Sugar Cubes

Jordan is preventing Orthodox Jewish Israelis from entering the country, ostensibly for fear they could be attacked, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said.
The announcement came Wednesday as Jordan refused entry to eight Israeli tourists at a border crossing after prayer shawls and other religious items were found.

Foreign Ministry officials told Ha’aretz that Israeli officials have been trying to convince Jordan to change the policy.

[Via JTA]

AMMAN — The ministries of environment and health on Thursday temporarily shut down Al Himma resort for violation of environmental standards.

The complex was closed because garbage was strewn everywhere emitting an unpleasant odour that posed a threat to the environment and the health of citizens, a source at the Ministry of Environment told The Jordan Times.

“The complaints unit at the ministry received several calls from people living close to the resort, claiming that the garbage had affected their health,” said the source, who did not want to be named.

Al Himma, a therapeutical hot springs located about 10km north of Umm Qais in Irbid Governorate, was highly regarded by the Romans.

The mineral-rich hot waters of the springs pour into an indoor pool at a privately run complex with a restaurant.

The ministry sent an inspection team to the site, where bathing facilities are available for visitors, and found it full of trash that attracted insects and flies, said the source.

“It was completely polluted. It is the fault of citizens who visit the site and leave their garbage behind, “ said the source, adding that the management was also to blame as it had turned a blind eye to the problem.

According to the source, the site will be reopened when it is cleaned up.

[Via Jordan Times]

It does not take much to clean up the place, actually if only people will stop throwing garbage the place will remain clean enough for everyone to enjoy. This is sad.

In response to the barbaric terrorist explosions that targeted innocent lives in our beloved Amman, an initiative of Jordanian citizens (Risalitna) has been launched to demonstrate loyalty to Jordan, resistance to terrorism and solidarity with the families of the victims.

Risalitna counters terrorists’ message of unjustifiable killing and destruction by a Jordanian message of peace, tolerance and coexistence. Risalitna also affirms unity of all Jordanians.

Sixty innocent people were killed. Tens more lay in hospitals with injuries ranging from difficult to life-threatening. Wives have been widowed, men have been left with young children to raise without loving mothers, and youths lost their families and the source of their livelihood and future education. Death and destruction have left a profound impact on hundreds of Jordanians from all walks of life, many with real and immediate needs of financial support. Their future is either misery or, through support of generous Jordanians, one of hope to re-emerge and lead lives with hope, respect and dignity.

Consequently, Risalitna is spearheading a fundraising campaign under the theme: from the people, to the people. This campaign seeks to raise financial support to the individuals and families most impacted by this 9/11 tragedy. Organized in cooperation with both Christian and Muslim associations, Risalitna will provide support to the neediest families through the YMCA and YMWA.

From the people, to the people is a unique partnership between Jordanian citizens. The Jordanian Joint Chiefs of Staff, media, private sector and NGOs granted this citizens’ initiative immense and prompt support. Such a partnership underscores the message that “each one of us is Jordan.”

The victims of the 9/11 terror and their victimized families need your support. You can demonstrate your support in a variety of ways including calling the telephone number (09000-9000) from a landline or any mobile telephone from Jordan. You can also purchase a Risalitna poster or car sticker from stores throughout Jordan. The families will most benefit from direct cash contributions into a dedicated bank account number (53950) at Union Bank/Jabal Amman. All funds collected will be distributed directly by the YMCA and YMWA based on strict criteria of need.

Demonstrate your good citizenship and patriotism and contribute to the victims. Your efforts will help the needy and beat the terrorists.

Please pass on the news to family and friends in Jordan.

Related tags: Jordan, explosions

According to a survey conducted by the WHO in 2004:

About 46% of the survey respondents stated that they had never smoked. 20% reported having successfully quit smoking, 7% smoked occasionally and only 27% smoked regularly. Those who smoked regularly consumed 19 cigarettes a day on average. Those who smoked occasionally smoked an average of 10 cigarettes per day. Among smokers who named a preferred brand, Viceroy and Marlboro were the most popular, named by 25% and 22% of respondents respectively. Rothmans and LM followed, at 10% each. The proportion of smokers among male respondents was almost twice as high as among female respondents, at 36.3% versus 19.3% respectively.

And on helping out patients by providing counselling, medications and assisting materials:

Physicians in Jordan agreed that health professionals should be and indeed are role models in their attitude to smoking. When combining the responses of those who “strongly agreed” and those who “agreed”, the opinion was nearly the same among smokers and non-smokers. Treated separately, agreement among non-smokers was stronger. There was a slight difference in agreement over the statement that physicians who smoke are less likely to advise their patients against smoking. While 77% of non-smokers “agreed” with this statement, only 70% of occasional or regular smokers did so.

On the availability of interventions to help patients stop smoking, counselling was the option reported as most available. Other interventions, such as medication or self-help materials were less readily available, with 3.3% and 21% of respondents reporting them as available, respectively. However, uptake, defined as use where available, was high for all three. The high uptake levels (69% for medications, 94% for self-help and 97% for counselling) suggest that health professionals use self-help, counselling and medication for their patients when they are available.

Health professionals’ assessment of their preparedness to offer smoking cessation counselling is a powerful predictor of whether they will offer it to patients. Among those who reported feeling “prepared” to counsel their patients on how to quit smoking, 86% did counsel their patients on the subject, 23% provided them with self-help material and 8% used medication. Of those who reported feeling “not at all prepared” to counsel their patients on smoking cessation, 36% counselled them, 10% provided self-help material and 4% used medication.

And what was the result of the survey?

Physicians in Jordan have excellent knowledge of the harms of smoking. They recognize the importance of non-smoking health professionals as role models to assist patients in quitting smoking. They also recognize the role models that health professionals represent to others.

When interventions are available, which was not usually the case in the survey, physicians offered a range of effective smoking cessation interventions to their patients. Expanding access to medication and self-help, coupled with improved smoking cessation counselling training for physicians, would expand coverage of effective smoking cessation interventions in Jordan.

More than 75% of health professionals in Jordan, both smokers and non-smokers, consistently agreed with the need to implement the elements of comprehensive tobacco control. For all but price increases, support was virtually unanimous. Thus, physicians (especially non-smokers) in Jordan are well positioned to advocate for and support the implementation of comprehensive tobacco control.

[Read the full article]

Related tags: Jordan, smoking, WHO

The televised confession of an Iraqi woman accused of being the fourth would-be suicide attacker set Jordanians buzzing on Monday, some expressing joy over her capture and others venting anger over her deadly plans.
Still others questioned if she was really involved in the bomb plot that killed 57 people in Wednesday’s attacks on the Radisson SAS, Grand Hyatt and Days Inn hotels.

Sajida Al Rishawi went from rural Iraqi obscurity to global notoriety overnight after her confession was aired on Sunday, in a broadcast beamed not just across Jordan, but throughout the Middle East and beyond.

“I sat there watching and couldn’t understand how she could be speaking so coldly,” said Adel Fat’hi, 29. Three of his relatives were killed in the Radisson wedding party reception that was bombed by Sajida’s husband.

“It was scary to see her with her bomb but at least we know who she is and she can be punished,” said Anwar Nazih, a 15-year-old schoolgirl.

Many Jordanians, however, expressed doubt Sajida’s confession was real or that she was even involved in the plot.

“I don’t buy it. There are many contradictions, and it just doesn’t make sense,” said Mohammad Al Fakhiri, a 33-year-old mobile telephone shop owner in Amman.

“The first thing she would have done is get rid of her explosive belt,” Al Fakhiri said. “So how come she was caught with it.”

American forces detained and later released an Iraqi with the same name as one of the suicide attackers who struck three hotels in Amman, Jordan, last week, the US military said yesterday.

Jordanian authorities said Safaa Mohammad Ali, 23, was among the suicide attackers who struck last Wednesday at the Grand Hyatt, SAS Radisson and Day’s Inn hotels.

A statement by the US command said someone by that name was detained in November 2004 in connection with the American assault on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II said on Sunday that his country was in “negotiations” with Iraq over a court conviction against Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi.

