Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: Jordan

Showing posts with label Jordan. Show all posts

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Gaza exports potatoes to Jordan via Israel

PalPress and COGAT report that two truckloads of potatoes, weighing 34 tons, were exported from Gaza to Jordan this morning.

Some 330 truckloads of goods also entered Gaza via Kerem Shalom this morning.

Although I saw a small shipment of gravel last week from Egypt to Gaza, I have not seen any exports from Gaza into Egypt.

Must be because of that Israeli siege.

Will Jordan be next?

From AFP:

Jordan plans to raise power prices after doubling taxes on cellphones to offset a large budget deficit, despite warnings that such measures will provoke a public outcry.

Grappling with little or no natural resources and an external debt of more than $23 billion, the kingdom is trying to reduce a $2 billion fiscal deficit this year and at the same time tackle cuts in Egyptian gas supplies.

Sabotage attacks on gas pipelines from Egypt -- the energy source for 80 percent of Jordan’s electricity -- are costing the government at least $1 million a day, energy officials say.
In response, as it tackles paring down a $10.5-billion 2013 budget, the government in Amman intends to hike the price of electricity by 15 percent, having already doubled taxes on cellphones to 16 percent and to 24 percent on mobile telephone contracts.

“Such wrong and uncalculated steps show that the government lacks a comprehensive understanding of the situation,” Yusuf Mansur, chief executive officer of the Amman-based Envision Consulting Group, told AFP.

“When the government increases prices and taxes, the productivity and consumption of people will be affected and this will reduce government revenues.”

Mansur, who headed Jordan’s Agency for Economic Development, estimated the current inflation rate at about seven percent and this year’s real economic growth at 2.6 percent.

According to the government, the inflation rate now stands at 6.5 percent, and real economic growth will come to 3.5 percent.

“People, including government employees, will resort to strikes and protests and the government will be forced to borrow more or impose more taxes. It’s a vicious circle,” he said.

“We are completely dependent on foreign aid and government economic policies have failed, at least in the past three years. I expect a very bad recession in the next stage.”

A government decision in November to raise fuel prices, including household gas, by up to 53 percent, sparked a wave of nationwide protests, with some calling for King Abdullah II to step down, which is punishable by imprisonment.

Unemployment stands at about 14 percent in the country of 6.8 million people where 70 percent of the population is under 30, but other estimates put the jobless figure at between 22 and 30 percent. The minimum wage is $211 (159 euros) a month.

Last month, ratings agency Moody’s cut its sovereign grade for Jordan from “B1” from “Ba2,” in the middle of its category for “speculative” or so-called junk debt, saying government finances had weakened sharply in the past two years.

And in May, Standard & Poor’s lowered Jordan’s long-term credit rating by one notch to “BB-” with a negative outlook due in part to the conflict in neighbouring Syria.

Jordan is home to more than 500,000 Syrian refugees, and Amman has repeatedly complained they are burdening the country’s scarce resources, while calling for international aid.

“Regional instability, including the disruptions in Egypt’s gas supplies and the Syrian refugees, is seriously affecting the budget,” lawmaker Mohammad Dmur, head of parliament’s finance committee, told AFP.

Economics has been the main incentive behind the revolution in Tunisia and the newest one in Egypt. Islamists are poised to take advantage of the Jordanian situation, although the Egyptian coup will make it more difficult.

It seems clear that Israel is poised to replace Egypt as the supplier of gas to Jordan as soon as the Mediterranean fields are operating more steadily, but that is not going to happen immediately and it also won't happen without some backlash from Jordanians who simply hate Israel.

No matter what, Israel's most reliable neighboring ally is in danger.

Jordanian paper pushes the Helen Thomas ethnic cleansing plan

Addustour, a popular Jordanian newspaper, looks at the death of Helen Thomas and asks - what's so wrong with her idea of kicking all the Jews out of Israel? It is a plan that should be taken seriously, according to this op-ed.

After all, Herzl didn't care where the Jewish homeland would be. And Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said they'd allow Jews to return to that country once Israel was destroyed. And Jews themselves say they were kicked out of Arab countries, implying that they would return if they could. (Jordan, of course, would have no Jews returning, so it is an easy plan for a Jordanian newspaper to push.)

