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BUDAPEST — Senate President Abdur-Ra’uf S. Rawabdeh on Friday met with László Kövér, the speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary, and discussed means of boosting parliamentary cooperation.

Rawabdeh also briefed Kövér on the Kingdom’s reform process and discussed the latest regional developments, especially efforts to achieve Middle East peace and resolve the Syrian crisis.

AMMAN — Around 18 assaults on doctors have been registered so far this year, the Jordan Medical Association (JMA) said on Saturday.

Maha Fakhouri, a member of the JMA council, said 83 assaults on doctors were recorded last year, noting that the phenomenon has reached “worrying levels”.

The JMA, she added, is organising a two-hour work stoppage on Monday to protest against assaults on doctors.

Public and private sector physicians are scheduled to participate in the work stoppage, which starts at 11am and ends at 1pm.

On Friday, three doctors at the Prince Hamzah Public Hospital’s emergency surgery department were attacked by a group of people who were accompanying a patient.

Two of the doctors were injured and are currently hospitalised.

Bassem Kiswani, an adviser at the Ministry of Health, said JMA representatives visited the doctors on Saturday and discussed the issue of assaults against physicians with ministry officials.

AMMAN — HRH Princess Rym Ali, the founder of the Jordan Media Institute (JMI), inaugurated the ninth Middle East World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers conference in Dubai last week, according to a JMI statement released on Saturday.

Several Arab and international media leaders attended the two-day conference’s opening ceremony.

In her address, the princess noted that “whether we like it or not, journalists play a role similar to that of teachers and educators.” She said it is important for journalists to maintain accuracy.

The princess also referred to the JMI’s efforts to combine new technology and traditional journalistic skills and present them in Arabic.

AMMAN –– Around 1,000 Jordanians gathered outside the Kalouti Mosque near the Israeli embassy in Amman on Friday to protest the killing of Jordanian Judge Raed Zuaiter. 

After the Friday prayer, representatives of several groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood and the Jordanian Democratic Popular Unity Party, waved Jordanian and Palestinian flags and chanted slogans denouncing Zuaiter’s murder.

Some protesters tried to reach the Israeli embassy but were prevented from doing so by Gendarmerie forces. 

Rida Suwatia, a member of the Jordanian Democratic Popular Unity Party, said if the government cannot avenge the judge’s death, it can at least close down Israel’s diplomatic mission and release  Jordanian soldier Ahmad Daqamseh, who is serving a life sentence for shooting seven Israeli schoolgirls in 1997. 

Jordan summoned the Israeli charge d’affaires in Amman last week to protest the shooting of Zuaiter by Israeli soldiers and ask for an immediate investigation into the incident.

Zuaiter, a judge at the Amman Court of First Instance, was killed at the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge over Jordan River last Monday. In reaction to the incident, the government asked to take part in the investigation that is yet to be announced. Israel agreed to the request. 

Hamza Jibrin, another demonstrator who participated in Friday’s protest, criticised Arabs because they are not united despite thousands of people being killed every day. 

“Arabs are only fighting each other. Instead of protecting those who are being attacked, they protect the ones who occupied our land,” the university student said.   

He added that demonstrations are the least that Arabs citizens can do to express their support for fellow Arabs living under occupation and oppression. 

“What we really want is to send a message to the whole world in a peaceful manner. We do not want to spread chaos,” Jibrain added.  

He noted that if the authorities expel the Israeli ambassador from the country and recall Jordan’s ambassador from Tel Aviv, Jordanians will be proud of their government. 

Amir Nawaisah, another protester, said Jordanian blood should not be cheap. 

“Our main issue is the Palestinian cause and how to free Palestinian land. We also want to send a message that we do not want any kind of ties with the Zionist enemy,” he told The Jordan Times.  

Describing Daqamseh as a “hero”, Nawaisah said he was treated as a war criminal in the Kingdom.

AMMAN — Thirty-two patients recently received life-saving surgeries under the National Goodwill Campaign. 

Procedures ranging from eye surgery to orthopaedic and facial reconstruction operations were performed on the underprivileged patients at the capital’s Ibn Haytham and Specialty hospitals. 

HRH Princess Basma, president of the National Goodwill Campaign’s higher committee, visited the two private hospitals last week to check on the recuperating patients, who could not afford the surgeries without the campaign’s assistance.

Doctors who volunteered to perform the surgeries noted that all the patients are in stable condition. 

Princess Basma underlined the significant humanitarian role private hospitals play in alleviating the suffering of underprivileged patients as part of their corporate social responsibility towards the local community.

The National Goodwill Campaign, first launched by the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development in 1991, has signed a memorandum of understanding with several private hospitals to provide comprehensive medical care to underprivileged people from across Jordan.

In cooperation with the private sector, the campaign has enabled needy families to benefit from vital services by providing health and education assistance as well as income-generating projects.

DEAD SEA — Media professionals, lawmakers and legal experts on Saturday urged the government to spearhead serious efforts to honour its commitment to implement international recommendations related to freedom of the press.

