Time to Be a Professonal

After two days of sleeping, eating, and soccer games, my clothes arrived from Oslo just in time to go to the Jordanian Center for Strategic Studies. http://www.jcss.org/ at the University of Jordan where we met Dr. Mohammed Al Masri. For two hours we discussed Jordanian politics, economy and the impact the war in Iraq has had on the country.

Here is some of the info we received.

Amman has been inhabited since the Iron Age. Then it was called Rabat Amman and was inhabited by the Ammonites.

When the Greeks inhabited Amman it was called Philadelphia (The City of Brotherly Love) after Ptolemy Philadelphia.

Amman is called the "White City" since it is made predominately out of limestone.

Amman started on 7 hills, now it covers 21.

The only oil Jordan has is olive oil.

Jordan has 5.7 million people, today 2.2 million live in Amman. 94% are Islamic and 6% are Christian (Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic) As one of the most stable countries in the Middle East it receives many refugees from its neighbors in times of trouble.

In 1948, 700,000 people left the land that became Israel and moved to the western
side of the Jordan River. This area is known today as the "West Bank"was a part of
Jordan at the time. (Israelis say the Arabs left so that the Arab Nations could attack Israel without worrying about hurting fellow Arabs, Israelis believed the the Arabs in these villages were planning on moving back if they won the war. Arabs say they were violently expelled and forced to leave.)

Soon after, also in 1948, Jordan annexed the West Bank and people who had been living in these towns were given Jordanian citizenship. The ones who had recently moved there were given refugee status and placed in camps in the West Bank.

In 1967, due to the 6 Day War, Israel annexed the West Bank and the Golan
Heights. 120,000 Palestinian refugees left the West Bank, and 16,000
left the Golan Heights and entered Jordan. These people were also given
"refugee" status. (refugee- a person who is not in their place of residence
due to a war, AND their descendants.)

Today people of Palestinian decent can make a choice. They may keep their refugee status or give it up. Giving it up means that they are now full Jordanian citizens and are considered to be of higher social status then the refugees. This makes them more socially mobile and more "employable in the Jordanian labor force. Or, they may keep their refugee status and be eligible for the benefits the Palestinian humanitarian organizations offer them, and the right of return, if Israeli ever offers it or ceases to exist as a country.

1/3 of all Palestinian refugees live in refugee camps around the world.

Palestinian refugees had one of the highest live births per female rate of any nation on the face of the earth so by the year 2007 their numbers now are over4.1 million

In 91 1/2 million Palestinian refugees from Kuwait came to Jordan.

In the years following the latest Iraqi war 700,000 to 1,500,000 Iraqi
refugees have entered Jordan. The correct number is impossible to tell because unlike the Palestinian immigration, the Iraqi immigration is largely undocumented.

Wealthy Iraqis have raised the cost of living by bringing their money to Jordan and buying houses; raising the land value. As of this year, the average Jordanian cannot afford their own house. Poor Iraqis have taken the blue collar jobs from the lower socio-economic Jordanians. As will every new immigrant group in any country, Iraqis are willing to work harder for less pay.

Since the latest war in Iraq the cost of living has gone up 300% and taxes 5%.

America, who at this moment is in control of the oil rigs in Iraq charges 80% more for a barrel of oil than Saddam Hussein did.

Higher oil prices have made Jordanians turn to other "lesser" forms of fuel. The burning of these lower level fuels has created more air pollution as well as more home and industrial fires. Environmentalists who were protesting the use of these "lessor" fuels were put in jail

This means that although a burden, the Palestinian refugees have not affected the political, and economic make-up of Jordan as much as the Iraqis.

All of this has forced many people in Jordan to feel "marginalized". "When people feel that they are marginalized, they are the most apt to betray their society and to be swayed by the whims and desires of others." Dr. Mohammed Al Masri

Security issues due to Iraqi refugees have become a great burden for the Jordanian society. The November 2005 hotel bombings and the September 2006 tourist shootings are two such examples. All were masterminded and implemented by Iraqi refugees. Because of this, Jordan has implemented strict new immigration laws. Iraqis are now no longer allowed to enter the country without the correct papers and info.

Before 2005 only 12% of the Jordanian population considered al Qaida a terrorist organization, and considered terrorism a threat. After the 2005 hotel bombings 85% believed that al Qaida was a terrorist organization and national security rose on the nation's priority list from number 10 to number 1.

What does this all mean? How is Jordan dealing with all of her social ills?

That is what the next few days is all about.

Wednesday -we are going to Baqaa Camp- http://baqaacamp.blogspot.com/-the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the world, and to the Wadi Seer Palestinian Vocational Training Center

Thursday - we are going to meet with public and private school teachers after a two hour briefing in at the University of Jordan's Teacher Training Center on the Jordanian Education system.

I'll keep you posted.

Salaam ‘Alaikum