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AMMAN — Tackling the problem of Syrian refugees in isolation from the development issues of host countries is not a good strategy, according to UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova. 

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Bokova said that platforms and initiatives should be created to involve host communities with young Syrians.

The UN official announced an initiative dubbed “Youth Education for Stability” (YES), targeting Syrians and host countries such as Jordan and Lebanon. 

“UNESCO is working on launching this new initiative in order to tackle the issue of secondary and higher education,” she said.

“It will not only be for Syrian refugees, but also for Jordanian and Lebanese youths because we are deeply convinced that tackling the problem of Syrian refugees separate from the development issues of the host country is not a good strategy,” Bokova told reporters.

She noted that UNESCO wants to expand the scope of education support when it comes to refugees.

“We speak only about primary education and about kids out of school. This is important but this is not enough.”

The UN agency is aware that there are thousands of students in secondary schools, she stressed.

“We want to create opportunities also for these students to continue their studies in different universities,” Bokova said. “We don’t want to have a lost generation of Syrians.” 

“We know that young people need skills, so we think that we have to have a component of vocational training in some of these cases so that they can find jobs and earn their livings. This is also something that I believe other players here are not doing,” she added. 

“It’s not enough in these circumstances to speak only about reading or writing; we want to create certain values.”   

In response to a question posed by The Jordan Times on child labour among Syrians, Bokova noted that although UNESCO does not work specifically on this issue, the situation of school dropouts who choose work over education is a matter of grave concern. 

“Child labour is once again a consequence of this precise situation and this kind of slip away of the attention of the international community when people think about the refugee situation,” Bokova said.  

“I have come to Jordan to see the developments with the Syrian crisis in the country and its impact on development. I wanted to see how one of our projects is working and what kind of impact it has on the educational system,” she added.  

The UNESCO official said she was also pleased to launch a radio project which will create a platform to highlight issues of concern to both Syrian and Jordanian youths, commending the generosity of the Jordanian people for accepting refugees.

Bokova launched the “Saa Suriya” (One Syrian Hour) radio show on the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development’s (JOHUD) Farah Al Nas community radio station after meeting with JOHUD Executive Director Farah Daghistani.

The show is part of a UNESCO project to enhance access to information and freedom of expression for Syrian refugees in Jordan through radio programmes, according to JOHUD.

The project is implemented in partnership with Un Ponte Per NGO and funded by the Japanese government.

AMMAN — A reading of Francophone Lebanese author Charif Majdalani’s passages in Amman on Tuesday  marked the start of week-long activities celebrating French language across the Kingdom.

French is the official language in 29 countries scattered across five continents with around 350 million speakers.

“Every year, for one week, French speaking countries organise events worldwide during the so-called Francophonie Week to promote cultural contact and friendship among cultures,” Cultural Counsellor at the French embassy Philippe Lane told The Jordan Times.

“Celebrations in Jordan, organised together with another 12 Francophone countries, will focus on cultural aspects, with a discussion with author Charif Majdalani, a concert with performer Alif Naaba from Burkina Faso in Aqaba on Friday, and various weeklong activities at schools and universities,” he added.

French Ambassador to Jordan Caroline Dumas inaugurated the event at Institut Français together with her Lebanese counterpart, Michelin Baz. 

Both officials stressed the global importance of French due to the vast Francophone and Francophile global community before introducing Majdalani’s work.

The Beirut-born Majdalani writes in French and is the author of four novels which have been translated into six languages.

The use of French in Lebanon, where about 40 per cent of the population are Francophone and 70 per cent of secondary schools use French as a second language, is considered a legacy of France’s historic ties to the region.

France had a League of Nations mandate over Lebanon following World War I.

“French is my mother tongue as my mother belonged to the Lebanese community in Egypt whose native language was French. I fluently speak, understand and read in Arabic but I am absolutely unable to write novels in Arabic,” Majdalani told The Jordan Times. 

“Writing is an internal relationship with oneself and writing to me is writing in French,” he added.

“French has a controversial history in the Arab world. In North African countries, French is associated with colonisation… In Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine, French was a language people voluntarily chose to speak, which, however, slowly faded away remaining only in Lebanon and indicating social status,” the author said.

AMMAN — A flamenco guitar concert in tribute to Spanish flamenco composer and guitarist Paco de Lucia delighted the audience who came to enjoy the traditional Spanish music with a Jordanian flavour on Tuesday night.

Performed by young Jordanian musicians, the concert was organised by Instituto Cervantes and the Spanish embassy in Amman.

Although they belong to three different bands, the musicians teamed up two weeks ago along with a Spanish singer who is studying Arabic at the University of Jordan to present the best of De Lucia at the 90-minute concert.

