AMMAN — Taking advantage of the bustling numbers of visitors coming to enjoy their evening time after Iftar, the Abdali Boulevard is coming alive with the enchanting ambiance of “The Arabesque Nights” these days.AMMAN — Taking advantage of the bustling numbers of visitors coming to enjoy their evening time after Iftar, the Abdali Boulevard is coming alive with the enchanting ambiance of “The Arabesque Nights” these days.

AMMAN — Jordan has climbed four spots in the 2018 Global Peace Index (GPI) ranking as the 98th most peaceful country in the world.AMMAN — Jordan has climbed four spots in the 2018 Global Peace Index (GPI) ranking as the 98th most peaceful country in the world.
The report, published annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), indicated that Jordan ranked at the 7th level in the Middle East and North Africa region.

In three consecutive visits to the Baptism Site of Jesus Christ on the east bank of River Jordan, I noticed that its visitors are fewer than those who come to a location on the west bank of the river, whose founders claim that it is the place where Jesus Christ was baptised. I asked officials at the site about the reasons behind this huge difference in the number of visitors between the two locations on both sides of the river.

A crucial corner of the Middle East, awash with biblical heritage, ancient sites, broad swathes of desert and – in Petra – one of the most iconic landmarks on the planet, Jordan could scarcely be called an unknown quantity.But it also has its unheralded areas and its little mysteries. The following ten shards of information may shed light on some of them.

New event will focus on first features from the Arab world.

The Royal Film Commission Jordan (RFC) is launching a film festival aimed at debut features from the Arab world as well as promoting the country’s burgeoning pool of professional film and TV crew.

The ‘ExtraJORDANary’ campaign will run until September 2016 with the objective of attracting visitors to Jordan and increasing arrival figures in 2016 and into 2017.

Jordan is home to a plethora of extraordinary attractions, including the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Petra and the Dead Sea, a world wonder in its own right and, sitting at 400 metres below sea level, the lowest point on earth.

The latest ransomware attack known as “Petya” paralyzed many organizations in Europe and the US. This is the second worldwide ransomware attack in the past two months, and we believe these attacks will only increase in frequency and become more sophisticated. The continuous string of attacks means that we need to face the reality that we are in a state of continuous compromise when it comes to cyberattacks.

AMMAN — Modern Ghor Safi, located at the southeastern end of the Dead Sea near the lowest point on earth, has been populated for over 12,000 years, as attested to by the “rich archaeological evidence” stretching from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period to the Late Hellenistic/Nabataean, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic and Ottoman periods, a Greek scholar explained.

 “It is accurately identified as ancient Zoora on the shore of the Dead Sea, next to the Sanctuary of Agios [saint] Lot, [where it is] depicted on the late-6th century mosaic floor map at Madaba,” Konstantinos Politis, an archaeologist and the chairperson of the Hellenic Society for Near Eastern Studies, said.

“Zoora, or Zoara, is represented as a walled town with three towers and an arched entrance gate surrounded by six date palms,” he said, noting that in the Old Testament Zoora is described as being one of the five ”cities of the plain” where Lot and his daughters initially fled after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

“Ghor Safi was a centre of a large Christian community and the seat of a bishop who attended the church councils in Nicaea [in modern-day Iznik, Turkey],” he continued. 

The Ghor Safi archaeological project has located a significant number of sites since it began operating in 1997, the scholar noted, including the early Byzantine-medieval Islamic urban centre of Khirbet Al Sheikh Isa, the industrial complex of Masna Al Sukkar (commonly known as Tawahines Al Sukkar) and the Early Bronze Age and Byzantine cemeteries at Al Naq. 

“Other parts include the sprawling Iron Age agricultural settlement of Tuleilat Qasr Mousa Hamid, the Nabataean fortress of Umm Tawabin with an associated dam below it, the early Christian hermitage at Wadi Al Hasa, and the ancient road along Wadi Sarmuj,” he stressed. “Further east, at the junction of wadis Hamarsh and Suweif, is a mega Pre-Pottery Neolithic B settlement.” 

In the late 1990s, initial surveys and geophysical tests were carried out, followed by trial excavations in 2002 at the southwestern edges of Khirbet Al Sheikh Isa, which  unearthed “the southern extent of the city walls and a number of internal rooms”.

“At the western and eastern perimeters there was good evidence for churches,” Politis stated, adding that a “wider survey of the vicinity and surrounding slopes identified the limits and discerned the ancient agricultural field system.”

In 2004, researchers expanded their work and found the eastern pressing chamber at Masna Al Sukkar (the sugar factory complex) and at Khirbet Al Sheikh Isa (the city centre), the archaeologist noted.  

The city centre was not only significant because it marked the main marketplace, but also due to its “substantial” stratified deposits rich in material and environmental finds, Politis emphasised.

“New excavations were made in the Byzantine part of the cemetery at Al Naq, where over 400 hundred important, 4th-6th century Greek and Aramaic-inscribed tombstones have been recovered in recent years,” he said.

Unfortunately, the cemetery has been badly looted by tomb robbers and it had never been officially excavated before, so these excavations have been essential in identifying the origin of these tombstones, the expert added. 

In order to identify the extent of the two settlement sites of Khirbet Al Sheikh Isaand Tuleilat Qasr Mousa Hamid, surveying has been carried out around them, he added.

“The former mediaeval Islamic city is much more extensive than the current, officially claimed antiquities property, and it is obvious that additional lands need to be acquired,” Politis pointed out, adding that “the latter site also proved to be a more extensive Iron Age II agriculturally based [primarily wheat and barley] settlement, with evidence of Roman occupation in the upper levels”.