A Jordanian court sentenced Chalabi in absentia in 1992 on charges of corruption and embezzlement over the collapse of a bank he was managing. “Well, obviously, we do have an issue with Chalabi,” the monarch said.

[Via GulfNews]

I don’t understand what has Chalabi’s story to do with the bombings?

Related tags: Amman explosion, Amman, explosion

Amman :

The Jordanian government has given the names of three Iraqi men and an Iraqi woman who took part in the suicide attacks against luxury hotels in Amman.

Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Al Muasher said the woman, who failed to blow herself up and is now in custody, is the wife of one of the attackers and the sister of a lieutenant of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaida in Iraq.

Muasher identified the three Iraqi bombers who died in the attack as Ali Hussein Ali Al Shamari, from Anbar; Rawad Jassem Mohammad Abed, 23; and Safaa Mohammad Ali, 23.

Al Shamari’s wife was identified as Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, 35, the sister the slain former militant Mubarak Atrous Al Rishawi.

Muasher said the woman accompanied her husband into a wedding hall in one of the hotels and that when her suicide belt failed to blow up the husband pushed her outside before detonating himself.

He showed pictures of the explosives belt worn by the woman, which he said show “the metal balls that were also attached to the belt so that they can inflict the largest number of casualties.”

Muasher told a news conference on Sunday that the attackers entered Jordan four days before Wednesday’s near-simultaneous attacks.

Iraq’s Al Qaida, led by Jordanian-born Zarqawi, has claimed responsibility for the blasts that killed 57 people at three hotels in Amman.

It said in an Internet statement that a married couple and two other men - all Iraqis - had carried out the attacks.

On Saturday, Muasher said the attackers were three males, but rejected speculation that a woman had been among them.

[Source]

I don’t want to know what will happen to her. I wish she was never born.

Related tags: Amman explosion, Amman, explosion

Ammar, unlike many of us wasn’t surprised at all. He is not afraid and will continue going everywhere. What he said, though very simple was surprisingly comforting, probably because it made sense.I personally liked what he said, and decided to share with you all:

“The event did not take in a surprise; to be pragmatic, it was an eminent event, most security services were expected it, but did not know when. In the last two years, all parking lot near and under hotels were closed. A Police car is always at the entrance of each hotel.

Remember once President Bush said, you are either with us, or with them!!!

Jordan is in a such a difficult situation, if I were a kind, I have to take critical and difficult decision based on the following

Jordan is a country with little resource

Jordan is a country with the longest boarder with Israel

Jordan is a country with no water

Jordan is a country close to affluent gulf

Jordan people are ambitious and look for better life

Jordan people are fairly intellectual and politically inclined

a good percentage of Jordanian live below poverty line (below 130 JD a month)

Jordan government received lots of Aids from the west (US in particular)

With all of the above, we, the people, are looking and ambitious for better standards of living. Ie looking for economic growth.

Can we attain the economic growth all by ourselves? Unfortunately not!

In the first gulf war, and due to our political stand, we paid a high price; more than 300,000 lost their jobs in Kuwait and other gulf countries.

The US administration put the Jordanian government in a difficult situation again by deciding to invade Iraq. We had two options:

With them (approving the war / Bush side)

Against them (standing against the war/ Against Bush)

Against them means, all the American aids (bribes) from the US would stops

The relationship with the Kuwaiti and Saudi government would stop

The economic growth cannot be sustained

Poverty would become more severe

With them means

More foreign Aid

Pouring investment from Gulf States in Jordan

Safe haven for affluent Iraqis

And as a result good economic growth

The second choice was taken and as a result, Jordan witnessed a remarkable growth

The fact that the Government of Jordan choose to be (With them) led some look at Jordan as a close ally of the American. Also there were rumors during the war that Jordan allowed the US army to use its facilities in the eastern desert of Jordan.

Anyway,, since all of that was going on in the minds of some people, they just to show that they still can cause harm outside Iraq against anyone having relationships with the Americans; and they leave a signature (like what took place in London) 3 bombs

That is why I say, that It was all expected, but the question was WHEN?.

There is a price for each option, an English proverb says : There no thing as a free dinner

Therefore, I do not thing that people should make a big issue out of it,, ignoring it is really better than making a media fuss.

