Excerpts: Saudi ready to join anti-IS Syria ground op. Jordan gets $1.7
billion for Syrian refugee response plan. Israel releases Jordan prisoner
February 05, 2016

+++SOURCE:Naharnet (Lebanon)5 Feb.’16:”Saudi says Ready to Join Anti-IS
Ground Op in Syria”,Naharnet Newsdesk
SUBJECT: Saudi ready to join anti-IS Syria ground op

Saudi Arabia is ready to join any ground operation the U.S.-led coalition
against the Islamic State group in Syria might decide on, a general from the
kingdom said on Thursday[4 Feb].

"If there is any willingness in the coalition to go in the ground operation,
we will contribute positively in that," Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri
told AFP.

Since late 2014 Saudi Arabia has been part of a U.S.-led coalition which
officially has 65 members and has been bombing the Islamic State Sunni
extremist group which seized large parts of Syria and Iraq.

Assiri is spokesman for a separate Saudi-led Arab coalition which, since
March, has conducted air strikes and ground operations in Yemen.

That coalition supports the government there in its fight against Huthi
rebels who seized much of the country and are backed by the kingdom's
regional rival Iran.

Iran is also one of the main allies of Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose
regime has been fighting an insurgency for about five years.

Saudi Arabia supports more moderate rebels against Assad's forces

+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 5 Feb.’16:”Jordan secures $1.7b grants, grant
equivalents at London conference”,by JT

SUBJECT:Jordan gets $1,7 billion for Syrian refugee response plan

AMMAN — Jordan on Thursday[4 Feb ] secured around $1.7 billion in grants and
grant equivalents for its Syrian refugee response plan for this year and the
coming two years.

According to the Jordan Compact, a statement issued by Jordanian
stakeholders involved in the London donor conference, published by the
Jordan News Agency, Petra, on Thursday[4 Feb], pledges made in London amount
to around $700 million of grants in support of the Jordan Response Plan for
2016, the majority for priorities outlined in the resilience component of
the plan targeting host communities.

“Additional pledges already made will contribute to the aim of providing
around $700 million in grants for 2017 and 2018 too. Donors will support job
creation programmes such as P4P for Syrian refugees and host communities,”
the document said.

More pledges of around $300 million of grant or grant equivalents have
already been made. More is expected, according to the compact document.

Meanwhile, multilateral development banks have identified the potential to
increase their financing from $800 million to $1.9 billion. It will be
important that this funding is provided on as concessional terms as
possible.

The document said that the international community commits to continuing to
work with Jordan in the years ahead to manage any remaining financing gaps.

The Jordan Response Plan sets Jordan’s needs to maintain its resilience in
dealing with the refugee crisis at around $8 billion for the years
2016-2018.

Titled “Jordan Compact: A New Holistic Approach between the Hashemite
Kingdom of Jordan and the International Community to Deal with the Syrian
Refugee Crisis”, the document said the new approach is anchored on three
interlinked pillars, to support Jordan’s growth agenda whilst maintaining
its resilience and economic stability:

Turning the Syrian refugee crisis into a development opportunity that
attracts new investments and opens up the EU market with simplified rules of
origin, creating jobs for Jordanians and Syrian refugees whilst supporting
the post-conflict Syrian economy;

Rebuilding Jordanian host communities by adequately financing through grants
the Jordan Response Plan 2016-2018, in particular the resilience of host
communities; and

Mobilising sufficient grants and concessionary financing to support the
macroeconomic framework and address Jordan’s financing needs over the next
three years, as part of Jordan entering into a new Extended Fund Facility
programme with the IMF.

“The government of Jordan is committed to improving the business and
investment environment and is taking forward a detailed plan on what
measures, changes to regulation, structural reforms and incentives can be
offered to domestic and international businesses. The aim is to produce this
by the summer with technical assistance provided by key donors and the World
Bank/IMF. The government has followed IMF advice on sound macroeconomic and
fiscal management, and will embark on a new programme with the IMF (Extended
Fund Facility) as a continuation to its fiscal adjustment and structural
reforms that are also in line with the Jordan 2025 Vision,” it said.

The document stated that an integral part of incentives to businesses is
access to European markets under easier terms than those currently
available.

It outlines a government plan to create jobs for Jordanians and Syrians.

“The government intends, as a pilot, to designate five development zones and
provide these with maximum incentives under the new investment law. These
have the potential to provide additional jobs for Jordanians and Syrian
refugees. In addition to the existing preferential access for Jordan’s
products into the EU market, such as zero tariffs, and no quotas for most
traded goods, the EU will accelerate plans to revise preferential rules of
origin with a view to an outcome by summer 2016 at the latest. The more
generous the access to EU markets, the greater number of jobs likely to be
created. Changes to preferential access to the US market provided a
transformative export boost.”

In the outcome, and with “the right investment and access to EU markets, the
designated development zones could provide hundreds of thousands of jobs for
Jordanians and Syrian refugees over the coming years. Outside the zones, the
sectors where there is low Jordanian participation and a high ratio of
foreign workers (e.g. construction, agriculture, service industry, cleaning)
and where there is a high degree of skills match (e.g. handicrafts,
textiles), could provide roughly 50,000 job opportunities for Syrian
refugees over the next year. Cumulatively these measures could in the coming
years provide about 200,000 job opportunities for Syrian refugees while they
remain in the country, contributing to the Jordanian economy without
competing with Jordanians for jobs”.

The conference of donor nations raised $11 billion for Syrian humanitarian
needs over the next four years, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on
Thursday[4Feb] as the event in London drew to a close, Reuters reported.

Cameron told a news conference that donors had pledged $6 billion for this
year alone, and a further $5 billion to be spent by 2020


+++SOURCE:Jordan Times 5 Feb.’13:”Jordanian prisoner Abu Zahrah released by
Israel,reunited with family”, byMerza Noghai

SUBJECT Israel releases Jordan prisoner Akram Abu Zahrah …QUOTE:”kept in
prison until Jordainian authorities approve his return”

AMMAN — Akram Abu Zahrah, a Jordanian who recently finished a 14-year prison
sentence in Israel, arrived in the Kingdom on Thursday morning after Israeli
authorities had released him earlier in the day, according to a family
member.

Abu Zahrah followed his pledge not to break a hunger strike that had lasted
since January 23 until he reached his mother’s house in Zarqa, some 22km
east of Amman, his eldest sister Mukarram said.

“We arrived home at around 3pm and he broke the strike with some soup and
water,” the sister told The Jordan Times over the phone.

Akram began his hunger strike on January 23 and started refusing water on
Saturday, protesting his continued detention after the end of his prison
term.

The father of two finished his sentence on January 14 after serving 14 years
for protesting against former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon’s visit to
Al Aqsa Mosque, which sparked the second Palestinian Intifada (uprising).

The Israeli authorities had extended his prison term because they cannot
allow him to stay there without a residence permit, so they decided to keep
him in prison until Jordanian authorities approve his return.

Mukarram expressed her and the family’s joy over Akram’s return, thanking
security personnel at the Jordan Valley Border Crossing for their
cooperation and good reception of her brother.

“My mother was so happy for his return that she fainted once she saw him
crossing the border,” the sister said.

Shireen Nafe, a member of the media team supporting Jordanian prisoners in
Israel (Fedaa), said that Akram’s imprisonment prevented him from seeing his
brother because he was staying in Jerusalem with his wife and children
=====================
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA