Yearbook 2007
Jordan. After an election campaign in which the economy was in focus, most mandates in the parliamentary elections on November 20 went to independent clan-based candidates loyal to the royal house. The largest opposition party, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), received only 6 seats against earlier 17. The IAF claimed that electoral fraud occurred and the authorities arrested 17 people suspected of trying to disrupt voting and influence the election results. According to CountryAAH, Amman is the capital city of Jordan. The government under Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit resigned and was replaced by a new government with former Transport Minister and Air Force Officer Nadir al-Dhabi as chief. King Abdullah commissioned al-Dhabi to focus on raising the standard of living for the population and more investment.
- According to abbreviationfinder: JO is the 2-letter acronym for the country of Jordan.
Otherwise, the year was dominated by the hunt for militant Islamists. Nearly 30 people – several of them Iraqis – were sentenced to long prison terms for involvement in terrorist activities. Jordanian Muammar al-Jaghbir was sentenced in November to death for involvement in an attack on J’s embassy in Baghdad in 2003. A court of cassation in January approved the death penalty against seven people for involvement in the attacks on several hotels in Amman 2005. Iraqi Sajida al-Rishawi was the only one of the convicted who was arrested.
Tens of thousands of Iraqi refugee children, who until then had not had access to Jordanian school, began school in August after the government decided that all children, including those without residence permits, were entitled to free education. According to human rights organization Human Rights Watch, there were about 200,000 Iraqi refugee children in Jordan.
On October 26, 1994, King Hussein and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin were able to sign a bilateral peace agreement. Israel left Jordan 300 km 2 desert and the border was marked between the two countries, but far more important was the handing over of the protection of the Islamic shrines in Jerusalem to King Hussein. The Jordanian public was surprised at the urgency of a peace deal, but at the same time, with the meager financial results it gave the country.
In November 1995, King Hussein visited Jerusalem – for the first time after Israel occupied the city in 1967. He participated in the funeral of the murdered Yitzhak Rabin. In January, the king had appointed Sharif Zaid ibn Saker as prime minister, but this was already replaced in February with Abdul Karim al-Kabariti, who was also foreign and defense minister.
Despite its dependence on Iraqi oil – 75,000 barrels a day at a favorable price – in 1996 Jordan decided to curtail trade with Baghdad. Exports to Iraq were reduced by 50%, and at the same time the US was allowed to use a Jordanian air base. In August, two Iraqi diplomats were expelled from the country. They were accused of encouraging rebellion in the wake of a doubling of the price of bread.
On October 2, 1997, sheikh Ahmed Yassine was released after serving 8½ years in prison in Israel. In 1987 he founded the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1989 for his responsibility for numerous assaults. The release came as part of a prisoner exchange against two Israeli Mossad agents who had been arrested in Amman after trying to murder a member of Hamas’ political bureau.
Support for King Hussein was strengthened in the wake of the November 4, 1997 parliamentary elections, which was, however, marked by less turnout than before. The so-called tribal chiefs – the leaders of the nomadic groups living in the desert – are predominantly faithful to the king and received 68 of the 80 seats in parliament. But at the same time, the election had been boycotted by the most important fundamentalist group, the FIA, which objected to the democratic restrictions, Hussein’s economic policy and the peace agreement with Israel. Abdul Salam Madjali was for the second time appointed Prime Minister.
The Jordanian government declared the same month that it would provide Christian education in the public schools to the children who so desire.
Following threats of North American bombings by Iraq in February 1998, Jordan was ready to take on a wave of refugees. During the Gulf War, over 1 million Iraqis had fled to Jordan. 150,000 of these remained in the country in 1998, but only 35,000 of these had legal residence permits.
Jordan weather in March, April and May
Average daily temperatures between 17 ° C and 29 ° C can be expected over the next three months. It gets warmest in May in Maan, while March is noticeably cooler in Amman. The temperatures in Amman are between 17 and 28 ° C and in Maan between 19 and 29 ° C.
In March it rains on 2 (Maan) to 8 days (Amman), in April on 1 (Maan) to 4 days (Amman) and in May on 0 (Maan) to 2 days (Amman), depending on the region.
In the period from March to May, the sun shines on average between 7 and 11 hours a day. The sunniest weather in Amman is in May, but with less sun you will have to get by in March.