There are reason inside Jordan that cause life lost and such reason cause causalities that far exceeds what happened.

Do you know that there is one loss of life every 11 hours due to traffic accidents? I think this is terror, the crimes that take place when merchant cheat their product especially crops that is contaminated with all kinds of poisonous stuff reaching the stomachs of all population,, Water contamination, Pollution by cars that go by unpunished.

To summaries, we are living in a situation that needs us to deal and adapt to such situation, What happened in Jordan is expected in All arab countries. It will only end when a settlement is reach in both Palestine and Iraq, when the Americans get back to their senses and stop their aggression on Iraq. I personally believe that the American nourished Al – Qaeda and they are to be blamed for their activities.

I hope It would make you feel a little, a wise man once said: If I know everything, I can excuse all people for what we do! But we do not know everything.

I am not scared, in the office we continued working as usual, I will keep going every where, including Hotels and restaurants etc. when ever there is a need without giving it another thought.”

Related tags: Amman explosion, Amman, explosion

I’ve read that Adnan Badran and other top Jordanian officials were present at the time of the explosions at. Do you think they were targeted?

Also, Aljazeera reported that two high ranking Palestinian security officials, a senior banker and the commercial attache at the Palestinian embassy in Cairo have died in the explosion:

Major-General Bashir Nafeh, the head of military intelligence in the West Bank, and Colonel Abed Allun, a Preventive Security Forces official, were killed in the attack at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Ambassador Attala Kheri told The AP.

Jihad Fatouh, the commercial attache at the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo, and Mosab Khorma, Deputy Chairman of Cairo-Amman Bank in the Palestinian territories, too, were killed in the three nearly simultaneous bombings on three hotels in the Jordanian capital on Wednesday night, Kheri said.

Do you think they were targetted? was there a message sent to people who have relationships with them?

Related tags: Amman explosion, Amman, explosion

A husband and wife were among four Iraqis who bombed hotels in the Jordanian capital Amman on Wednesday, according to a statement from the militant group, al-Qaida in Iraq.

“A group of martyrdom-seekers carried out the planning and implementation. They comprised three men and a woman who decided to accompany her husband on the path to martyrdom,” the statement said.

“All of these are Iraqis from the land between the two rivers,” it said, alluding to Iraq’s ancient name, Mesopotamia. “They vowed to die and they chose the shortest route to receive the blessings of God.”

[Read more]

Related tags: Amman explosion, Amman, explosion

اعلان الحداد العام في الأراضي الفلسطينية لمدة ثلاثة أيام

القوى الفلسطينية: منفذو الهجمات الإرهابية فئة مارقة من القتلة المأجورين

أعلنت السلطة الفلسطينية الحداد العام في الأراضي الفلسطينية لمدة ثلاثة أيام اعتباراً من يوم أمس حداداً على ضحايا التفجيرات الإرهابية التي شهدتها العاصمة عمان الليلة قبل الماضية ونكست الأعلام الفلسطينية في كافة المؤسسات الرسمية في الأراضي الفلسطينية.

ودان الشعب الفلسطيني ممثلاُ بقيادته السياسية وكافة فصائله الوطنية والإسلامية وفعالياته الجماهيرية الاعتداءات التي تعرضت لها عمان واعتبرتها بأنها هجمات إرهابية وظفت لتقديم خدمة مجانية لأعداء الأمة العربية والإسلامية كما دان التشريعي الفلسطيني بشدة هذه الاعتداءات الآثمة والإجرامية وأعرب في بيان أصدره أمس عن عميق حزن وأسف الشعب الفلسطيني وسلطته الوطنية لوقوع هذه التفجيرات في ثلاثة فنادق في عمان وتقدم إلى مجلس النواب والحكومة الأردنية والشعب الأردني الشقيق وذوي الضحايا بأحر التعازي.

وأكد التشريعي وقوف الشعب الفلسطيني إلى جانب الشعب الأردني الشقيق في هذه اللحظات العصيبة مشدداً على دعمه للأردن ملكاً وحكومة وشعباً ضد الإرهاب الذي يستهدف أمن واستقرار وازدهار الأردن والأمة العربية داعياً الأمتين العربية والإسلامية إلى النهوض والوحدة والتضامن في وجه المخططات التي تستهدف وجودها وتاريخها وحضارتها الإنسانية العريقة.