“Six months have passed since Jordan pledged to study these amendments and nothing happened since then,” Nidal Mansour, president of the Centre for Defending the Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ), said at a meeting held at the Dead Sea under the title of “Legal Media Dialogue”.

“There is a dire need to start a series of [meetings] to look into means to amend these laws,” Mansour added.

“We need a system and a mechanism in place… to address these amendments that Jordan pledged to study,” he said at the event, which runs through Sunday.

In 2009, countries at the UN Universal Periodic Review of the Kingdom’s human rights record issued one recommendation on improving media freedoms in Jordan.

In 2013, they issued 18 such recommendations, of which the government accepted 15 and voiced reservations over three.

Some of the recommendations the government accepted include cancelling or amending all articles in the Penal Code that impose “blatantly unfair” restrictions on freedom of expression as well as amending the Press and Publications Law to ensure the full protection of freedom of speech.

Stressing that the government is keen on addressing these issues and is seriously considering introducing amendments to the Press and Publications Law, Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad Momani said the government has held several meetings with committees at the Lower House, which he said represent a proper umbrella for discussions on how to meet Jordan’s pledges in this regard.

MP Rula Hroub disagreed with the minister, saying there are no actual results so far or any progress made in fulfilling Jordan’s pledges.

“Unfortunately, all the meetings that we had with the government about this issue were called for by parliamentary committees. The government has good intentions but all the meetings were upon personal initiatives by some MPs,” Hroub said during the event, which was held by the CDFJ and attended by media professionals, deputies, lawyers and representatives of the judiciary, and civil society.

Participants at the event called for institutionalising efforts that seek to fulfil Jordan’s pledge in this respect.

They also called for mechanisms to monitor the implementation of the recommendations as the Kingdom is to show the progress it has made in this respect for another UN review in 2017.

AMMAN — The Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) is working towards transforming Jordan’s sole port city into “a world class business hub and leisure destination”, ASEZA Chief Commissioner Kamel Mahadin said Saturday.

To that end, ASEZA was among several local institutions that recently signed research and academic exchange agreements with the University of Texas (UT) at Arlington, Mahadin said.

The US university signed the agreements with the Jordanian Nursing Council, the Hashemite University, the Jordanian University of Science and Technology (JUST) and ASEZA last week.

HRH Princess Muna attended the signing ceremony.

Mahadin also signed another cooperation agreement with UT Arlington President Vistasp M. Karbhari, whereby both parties agreed to establish a programme of cultural, economic and academic exchange.

“This important agreement aims at developing cooperation between ASEZA and the University of Texas, one of US’ prestigious universities…” Mahadin told The Jordan Times.

“The purpose of the cooperation between UT Arlington and ASEZA include… deepening the understanding of the economic, cultural and social issues of the respective institutions,” he said. 

“… We will start working on developing institutional exchange that involves faculty and staff [and]… organising symposiums, conferences, short courses and meetings on research issues,” Mahadin noted.

He stressed on the importance of the educational sector as an aspect in the development of Aqaba. 

“We in Aqaba focus heavily on education, believing in the significant role it plays in the development process and in building the capacity of communities.”

The agreement comes as part of ASEZA’s strategy to develop international cooperation with renowned academic institutions, Mahadin added, noting that the authority has recently signed an agreement with the Italian University of Palermo to develop means of cooperation on similar levels, including establishing a faculty of medicine at the University of Jordan campus in Aqaba.

AMMAN — When Malak Hariri took refuge at the Zaatari Refugee Camp two years ago, she was alone with a baby before her husband followed them.

Life in the desert camp was then more difficult, too difficult in fact, so much so that the Daraa-born women wanted to be anywhere except there. 

Being one of the first families to arrive there, they suffered a lack of privacy, inconvenience of public toilets, tent homes and fear for personal safety, among other factors inherent in a fledgling refugee camp. But they survived and living conditions became better, pending a return to the sweet home back in Syria. 

Malak and her husband, Majid, and their son, have settled down and adapted to camp life. With the availability of maternal care, they decided to have another baby. After all, they live in a prefabricated house now and have the privacy a family needs, while the husband has a “good job”. 

The husband said: “We are luckier than many other families here,” in the camp that is currently home to more than 100,000 Syrians, who have been inflowing since it was established in August 2012. 

“We have a home now,” Malak said.

The family now lives in a two-room ready-made house, with a kitchen and private toilet. One caravan was provided to them by the UNHCR, while they bought another for JD150 from another family who decided to go back to Syria. 

Majid said the family’s income is good because he works as a guard at the UNFPA clinic.

“I adapted to the place to the extent I decided to take a decision that is considered the most difficult to take in refuge… I decided to have another baby,” the 28-year-old wife said. That was a shift in attitude because the couple had been determined not to have any more babies before they go back to their country. 

“My baby girl Sereen was born on February 14 [2014],” the mother said, adding that though she does not believe in Valentine’s Day, having a healthy baby on that date was her gift from God.

“Everything a pregnant woman needs is available. I used to go to the clinic once or twice and gave birth to the new baby here in the camp,” the mother explained.

