{"id":13989,"date":"2018-09-05T22:24:38","date_gmt":"2018-09-05T22:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=13989"},"modified":"2018-09-05T22:24:38","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T22:24:38","slug":"jordan-steps-up-support-of-jerusalemites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=13989","title":{"rendered":"Jordan steps up support of Jerusalemites"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nAMMAN: The Jordanian government has taken steps to ease the plight of Palestinians living in the country and to bolster the civil defense guards at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Wasfi Kilani, director of the Hashemite Fund for Al-Aqsa Mosque, told Arab News that the actions come as part of a combined effort to support Jerusalemites.
\u201cWith instructions from His Majesty, we have endeavored to provide administrative support to Jerusalemites by reducing passport fees by a third, and by increasing the number of guards and administrators of the Jordanian waqf in Al-Aqsa Mosque to 1,000,\u201d Kilani said.
Fawaz Shahwan, head of Jordan\u2019s Passport Department, told Arab News that the Cabinet has accepted recommendations to reduce passport fees and allow Jerusalem\u2019s Palestinians to renew their passports without the burden of travel to Amman.
\u201cNow a Palestinian in Jerusalem can go the nearest Jordanian waqf office to apply and the approved passport will be delivered to his or her East Jerusalem home,\u201d he said.
Shahwan confirmed that the passport fees have been reduced from 200 Jordanian dinars ($280) to JD50, the same fee paid by Jordanians.
An agreement between the Jordanian Postal Service and the Wasel Package Delivery Co. will ensure new and renewed passports are delivered to Palestinians in their East Jerusalem homes, he told Arab News
In another step to bring Jordanians and Palestinians closer, the Jordanian army\u2019s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Mohammed Freihat, launched a program funding and coordinating the travel of about 24 Jordanian military officers and their families to Christian holy places in Palestine.
Gen. Emad Haddad led a delegation of Christian army officers to Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem.
Haddad told Arab News that the three-day visit and was made in parallel with the participation of Muslim officers in the annual Hajj pilgrimage to the Saudi holy places.
\u201cOur visit was unique and emotional. People were moved by this positive initiative that showed equality in the Jordanian armed forces and contributed to Palestinian-Jordanian brotherly relations,\u201d he said.
Haddad said that a welcome by the delegation\u2019s Palestinian counterparts in Bethlehem was especially moving. \u201cWe received an excellent welcome as we visited the Church of the Nativity and met with fellow Palestinians.\u201d
Naser Tahboub, professor at Jordan University\u2019s Prince Hussein School of International Studies, told Arab News that the Jordanian government\u2019s efforts will help relieve the burden on Palestinians in Jerusalem. \u201cThese actions follow earlier actions by the late King Hussein and the continuous efforts of King Abdullah to support Jerusalemites and boost their steadfastness.\u201d
The Jordanian moves to boost relations with Jerusalem and its residents come at a time when the Trump administration is attempting to take Jerusalem \u201coff the negotiating table.\u201d
Jerusalemites interviewed by Arab News welcomed the moves, saying they would contribute to the steadfastness of the people of the holy city.
Khaleel Assali, editor of the Jerusalem-based website Akhbar El-Balad, told Arab News that the actions of the Jordanian government will strengthen the morale of Palestinians.
\u201cWith so many placing Jerusalem\u2019s Palestinians under siege, it is a scent of fresh air coming from the East that gives people hope,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AMMAN: The Jordanian government has taken steps to ease the plight of Palestinians living in the country and to bolster the civil defense guards at Al-Aqsa Mosque.Wasfi Kilani, director of the Hashemite Fund for Al-Aqsa Mosque, told Arab News that the actions come as part of a combined effort to support Jerusalemites.\u201cWith instructions from His…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":13990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}