — The World Bank plans to offer $200 million in concessional financing (loans on favourable terms) to Jordan and Lebanon in response to the Syrian refugee crisis.

"The world owes a great debt to those two nations, who have generously helped Syrians, even though it has meant great sacrifice for their people and their economies," a statement quoted World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim as saying.

The purpose of the $200 million in funding is to help create jobs and increase access to education in those countries, Kim noted.

“More than 2 million refugees from Syria are now in the neighbouring countries of Jordan and Lebanon," he said.

The World Bank made the announcement on Thursday at the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference in London, highlighting plans to triple its funding commitment to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to almost $20 billion over the next five years, according to the statement.

In addition, the World Bank, in partnership with the Islamic Development Bank and the UN, launched the MENA Financing Initiative to make further financing available to the region. 

For Jordan and Lebanon, the initiative aims to provide $3-4 billion in concessional finance, while using $1 billion in grants from donor countries to reduce the interest rate on the loans, the statement said.

The MENA Financing Initiative will also include a second facility that will support countries in the region recovering from war and instability by issuing special bonds, including sukuk (Islamic bonds), on the international financial markets.

The World Bank president also pointed to a proposal for special economic and industrial zones near Jordan's border with Syria as a way to create jobs for both refugees and host communities, according to the statement. 

Jordan's government, the UK’s Department for International Development and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Word Bank’s private sector arm, are collaborating on the proposal, which aims to attract foreign investors and support the relocation of displaced Syrian businesses, the statement said.

“In short, we are doing all we can to find innovative ways to help these countries [hosting Syrian refugees],” Kim was quoted as saying. 

“We are exploring the creation of special economic zones, and encouraging investments in municipal projects and labour intensive work. Our purpose is to create mutual benefit for the host communities as well as the refugees.”

These financing initiatives form part of a new World Bank strategy in the MENA region that focuses on working with partners to address the causes of instability, the statement said. 

The strategy's goals are to promote measures to rebuild the relationship between the state and its citizens, boost the resilience of countries coping with the consequences of conflict and hosting large numbers of refugees, strengthen mechanisms for regional cooperation and prepare for recovery and reconstruction, according to the World Bank.

AMMAN — Jordanians on Sunday mark the 17th anniversary of the passing of His Majesty King Hussein, who died at the age of 63 on February 7, 1999 following a battle with cancer.

A direct descendant of Prophet Mohammad, King Hussein was born on November 14, 1935 as the eldest son of King Talal and Queen Zein Al Sharaf.

He was proclaimed King on August 11, 1952 at the age of 18 and assumed his constitutional powers on May 2, 1953.

At the time of his death, King Hussein was the longest serving executive head of state in the world.

Throughout his five-decade rule, the late King worked hard to raise the living standards of his people and during his reign the literacy rate rose dramatically.

The late King’s commitment to democracy, civil liberties and human rights helped make Jordan a model state in the region.

He believed that the key to a brighter future lay in working together towards the goals of conflict resolution, peace, education for enlightened citizenship and leadership, and the values of community, mutual understanding and sustainable development.

Enhancing joint Arab coordination was a priority for King Hussein, who believed that solving outstanding issues and conflicts between Arab countries should be done through upholding the higher Arab interest and believing in the common destiny of the Arab nation.

February 7 also marks the day His Majesty King Abdullah assumed his constitutional powers.

On Saturday, the King received several cables from senior officials and officers congratulating him on the anniversary of his assumption of constitutional powers.

AMMAN — Jordan on Saturday stressed the importance of reopening Iraq’s Turaibil crossing into the Kingdom, which was closed last July.

At a meeting with Iraqi Ambassador to Jordan Safia Al Suhail, Trade Minister Maha Ali also discussed means to enhance cooperation in commerce and investments, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Suhail said her country gives special attention to efforts to reopen the key strategic crossing, noting that it was closed for security concerns. Iraq, she added, is looking into alternative routes within its territories to ensure smooth trade movement between the two countries.  

AMMAN — Yousef Batayneh on Saturday presented his credentials to Luxembourg’s Grand Duke Henri, as Jordan’s non-resident ambassador at the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

At the ceremony, Batayneh conveyed greetings from His Majesty King Abdullah to the people of Luxembourg, stressing the strong relations between the two countries.

The duke sent greetings to King Abdullah and the Jordanian people, expressing his appreciation of Jordan’s distinguished role at the regional and international levels in support of peace, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.