وأعرب قادة الفصائل الفلسطينية عن إدانتهم لهذه الجريمة النكراء حيث وصفها عضو المكتب السياسي للجبهة الشعبية جميل المجدلاوي بجريمة قتل عمياء استهدفت تحويل حياة الأمة العربية إلى كابوس وقدمت خدمة لأعداء الأمتين العربية والإسلامية.

واعتبر عضو المكتب السياسي للجبهة الديمقراطية صالح زيدان أن هذه الهجمات تتنافى مع كافة القيم الأخلاقية والدينية وأن الإرهابيين منفذي هذه التفجيرات استهدفوا إلحاق الضرر بمصالح الشعب الأردني الشقيق والعرب والمسلمين كافة.

من جهته قدم رئيس مكتب التعبئة والتنظيم في حركة فتح التعازي للسفير الأردني لدى السلطة يحيى القراله وأكد في مؤتمر صحافي عقده أمس في مدينة غزة أن الاعتداءات الإرهابية استهدفت المساس بأمن واستقرار المنطقة معرباً عن إدانة واستنكار الشعب الفلسطيني وسلطته الوطنية لهذه الاعتداءات الجبانة التي أدت إلى استشهاد وإصابة العشرات من المدنيين.

وأصدرت الفصائل بيانات دانت التفجيرات الإجرامية في عمان ونعت الشهداء الذين سقطوا جراءها حيث تقدمت حركة فتح في بيانها من جلالة الملك عبد الله الثاني وأبناء الشعب الأردني الشقيق والشعب الفلسطيني بالتعازي والمواساة وأعربت عن تضامنها مع الأردن ملكاً وحكومة وشعباً متمنية الأمن والاستقرار والسؤدد للمملكة الأردنية واجتيازه هذه الظروف الصعبة ونعت شهداء الأردن وفلسطين الذين سقطوا جراء هذه الهجمات.

وأعربت حركة المقاومة الإسلامية (حماس) عن استنكارها وإدانتها لهذه الاعتداءات التي استهدفت الفنادق وأسفرت عن سقوط عدد كبير من القتلى والجرحى من المواطنين الأبرياء.

وتقدمت حركة حماس في بيان اصدرته امس إلى الشعب الأردني الشقيق وأسر الضحايا بخالص العزاء والمواساة بهذا المصاب الجلل .

واعربت عن رفضها وادنتها لهذه الاعتداءات التي تستهدف المواطنين مؤكدة أن مثل هذه الأعمال التي تزعزع الاستقرار وتهدد أمن المواطنين، لا تخدم المصلحة الوطنية ولا مصالح وقضايا الأمة.

وأعرب القيادي البارز في حركة الجهاد الإسلامي خالد البطش عن استنكار الحركة وإدانتها لهذه الاعتداءات وناشد قاعدة الجهاد في بلاد الرافدين بأن تتجنب في ضرباتها المدنيين لما لذلك من انعكاسات سلبية على النهج الجهادي العام داعياً الجهة المذكورة إلى قراءة الوضع العام والالتزام بقاعدة الجهاد المتمثل في محاربة أعداء الأمة العربية والإسلامية.

وشدد على رفض الحركة استهداف المدنيين العرب والمسلمين في أي مكان معرباً عن أسفه عن الأحداث والتفجيرات التي شهدتها العاصمة الأردنية عمان.

وقال نافذ عزام من قادة الحركة نفسها الإسلام بريء من مثل هذه الأعمال الإجرامية التي تسيء لكل المبادئ والمثل الإسلامية السمحاء.

وتساءل كيف يمكن لشخص أن يفجر نفسه في عرس ويقتل العشرات باسم الإسلام أو أي مبدأ؟ و لخدمة من تصب مثل تلك الأعمال؟ مطالباً الجميع باستنكار هذه الأفعال الشنيعة.

[Source]

Related tags: Amman explosion, Amman, explosion, Palestine