Of course, a few Jews would be allowed to remain in Israel according to the Helen Thomas Peace/Ethnic Cleansing Plan. You know, the ones who say that they disavow any concept of Jewish nationalism.

Yes, the best way to memorialize "this courageous woman" would be to take her liberal idea of ethnic cleansing and implement it fully.

Jordan says Israeli carrots "invading markets" during Ramadan

Al Ghad writes about Jordanian markets selling Israeli carrots, but labeling them as coming from Syria or Turkey.

"Citizens" complained of the presence of large amounts of Israeli carrots in the local vegetable markets since the beginning of the month of Ramadan.

They say that the sellers of vegetables hide the origin of the product, claiming that they are imported from Syria.

The article says that due to the reluctance of many Jordanian citizens to buy Israeli products those traders are resorting to removing the labels and putting them on display racks.

The article claims that Israel "flooded the markets" these carrots, which are of high quality.

The agriculture minister admits importing vegetables from Israel to meet demand as necessary, but insists that they do not originate in the territories.

(h/t Khaled Abu Toameh)

The Nakba that no one mentions: 315,000 Pal "refugees" lost their homes in Syria

UNRWA's statistics show that in Syria there are some 235,000 "Palestinian refugees" who have become displaced in that country.

Over 71,000 of the "refugees" became real refugees in Lebanon, and 8000 more in Jordan. Thousands more have fled to Egypt, Gaza, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

44,000 homes of Palestinian Arabs in Syria have been damaged or destroyed.

In total, more than half of Syria's Palestinians have been displaced.

Palestinian Arabs in Syria are still being killed daily. A UNRWA employee was killed last week, becoming the 7th UNRWA employee killed in Syria. The total number killed is above 1500.

Yet no one is calling this a "Nakba." In fact, hardly anyone is talking about this at all.

While the UN has numerous committees and events and days and meetings dedicated to helping Palestinian Arabs who are perceived to be victims of Israel, this year (besides UNRWA press releases) there has been only one semi-official statement on the matter listed in the UNISPAL archives, from January. Here it is:

Asked about reports that the Secretary-General may be acting as an intermediary between Israeli and Palestinian officials over the fate of Palestinian refugees in Syria, the Spokesperson said that the Secretary-General has expressed his deep concern on the plight of Palestinians displaced and uprooted by the violence in Syria. He has called for countries in the region to help the refugees.

That's it. A half-baked statement only made as an answer to a question. Nothing - zero- being done pro-actively by the UN to help them (again, besides UNRWA.)

The UNHRC has had nine anti-Israel resolutions since the beginning of 2012 - and not one about Syrian Palestinians.

600,000 people who left their homes in 1948 - most not forcibly but out of fear - have generated tons of papers, dozens of resolutions and thousands of man-days of obsessive attention. Over half that number are suffering much more today, and are being ignored by that same body - even among the specific committees that are ostensibly meant to help Palestinians!

Even the Palestinian Arab media have far more articles about Jews walking on the Temple Mount than about their fellow Palestinians being murdered, injured and made homeless daily.

Gaza fishermen get more attention from the media, NGOs, the EU and the UN than hundreds of slaughtered Syrian Palestinians.

It is more than a double standard. It is proof that the only reason people pretend to care about Palestinian Arabs is because they really want to demonize Israel rather than to lift a finger to actually help any Palestinian Arabs.

Jordan's king says Palestinian issue the "crux of the conflict" in the region

From Ammon News:

His Majesty King Abdullah II said the Middle East was facing enormous challenges that threatened efforts to bring about peace, security and stability in the region, warranting a concerted global effort to stop the region from sliding into further violence and turbulence and enable its people to realize a better future.

He told the annual Sun Valley Economic Forum in the American state of Idaho that the stalemate in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process and the continuation of the Syrian crisis and its repercussions were the two key challenges threatening the future of peace and stability.

The King reiterated that the Palestinian issue was the crux of the conflict in the region, stressing the need for action to find a just and lasting settlement according to the two-state solution – an independent and viable Palestinian state on 1967 borders and living in peace and security alongside Israel.

Yup - Egyptian chaos, Syria civil war and resulting refugee crisis, Lebanon's infighting, water shortages through the region, the rise of Islamism, Jordan's own energy crisis - all of those problems are dependent on creating yet another Arab state and making Israel even tinier than it is.