Guitarists Essam Abu Kou, Obai Al Bitar and Anas Qahoush, in addition to percussionist Khries Bashar, played some of the most famous compositions of De Lucia, who passed away last month, and had to come back for an encore after the audience insisted.

“We knew each other before, but we only teamed up two weeks ago to perform this concert,” Abu Kou told The Jordan Times, adding that after this concert, he and other musicians might consider holding more flamenco concerts.

De Lucia is viewed as one of the most important interpreters of orthodox flamenco and is also famed for fusing it with other musical styles, including Arabic music, jazz, blues and Indian music.

In his lifetime, De Lucia received the National Award for Flamenco Guitar, the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts, Distinction of Honour Music Awards and Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts. 

The jury for the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts in 2004, highlighted his “interpretive honesty” and its ability to transcend “borders and styles” that made him “a musician of universal dimension”. 

The tribute on Tuesday also featured the screening of a documentary about the composer titled “Essentials: Paco de Lucía”.

AMMAN — The Lower House held a brief meeting on Wednesday, endorsing only one article of the temporary agriculture law.

Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh adjourned the session early, but did not announce that it lost quorum, although the number of attending MPs was well below legal quorum.

Two weeks ago, Tarawneh expressed his dissatisfaction with the loss of quorum at a House session before adjourning it.

“I apologise to the Jordanian people as we once again lost quorum,” he said at the time, asking the Lower House secretary general to publish names of the MPs who were absent without an excuse. 

“I am determined to inform the people,” the speaker said.

The Lower House has suffered from a lack quorum several times over the past months, which delayed its agenda and negatively impacted its performance, according to parliamentary sources.

The Chamber of Deputies was planning to complete its deliberations over the agriculture bill during Wednesday’s meeting, but could not proceed as Tarawneh adjourned the session a short while after it started.

According to the Constitution, a Lower House session remains valid as long as 75+1 MPs are present under the Dome. It was evident that less than 75 deputies out of the 150-strong House were present on Wednesday.

AMMAN — Her Majesty Queen Rania on Wednesday visited the SOS Children's Village in Irbid to celebrate Mother’s Day with the facility's mothers and children.

The Queen spoke with the mothers and aunts about the roles that they play in bringing up the children, while they talked about the tenderness and affection they give to the children which provides them with a sense of security. 

They also shared with Queen Rania stories of their bonding with the children that in turn helps in creating a sense of family unity, according to a statement from Her Majesty's office.

During the meeting, which was attended by SOS Jordan Chair Reem Habayeb, SOS Village Association of Jordan National Director Lina Mola and SOS Village Irbid Manager Zakaria Momani, Her Majesty praised the positive impact SOS Village mothers and aunts have had on the lives of the children.

Her Majesty also lauded the partnership between Al Aman Fund for Orphans and SOS Villages in enabling children to achieve their goals and become pioneers in their communities, the statement said.

To date, five SOS Village graduates have benefited from Al Aman Fund scholarships.

Queen Rania joined the children as they celebrated Mother’s Day in “Mama Fatima’s” house.

Fatima, who has spent 15 years in the facility as a village mother, has witnessed the graduation of several children; she is extremely proud of them and consistently follows their progress, according to the statement. 

Her Majesty also had the chance to hear the stories of several beneficiaries who graduated from the village and are continuing their studies in different fields at various local universities.

One graduate explained how he continues to visit the village regularly to engage with the children, whom he considers as siblings, as well as to visit his village mother to keep her updated about his educational progress.

At the village club, the children performed a song for Her Majesty, which they had prepared for the occasion, and showed her Mother’s Day cards that they had crafted and designed for their village mothers. 

The Queen also looked at candles produced by the village mothers with the help of the children.

SOS Villages were established in Jordan in 1987 to provide care for orphans as well as underprivileged children below the age of 14 who, for various social reasons, cannot live with their families. 

After the children graduate from the village, when they reach the age of 14, they are moved into affiliated youth homes close to the village.

SOS Village Irbid opened its doors in 1999 and currently houses 66 children, 36 of them girls. The village operates on a family-based model through the support of village mothers, aunts, brothers and sisters who have regular family gatherings. The children are divided into 11 houses, each with its own mother and acting as a family unit.

Three SOS Youth Homes currently house 33 boys and girls and are located near the SOS Village in areas that have access to all services and amenities, the statement said.

Forty-six children have graduated from the Irbid SOS Village, some of whom have completed schooling, while others are enrolled in vocational colleges and institutions. Some have also moved back to live with their biological families.

A total of 200 children are residing in SOS Villages in Amman, Irbid and Aqaba, which enrol them in public and private schools, and encourage them to complete their education through Al Aman Fund, an initiative Queen Rania launched in 2003 to ensure a brighter future for orphaned children after they graduate from care centres.