“It seems the crisis in my country will not be over anytime soon, and I wanted a sister or a brother for my Louay,” she said, adding that when she found all services available, she was encouraged to take this decision.

According to Zeina Horani, who is in charge of media and external relations at UNFPA Jordan, having maternity care clinics in place was a priority for the UN agency.

Horani said of the total 600,000 Syrian refugees registered in Jordan, 70 per cent are women and children, and they deserve to be provided with the health services they need.

The UNFPA has established 27 reproductive health clinics to serve women refugees. Of these, she said, 14 are static in host communities, seven are mobile and six are within Zaatari.

The services include “prevention, antenatal care, postnatal care, and delivery clinic”, she told The Jordan Times.

Figures she presented showed that 691 babies were born at the UNFPA clinic based in Zaatari last year, and 258 babies in the first two months this year.

Sereen Hariri was one of these. Her family is waiting for the day when they go back to Syria and raise a bigger family, remembering her birth as a sweet moment.  

AMMAN — With the aim of unleashing the talents of young Jordanians and promoting tolerance, dialogue and social responsibility, a local initiative is organising short story and photography competitions.

Founders of Heik A7la (it's better this way), an initiative that seeks to promote positive thinking and good citizenship through music and the arts, on Saturday said that the short story competition targets children aged between eight and 16, while the photography contest targets amateurs and professionals of all ages.

"We hope to be able to generate a creative spark among youths," Nizar Sartawi, who chairs the short story competition's English language panel of judges, told reporters.

"We live at a time full of conflicts, so we want to encourage our children to dismiss this negative atmosphere and acknowledge and respect the other," Sartawi added.

Children wishing to participate should fill out an online form and send their story, which can be in English or Arabic, to Heika7la@gmail.com, according to author Samia Atout, a panel member.

The story should address aspects of human relations, such as "cooperation, equality or helping others" and combine reality with imagination, Atout added, stressing that entries should adhere to the stylistic elements of the short story genre. 

The deadline to receive submissions is April 11. More information is available on the initiative's Facebook page (www.facebook.com/heika7la). 

"We hope that we will be able to reach out to schools in other governorates through this competition," said author Mahmoud Rimawi, who chairs the short story competition's jury.

Panel member Jaafar Aqeili said contests that nurture creativity contribute to encouraging a diverse, tolerant community.

"We need to help raise a diverse generation because Jordanian society is a mosaic of identities, and we need to spread positive attitudes," he noted.  

Those wishing to participate in the photography competition, organised in cooperation with the Jordan Photographic Society, can submit pictures highlighting positive attitudes in society.

A selection of the best photos will be showcased at an exhibition held alongside the awards ceremony for both the competitions at Ras Al Ain Gallery in May, according to the organisers.

Heik A7la founder Marlene Al Atrash Abdallah said the initiative, which was launched in late 2013, will also prepare audio recordings of the winning short stories and publish all accepted submissions on the competition's blog.

Zeina Abdallah, the initiative's co-founder, said Heik A7la organises art activities for children and young people every Saturday that are open to anyone wishing to participate.

"We hope to grow further with more support from the community," she said.

The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) is Heik A7la's main partner and supporter, according to Qamar Nabulsi, who is responsible for cultural campaigns at GAM.

"We have always supported such cultural activities," she told The Jordan Times.

"We want people to know that the municipality is not just about streets and bridges. It's about promoting culture, because that's what really builds cities."

AMMAN — Photography and art fans were exposed on Friday to several pictures reflecting photographers' impressions about the city of Salt. 

The project, dubbed N.I.P.A.S N.V–Salt, was organised by two teams of Jordanian and French photographers. 

The theme is in accordance with that of the fourth edition of the Image Festival, "Together", according to French author Tanguy Bizien

"The French team consisted of three photographers, one graphic design artist and one author," he told The Jordan Times at the exhibition's opening ceremony.

Bizien noted that photographers tried to create a new image of the city. 

"It is about feelings. We tried to create something reflecting what we saw. It was our interpretation of where we went." 

One of the goals of the N.I.P.A.S N.V–Salt project was to create a universe and invite people to enter it through the 60 showcased photos of Salt, which is around 35km northwest of Amman, Bizien said.  

"We created music and we recorded people's [voices]" to accompany the images and provide a multi-dimensional experience of the city, the French author added. 

He noted that Jordanians are the most hospitable people he has ever met. 

"They welcomed us whenever they met us and they even invited us to their houses." 

Iraqi architect Mohammad Nayif, who joined the Jordanian photographers, said he is fond of old houses and architecture, in addition to the yellow colour of the stones, so he decided to illustrate these feelings in his photos. 

"People abandon these houses. Also, renovation of these houses distorts their cultural identity," he said, calling on officials to pay more attention to architectural heritage.

Nayif said that it was a good experience to work with French photographers. 

"I noticed that Jordanian photographers are as skilful as their French counterparts and they took really beautiful pictures." 

The exhibition, held at the Zara Centre in Wadi Saqra, continues until the end of this month.