Blaming Israel for anything is really a hard habit to break for Arab leaders.

The real question is how come no one at this economic forum seemed to challenge the king on his idiocy.

Then again, it appears that he is just repeating the Obama administration/s Middle East strategy. The religion of linkage is as powerful as ever.

Jordan increasing censorship of news

From AFP:

The Jordanian government said on Tuesday that it had blocked 254 unlicensed news websites, 16 of them in the previous two days, using powers under a 2012 law criticized as a threat to freedom of expression.

Fayez Shawabkeh, head of the Press and Publication Department said: “16 local news websites were blocked in the past two days after carefully examining their situation.

“This brings the total number of sites the PPD blocked recently to 254, while 111 sites have obtained licenses.”

On June 3, authorities said they would block nearly 300 out of 400 local news websites “for failing to obtain the necessary licensing,” under last year’s controversial legislation.

The law gave the government powers to regulate “electronic publications,” requiring them to register with the PPD and obtain a license.

It stipulates that the chief editors of news websites must be members of the Jordan Press Association, giving the government the right to censor content and hold journalists liable for comments posted on webpages.

The PPD has insisted “the decision does not seek to restrict freedoms,” and that “the objective is to organize the work of these websites.”

Journalists accuse the government of seeking to control who can publish news.

One of the sites blocked in the past two days is 7iber, Arabic for “ink.”

Its editor, Lina Ejeilat, told AFP 7iber was an interactive website that published reports and features from contributors, and said it should not be covered by the legislation.

“We are a blog and definitely not a news website,” she said.

Shawabkeh disagreed, saying that “7iber is registered at the trade and industry ministry as a news website and posts news and political analyses about Jordan, which means that the law applies to it.”

The PPD’s decision drew renewed criticism of Jordan from international human rights watchdogs, as well as from journalists, activists and the main opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, who saw it as an attempt to impose censorship.

Jordan paper warns that "normalization" is just another form of "occupation"

In Assabeel, writer Ahmed Shawabkeh warns that Israel's desire to have normal relations with its Arab neighbors is nothing less than a method for Israel to non-militarily occupy the Arab world.

The establishment of normal relations "between the perpetrator and the victim," allows Israel, and indeed all Western powers, to achieve what cannot be achieved by direct military occupation - and it costs less, too!

The worst types and the worst form of normalization, Shawabkeh informs us, is practiced by "the Jewish entity" against all its Arab neighbors, either through treaties and formal conventions or via vague and veiled understandings, all done forcibly against the will of the people.

This awful occupation involves Israel using natural resources of the "occupants," spying on them, marketing Israeli goods to them - many of which are carcinogenic and other items [perhaps, ideas] that kill souls and bodies. Israel also is said to have poisoned Egyptian land by planting trees and other agricultural initiatives.

Military occupation is preferable to this insidious "civil occupation," he says, because the occupant knows he is being occupied in a military occupation and can be on guard for the enemy's evil plots - but normalization is worse, because it is like a cancer spreading throughout your body that you are not aware of.

How can self-respecting Arabs establish relations with the likes of those who had spurned God and His prophets, and occupied the land and killed people and desecrated the holy places? How can they sign agreements and treaties and open their embassies and exchange visits and meetings and kisses with these Jews?

Shawbakeh concludes by saying that reconciliation and normalization with Jews should provoke anger and abhorrence and indignation.

By the way, the author is a dean of an Islamic university and holds a PhD in modern history from Ain Shams University in Cairo.

Many Jordanian teens justify "honor killings"

From AFP:

Belief that so-called honor killings are justified is still common among Jordanian teenagers, a Cambridge University study revealed on Thursday.

The study by researchers from the university's Institute of Criminology found that almost half of boys and one in five girls interviewed in the capital, Amman, believe that killing a daughter, sister or wife who has "dishonored" or shamed the family is justified.

"Researchers surveyed over 850 students, and found that attitudes in support of honor killing are far more likely in adolescent boys with low education backgrounds," a statement said, adding that the research is published in the criminology journal Aggressive Behavior.

"Importantly, the study found that these disturbing attitudes were not connected to religious beliefs."

Between 15 and 20 women die in so-called "honor" murders each year in the Arab kingdom, despite government efforts to curb such crimes.