AMMAN – An independent Palestinian human rights organisation has published the outcome of a self-initiated investigation into the killing of Jordanian Judge Raed Zuaiter, who was shot dead by Israeli soldiers on the King Hussein Bridge on March 10. 

According to the report of Al Haq Organisation for Defending Human Rights, Israeli soldiers “had the intention of killing Zuaiter”, 38, who served as a judge at the Amman Court of First Instance. 

The report, posted on the website of the Ramallah-based entity, details that the bus carrying passengers heading to the occupied Palestinian territories arrived at the western part of the King Hussein Bridge that links Jordan and the West Bank at around 8:30am. Israeli soldiers asked passengers to leave the bus in order to inspect the bus, urging them to leave their luggage inside. 

After inspecting the bus, passengers were allowed to enter the bus, the report said, adding that all passengers got onboard except for five people, including two children.  

The passengers were Zuaiter and another passenger, who were smoking near the bus, in addition to a lady and her child as she was waiting for another child of hers to come out from the toilet, according to Al Haq. 

Zuaiter, who was near the front of the bus, was pushed by the Israeli soldier who inspected the bus, criticising the judge for being late to get onboard. 

“The judge then pushed the soldier and had an argument and then two other soldiers approached the scene immediately,” the report indicated.  

The three soldiers pushed Zuaiter forcing him to fall on the ground, the organisation said in its findings, based on testimonies of passengers. 

“After he stood up, he started screaming in protest of the soldiers’ behaviour while his hands were up,” said the investigation, adding that the judge walked towards the soldiers. 

According to eyewitnesses, the report elaborated that the soldiers pointed their weapons towards the victim, who was just three to four metres away from them. 

Passengers heard the sound of a bullet fired which was then followed by three more shots. 

Immediately after that, the driver closed the vehicle’s doors. He was then ordered to ask passengers to leave the bus one by one and they were inspected again, the report said. 

The body of the judge remained unchecked for a while, according to eyewitnesses, who added that more police and first aid medics arrived at the scene. Medics performed CPR and then covered the body. 

Investigators interrogated the passengers about what happened and asked them about the contents of Zuaiter’s luggage and then decided to have it destroyed with explosives without checking its contents.

The report of Al Haq echoes the same testimony Mohammad Sharif Zaid, an eyewitness, gave to The Jordan Times the day after the incident. 

Israeli military alleged that Zuaiter had tried to seize a soldier’s gun at the King Hussein Bridge — known to Israelis as the Allenby Bridge — and that troops had then shot him, according to international news agencies. 

Al Haq said that the soldiers had the intention of killing Zuaiter as they could have dealt in a civilised manner with the protesting judge. 

The judge was unarmed and did not pose a threat to the soldiers, the organisation –– founded by a group of legal experts in 1979 –– said. 

The report said the judge lost his life mainly because of Israeli soldiers’ disrespect for human life. 

The Israeli version of the incident –– that Zuaiter had tried to seize the weapon of the soldiers and to attack them with a steel bar –– is baseless and shows that the occupation authorities are trying to spare their soldiers legal consequences, Al Haq said in its findings. 

The human rights advocacy body also concluded the Israeli claim that surveillance cameras “at such an important security point” were not operational that day due to technical fault is a lie. 

The killing of Zuaiter, who was going to visit Nablus, where he was buried, has triggered public anger in Jordan with several protests near the Israeli embassy in Amman calling for expelling the envoy. 

MPs have also called for expelling the Israeli ambassador and abolishing the peace treaty with Israel, signed in 1994, following the incident and criticised the government for what they described as an inadequate response over the killing of the judge. 

On Tuesday the government survived a no-confidence vote over the incident.

Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed their “deep regret” over the death of Zuaiter in separate telephone calls with His Majesty King Abdullah on Monday.

AMMAN – Under the protection of Israeli security members, dozens of Jewish settlers on Wednesday entered Al Haram Al Sharif through Bab Al Magharbeh for the second day in a row, according to the Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Department in Jerusalem.

In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, the awqaf officials also said that 90 Israeli soldiers stormed Al Aqsa Mosque through Bab Al Magharbeh in their military uniforms in a provocative manner for a “military guidance tour”.

Also on Wednesday, 27 Israeli extremists in addition to 97 female soldiers broke into Al Aqsa Mosque, the statement said.

Earlier this week, Jordan expressed its strong condemnation towards the Israeli occupation troops’ closure of Al Aqsa Mosque gates and preventing worshippers and awqaf administration officials from entering the mosque’s complex.

Jordan is officially the custodian of the Islamic holy places in East Jerusalem, where the awqaf staff are appointed by Amman. 