In 2008 and 2009, fieldwork seasons in Ghor Safi concentrated on the Byzantine paved street and a mosaic floor was revealed, he said, noting that most of the finds included pottery from the Abbasid and Ayyubid/Mamluk periods, which were linked to the sugar and indigo production that was well-known from mediaeval historical sources, Politis underlined.

 However, the archaeological team recently unearthed an extensive basilica complex in the city centre with a rare cruciform-shaped baptistery in Jordan, the archaeologist highlighted. 

Inscriptions on tomb stones indicated the presence of local Semitic and Nabataean communities and the adult baptistery shows that systematic Christian conversions took place during early Byzantine times, the scholar said. 

It will take a few years of studying the finds before final conclusions are reached about the church’s historical role, Politis said, adding that the first reports will be published in a book by the Palestine Exploration Fund in London next year. 

This was announced in a public lecture at the British Museum on 
June 9.

A USAID grant in 2015 initiated the conservation, protection and visitors’ enhancement of the Ghor Safi sites in collaboration with the Hellenic Society for Near Eastern Studies, the scholar explained, adding that these works is continued during 2017 with the Al Hima Foundation supported by Zain Communications, Al Hikma and The King Abdullah II Development Fund.

From the beginning of 2018, a grant will help consolidate structures and create a shelter over parts of the sugar factory complex, Politis said. 

However, the whole region is still threatened by constant agricultural and urban development which negatively affects ancient sites, Politis warned, underlining that “archaeologists must always be vigilant”. 

When Bom-yon Lee was working as a consul general at the Korean embassy in Japan three years ago, he came across a Korean TV drama that featured many tourist attractions in Jordan.

At 10:30 am, the light is at its best on the facade of Petra s Treasury, one of the world s most extraordinary archaeological beauties who was rendered even more famous by the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The area in front of the temple carved into sandstone cliff faces in the capital of the ancient Nabatean empire is at that time filled with tourists snapping selfies or being photographed on camels. Shortly afterwards, that same area is empty.

The relationship between tourism and sustainable growth was the focus of a regional conference that began in Amman on Monday.

Titled “Tourism in the Middle East and North Africa [MENA]: Competitiveness for Sustainable Growth”, the two-day meeting aims at developing sustainable urban tourism in the region.

Deputising for Prime Minister Hani Mulki, Tourism Minister Lina Annab said: “We are gathered to discuss the global trend of urbanisation and its impact on cities and tourism and their competitiveness for sustainable growth.”

The conference comes as part of the activities of the 2017 International Year of Sustainable Tourism to reflect the Global Sustainable Development Goals 2030, according to the organisers.

The first day of the event saw the attendance of Amman Mayor Yousef Shawarbeh, World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Secretary General Taleb Rifai, officials and experts in the field, in addition to businesspeople from the sector.

“Today, over 55 per cent of the world population live in cities, and this growth is accelerating. As we become more urban, the importance of cities will undoubtedly increase,” Annab noted.

“As we look at developing tourism in our cities, mainly Amman, in a competitive and sustainable way, we should ensure that this is not done in isolation, and that this development is part of a wider community connected through viable infrastructure and effective transport links,” she added.

She stressed that “the more citizens feel engaged with their city, the more they feel collectively responsible for it.”

The two-day conference aims at ensuring integration of policymaking, legislative frameworks and effective management among all stakeholders in developing sustainable urban tourism in the MENA region cities, according to an organisers’ statement.

It also aims at improving transparency, knowledge, accessibility, expertise and creativity as essential tools to compete in the era of knowledge economy in different parts of the region, the statement said.

Shawarbeh highlighted tourism as a pillar for economic growth in the cities within a comprehensive approach.

“We look forward to increasing the numbers of tourists in the cities of the Middle East in the upcoming years, and we value our extensive partnership with the Tourism Ministry, the private sector and the civil society institutions in this field, as they have helped us develop touristic sites in Amman, like the Hashemite Square in downtown,” the mayor said.

Tourism revenues rose by 12.7 per cent during the first ten months of this year to around $3.9 billion, up from $2.4 billion generated during the same period in 2016, the Central Bank of Jordan said.

Jordan this year witnessed an increase in the number of overnight religious tourists from countries targeted by promotion efforts, an official said on Wednesday.

AMMAN — The Jordan Tourism Board (JTB) on Monday launched a campaign to promote tourism in the city of Amman, under the title “#Amman24”, which has triggered tremendous enthusiasm among a diversified audience worldwide, thanks to effective interaction by social media influencers.

Tourism Minister Lina Annab announced that the first regional conference on “Tourism in the Middle East and North Africa [MENA]: Competitiveness for Sustainable Growth”, will be held on November 13 and 14 at the Grand Hyatt Amman Hotel.

 Insulated in the desert wilderness of southern Jordan, bedouins of Wadi Rum, 330km south of Amman, still preserve customs and traditions that benefit their harsh habitat.

 The drop in the level of the Dead Sea is causing grave concerns among environmentalists and planners in the region, with most of the drop caused by diversion in the headwaters feeding the sea, a geologist has said.

Among Jordanians, the city of Jerash is famous for its high quality, fresh dairy products, which are still prepared using traditional methods. 

Visitors to Jerash often purchase Labaneh Jarashiyeh, a kind of strained yoghurt, which is a signature product of the city, 48km north of Amman. 

 A “first-of-its-kind” Hellenistic temple in the Levant region has been discovered in Umm Qais, an archaeologist said on Monday.

An archaeological excavation team from Yarmouk University has recently discovered a Hellenistic temple and network of water tunnels, Atef Sheyyab, president of the archaeology department at the university told the Jordan Times.

Jordanian archaeologists have discovered an ancient temple that was built in the Hellenistic era in the third century BC. 

The archaeologists believe that the temple, located 120 kilometres north of the capital, Amman, was dedicated to Poseidon, the Ancient Greek god of seas.