Keep in mind that the same Arab attachment to "honor" that justifies murdering their own daughters and wives also justifies lifelong dedication to destroying Israel. Erasing shame is the most powerful motive in the Arab world, and nothing short of annihilation of the source of the shame can be effective.

Which is reason #7492 why peace is impossible.

This article is from Addustour, a major newspaper in Jordan, written by columnist Rashad Abu Daoud.

How I wish that that moment in Davos never happened. How I wish we hadn’t been fooled by Erdogan’s “heroic” deed when he insulted Shimon Peres, threw his papers away and left the podium at the convention. Because we Arabs are hungry for honor, we applauded the man and granted him the Arab citizenship in our hearts which are thirsty for glory. Just like when we were fond of the "CheGuevara-ishness" of Chavez when he stood up against Zionism and supported Palestine . But the man died of cancer, like others died… by poison. [Possible reference to Arafat?] It seems that the pure ones die and the filthy ones spread corruption in history as a service for Zionism.

Between one tragedy and another one, let us return to that little booklet, full of poison, which disappeared from the Arab markets, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”. Despite all that has been said about it and the attempts to cast doubt about its authenticity, what has been going on in the world, specifically in our Arab homeland and its surroundings, seems like an implementation of what’s in the Protocols to the letter.

Basically the Jews see themselves as “God’s Chosen People”, and the other peoples are nothing but nations divided into groups and classes, that should be exploited to serve the Chosen People.

More specifically, exploiting some goys to serve the Jews, after influencing them through methods which have been known to the Jews - and known about the Jews - for 3,000 years. The methods consist of money, media and women. They are the first ones who invented the stock exchange in the global economy, the first ones to create the cinema and to establish media companies. As for women – they reproduced the personality of Salome, who tempted the Emperor so that he brought her the head of Prophet Yahya – St. John the Baptist – on a silver plate [St. John the Baptist is holy for Muslims as well, under the name “Yahya”].

There is much contemporary evidence. Those who want details should read what was written about them in the global literature. Perhaps “Shylock” by Shakespeare is the best example of usury in history. Although Shylock is a Shakespearean character, but the most famous English poet didn’t invent the idea of usury – it is a Jewish custom. European society suffered at their hands for ages. It was through money that they tempted Balfour to grant them a national homeland in Palestine.

Modern times witness advanced implementations of the Protocols. Raisa, Gorbachev’s wife, the Gorbachev who destroyed half the world and handed it to the other half in order to upset the global balance, and the wife of an Arab president who was murdered on the podium of a military ceremony [Sadat, presumably], and what is said about many influential women in the world now is that they are Jewish or gentiles who were exploited in the service of the Zionist enterprise. And let’s not forget the anti-semitism which is attached to anyone who is bold enough to question the “God’s Chosen People” ideal!

We see in our times people also entangled in the same service [i.e. in the service of Zionism]. Recep Tayep Erdogan is an example. They [i.e. the Jews] gave him a role which is way too big for his size, in order to exploit him afterwards in the role he is supposed to play in the scheme to sow civil strife, the scheme that is being carried out right now in the Arab homeland. Otherwise how is it possible that Ataturk's republic is over and the military's rule, which lasted 70 years is finished just like that, in a moment, through the so-called democracy? And how could the Islamists of Turkey, after all these years, turn from reticent oppositionists to rulers who don't shy away from marketing ideas, which they know full well that are not suitable for Turkish society?

Erdogan already played a dubious role in the beginning of his rule, when he mediated between Syria and America. We said that the man is honest in standing by a geographical neighbor and brother in religion and history. But in no time he turned his back on history, religion and geography and put Turkey in one basket with Israel and America, naturally under the banner of democracy, of which we have actually not seen anything but the fragmentation of the Arab countries along sectarian, class and political lines.

Today Erdogan is falling into the same pit that he dug for Syria . There you have Turkey on its way towards a rift, which will turn into a tool of destruction, so the Turks are going to yearn for the days of the military [rule].

If you think that Abu Daoud is some crackpot writing for a fringe newspaper, his CV lists that besides this newspaper column ("Constitution") he has been the managing editor of the Khaleej Times, assistant managing editor of Basma magazine in Jordan, editorial director of the Journal magazine (Saudi Arabia,), and author of several books.

