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AMMAN — The Jordanian youth campaign to support prisoners organised a sit-in on Sunday near the Kalouti Mosque in the Rabiah neighbourhood to express solidarity with Jordanians imprisoned in Israel.

The activists, who were joined by families of some prisoners, called for freeing the detainees and ending their suffering, denouncing measures taken by the Israeli authorities against them.

The participants saluted the prisoners’ steadfastness.

AMMAN — The Social Development Ministry provides around JD2 million a year to its affiliated societies in the form of income-generating projects to reduce poverty and unemployment in local communities.

Social Development Ministry Spokesperson Fawaz Ratrout said the ministry had funded 789 projects worth JD10.5 million between 2008 and 2013.

GAZA — Gaza government officials on Sunday commended the services offered by Jordan’s military field hospital in the coastal enclave to alleviate the suffering of its residents.

During a visit to the hospital’s premises, Fathi Hammad, the minister of interior and national security in the Hamas government, thanked Jordan for the support it has continued to offer over the past five years through the field hospital.

Gaza Health Minister Mufeed Mkhallalati, who accompanied Hammad, said the hospital’s teams receive hundreds of cases on a daily basis.

“We cannot forget this kind gesture from Jordan, which has...

had a direct impact in supporting our health sector,” Mkhallalati added.

The hospital’s leader, Saleh Awamleh, welcomed the delegation and highlighted the facility’s achievements.

The field hospital was established on January 26, 2009 upon Royal directives, he said.

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Sunday approved a recommendation to encourage Jordanians to buy apartments under the Decent Housing for Decent Living initiative.

Based on the recommendations of a study conducted in cooperation with the private sector, the government will support buyers with the necessary funds to ensure that the instalments they have to pay to the bank remain affordable and do not include additional costs.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour urged the Education Ministry to coordinate with the Housing and Urban Development Corporation to give priority to teachers to benefit from the housing initiative.

Ensour also directed the Central Bank of Jordan to ensure that the payment procedures are streamlined, calling on the concerned ministers to ensure that health, education and transport services are provided near the apartments.

AMMAN — Ahmad Safadi, the first deputy of the Lower House speaker, on Sunday called for the House to convene on Tuesday for an evening session that opens at 4pm.

AMMAN — The Senate’s Financial and Economic Committee on Sunday began examining the 2014 state budget draft law which was endorsed by the Lower House last week.

The committee is scheduled to meet with representatives of public agencies and concerned private institutions during morning and afternoon sessions this week.

AMMAN — The Jordan Teachers Association (JTA), in cooperation with the Education Ministry, is following up on an assault against two Tawjihi exam monitors in Maan city on Sunday.

A JTA statement said a number of students attacked two exam monitors due to the “shortage in the number of security officers” outside the General Secondary Education Certificate Examination (Tawjihi) hall in question.

The association added that the supervisors will file a complaint against the attackers.

Meanwhile, a total of 4,900 violations have been recorded since the start of the Tawjihi winter session on December 28, Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat said on Sunday, according to a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Thneibat toured several exam halls in Southern Shuneh on Sunday and commended the efforts of supervisors, Petra reported.

KUWAIT — His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday sent a letter to Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, expressing Jordan’s gratitude for Kuwait’s constant support in the face of economic challenges.

In the letter, which was conveyed by Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh, King Abdullah expressed his appreciation of Kuwait for hosting the second International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria and the emir’s continued efforts to bolster solidarity and cooperation among the people of Arab and Muslim nations.

At the meeting with Tarawneh, the Kuwaiti emir commended King Abdullah’s “wise” policy and hailed the brotherly relations between the two countries.

AMMAN — Café owners and clientele expressed their outrage over a Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) decision to stop issuing and renewing argileh licences in the capital. 

GAM said last week it is committed to implementing the Public Health Law which prohibits smoking in public areas.

“The municipality received an official letter from the Health Ministry in late 2010, saying that we should not issue new licences for cafés serving argileh and stop renewing them,” Mervat Mheirat, director of GAM’s health supervision department, told The Jordan Times over the phone.

Since then, GAM has not issued new licences, according to Mheirat. 

But Khader Issa said he opened his café in the Bayader area two years ago, and the decision will have a negative impact on his business. 

“Since the decision was taken a few years ago, GAM should have alerted me... so that I could have chosen to invest in another project,” Issa added, noting that he still has not covered the expenses of his café.  

Mohammad Abbadi, another café owner, said there are more than 5,000 cafés in the capital that serve argileh, claiming that this decision will force most of them to close down. 

“One cannot imagine anyone opening a new café without serving argileh to customers. It has become something essential for people these days,” he noted, warning that the decision will put many out of jobs.

“There are around five employees working at my café. I will lay off four of them if I stop serving argileh,” Abbadi asserted. 

Issa agreed, adding that 80 per cent of his business depends on argileh.

“I will lose most of my clients. The majority of my customers come to smoke argileh.” 

He noted that these cafés are the only place where people can relax as “there is a severe lack of entertainment in Amman”.

The water pipe, also known as shishah, is served in a wide variety of tobacco flavours including liquorice, apple, watermelon, lemon, mint, grape, cherry, strawberry and blends.

Smoking one argileh is equivalent to smoking 15 to 19 cigarettes, which increases the risk of developing diseases such as lung cancer, according to the Health Ministry.

The Public Heath Law was enforced in the Kingdom’s shopping malls and Queen Alia International Airport in March 2009, and in fast-food restaurants in June of the same year.

A Cabinet decision prohibiting smoking in ministries and public institutions went into force on May 25, 2010.

According to the law, smoking is prohibited in public places, which include hospitals, healthcare centres, schools, cinemas, theatres, libraries, museums, public and non-governmental buildings, public transport vehicles, airports, closed playgrounds, lecture halls and any other location to be determined by the health minister.

Ahmad Eid, a university student, said many people cannot smoke argileh at home, so cafés are the only place where they can do so. 

“Some families do not allow their children to smoke in front of them,” he noted. 

If the decision is enforced, Eid said he will stop going to cafés.

Saif Awamleh, a regular café client, said he is a big football fan and likes to smoke while watching his favourite team play. 

“If I cannot smoke argileh at the café, then there is no need to go out because I can prepare coffee or tea at home,” he said.   

Although Linda Khoury, the owner of Fann wa Chai in Jabal Luweibdeh, does not serve argileh in her café, she is against the decision. 

“Argileh has become part of our culture and you simply cannot put an end to it. Also, many tourists like to go to specific cafés to smoke argileh because they like to experience this special culture,” she noted. 

Khoury proposed that GAM define the number of argilehs that a café is allowed to serve in accordance with its size, while Abbadi suggested that the municipality stop licensing new argileh and coffee places and renew the licences of existing ones.  

Issa said people who object to smoking can resort to cafés and areas in the capital that do not serve argileh.

“You don’t go to a café serving argileh unless you want to smoke.”