Government Spokesperson Mohammad Momani warned against the Israeli escalation at Al Aqsa Mosque complex, saying that allowing Jewish extremists to enter Islam’s third holiest site under the protection of occupation forces would ignite religious extremism in the region.

Momani called on the international community to push for an end to provocative Israeli measures in the holy city.

Also on Wednesday, the Islamic Christian Commission in Support of Jerusalem and Holy Sites raised the alarm on various Israeli excavations directly under Al Aqsa Mosque, calling, in a statement carried by Petra, for immediate action by the international community to save the Muslim shrine. 

AMMAN — Jordan on Tuesday signed a $24 million agreement with Arabia One for Clean Energy Investments to build a solar-run power generation plant.

The plant, which will be located in Maan, some 220km south of Amman, will have a total capacity of 10 megawatts, Energy Minister Mohammad Hamed told The Jordan Times.

“This project is of great importance to the country and is part of several projects that Jordan seeks to implement to increase the production of electricity through renewable energy,” the minister said.

The government will sign agreements with several local and international companies before the end of this month to build 10 solar energy projects with a total capacity of 140 megawatts, Hamed said in a phone interview.

Mohannad Khalifeh, chairman of Arabia One, said the company is owned by a group of Jordanian, South Korean and Spanish investors.

The plant is expected to be operational and connected to the grid in the last quarter of 2015, he told The Jordan Times over the phone.

The company reached an agreement with the government to sell it electricity from the plant at JD0.12 per kilowatt hour, Khalifeh added.

“Electricity generated through solar energy projects such as ours is much cheaper than energy produced through diesel or heavy fuel,” he noted.

On Monday, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry signed an agreement with the Shams Maan Company under which it will buy electricity generated by a solar power plant with 50-megawatt capacity at the Maan Development Area from the firm.

Hamed said the project is the first of its kind in Jordan and the largest in the region.

According to the ministry, the investment value of this project, which will produce 160 gigawatts of clean electrical power annually, will be around $150 million. The project is scheduled to be operational in 2015.

AMMAN — Jordan condemned at a Security Council session on Tuesday the killing of Jordanian Judge Raed Zuaiter by the Israeli army last Monday.

The condemnation was voiced by the Kingdom’s  permanent representative to the UN, HH Prince Zeid, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Following a Security Council meeting in New York on the situation in the Middle East, Prince Zeid told reporters that Jordan expressed its strong denouncement of the killing of Zuaiter by the Israeli occupation forces. 

The Kingdom, he said, is waiting for the results of the joint investigation into the incident before taking any action.

Zuaiter, a judge at the Amman Court of First Instance, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers on the King Hussein Bridge crossing linking Jordan and the West Bank.

Israel claimed that he tried to seize the gun of a soldier, but an eyewitness refuted that claim, telling The Jordan Times that Zuaiter was provoked and beaten by two soldiers before they shot him dead.

Tel Aviv has agreed to Jordan’s request to carry out a joint probe into the incident.

Prince Zeid said Jordan also raised the issue of Israeli violations at Al Aqsa Mosque complex during the Security Council session. 

The Kingdom expressed strong condemnation of such provocative Israeli measures in Jerusalem, he said, out of “our pan-Arab responsibilities and obligations as custodians” of Islamic and Christian sites in the Old City.

As the only Arab member of the council, Jordan will follow this file closely on behalf of all Arabs and especially Palestine, he said, according to Petra.

AMMAN — The European Commission signed a 180 million euro aid package for Jordan on Tuesday to help it assist refugees from Syria and cope with a disruption of gas imports from Egypt.

Under the terms of an agreement signed by Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn and Finance Minister Umayya Toukan in Brussels, the EU executive offered the Kingdom a medium-term loan in two instalments this year of 100 million euros and 80 million euros ($250 million or around JD177 million in total), Agence France-Presse reported.

“The EU is helping Jordan to weather the severe impact of the regional economic and political crisis,” Rehn said. “This assistance will help ease Jordan’s financing constraints and support its economic reforms.”

The aid aims to help the Kingdom address the consequences of a number of external economic shocks, notably related to the conflict in Syria and the disruption in gas imports from Egypt, AFP reported.

On Monday, Japan agreed to transfer JD82 million ($118 million) to the Kingdom’s Treasury before the end of this month in the form of a soft loan. 

With the loans from the EU and Japan, Jordan has secured financing in loans worth around JD437 million (around $617 million) in just four days, as the World Bank last Thursday approved a $250 million soft loan to support the state budget to ease financial strains caused by the influx of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees.

Also on Monday, the US signed a $165 million water assistance agreement with Jordan.

The funds will assist the government over the next five years with infrastructure development, water sector reform, water management and conservation, and outreach programmes at the household, institutional and industrial levels.