Oh, and the antisemite is a Palestinian Arab, born in Nablus but educated in Damascus.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

Jordanian newspaper: "Let's kill the Jews everywhere"

Batayena

This article, by Dr. Muhammad Qasem Batayena writing in Jordanian newspaper Assawsana. is the worst one I have ever read. And that's saying something.

Batayena is apparently a Ba'athist, and in other articles he writes of his support for the Assad regime and he refers to Saddam Hussein as a "martyr." Even so, as you will see, he will happily use Koranic references as well.

The title of the piece is "Let's Kill the Jews Everywhere."

I'm not an extremist, nor racist… I'm not bloodthirsty and not vengeful… I'm not a terrorist and I've never been a killer… All my life I hated the color red, and my dictionary never included the word "blood"… I am not bloodthirsty at all… but I'm an oppressed Muslim and an Arab whose will has been taken away from him… that is how we were shaped in (these) bad times, which we haven't chosen (to be born into)… this is how it was planned that we should be… we are living in volcanic lands… We smell the smell of blood coming from every direction… they [presumably the Jews] turned the color of the ground into red… our people's body parts were scattered and their factions fought each other (literally "shot at each other") through Arab-like Hebrew hands ["musta'ariba", see Wikipedia for analog Mista-arvim]… and because I look at all these things without doing a thing – for that I'm an Arab.

Because all my limbs are chained and I cannot move… because my tongue was made silent by the treacheries of the blood-traders [Arab rulers who made peace with Israel or at least don't fight it]… because my heart became dead and my words are no longer virgin, because my brown skin hides behind it chagrin/sorrow/anger and humiliation/disgrace, and therefore I am an Arab for sure… because our blood is permitted, while the blood of the apes and pigs is forbidden… because the Arab tyrants sold us for a cheap price and served us on golden plates as sacrifice for the Zionists… because the rotten Jewish tourist walks around [Arab countries] firmly guarded by Arab guards, in order to guard his filthy soul… because any Arab who wants to pray in Jerusalem has to obtain a visa from the killers of the children of Palestine… because the hero Daqamseh , see here] is described as "a criminal murderer by our Arab-like ["musta'arabin" again) ambassadors in the so-called Israel, and therefore I'm an Arab, unfortunately.

Yes, unfortunately, our identity is lost since that whore Livni slept on the bosom of the rulers of Qatar, and its leaders kissed Hillary Clinton and hugged the black whore Condoleeza Rice… Yes, unfortunately I'm an Arab since Palestine has been erased from the map of the world… since that/one Canadian policeman told me that Israel is oppressed and it has to be aided [not sure if he means the Canadian government, or he refers to a personal encounter with an actual Canadian policeman]… since I found out that the entire world collects donations in order to support Israel in getting rid of terror, therefore I'm sorry that I'm an Arab.

Thus, I have to be ashamed of my Arabness... I have to bury my head in the sand like an ostrich, with chagrin and weakness… but this will never happen… since our great leaders have taught us that Falsehood might win the battle but Truth wins the war, our paragon, leader and Master (the prophet) Muhammad Bin Abdallah Peace Be Upon Him taught us this... Yes, we will triumph, pray in Jerusalem and take revenge on the filthy murderers… we will kill them wherever we find them, as the Holy Koran told us [referring to the verse in the Koran which begins: "And kill them wherever you find them… " Sura 2, verse 191]… we will make them taste the taste of death, in which they became masters all over the Islamic and Arab lands… Yes, we will kill them, and I swear that if I get the chance, I won't miss it… since I believe in Allah and his Messenger, and I know that this world is nothing but the enjoyment of a delusion [another Koranic reference]…Therefore I want to be proud that I'm a Muslim Arab who doesn't believe in the Arab borders [he is a Baathist/nationalist Arab who believes in Arab unity "from the Maghreb to the Gulf"].

This is important not only for its unmistakable message of genocide against Jews, but from the perspective of the Arab honor/shame mentality.

Batayena is writing exclusively from the point of view of Arabs being deeply humiliated by the very existence not only of Israel, but of Arabs who dare make peace with Israel. While this level of vitriol is unusual in even for the Arab media, it is clear that his point of view is not anomalous or even unusual.

{h/t Ibn Boutros]