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Thursday, February 11, 2016
Excerpts: UAE names women as Ministers of Happiness, Tolerance. Russia ready to discuss Syria ceasefire. King assures northern border is secure. Job opportunities for Jordanians safeguarded. Returned surgeon to boost West Bank medicine February 11, 2016

Excerpts: UAE names women as Ministers of Happiness, Tolerance. Russia ready
to discuss Syria ceasefire. King assures northern border is secure. Job
opportunities for Jordanians safeguarded. Returned surgeon to boost West
Bank medicine February 11, 2016

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon)11 Feb.’16:”UAE Names Women Ministers for
Happiness, Tolerance”, by Agence France Presse
SUBJECT”UAE names women as Ministers of Happiness,Tolerance
QUOTE:”Citizens make up a small minority of the UAE’s’ population of nine
million which is overwhelmingly made up of foreign workers”
FULL TEXT:The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday[10 Feb] named women to the
newly created posts of state ministers for happiness and tolerance, and a
22-year-old female for youth affairs.

Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum named eight women as he
revealed his latest cabinet line-up of 29 ministers in a series of tweets.

Ohoud al-Roumi, who had served as director of the council of ministers'
office, was appointed "minister of state for happiness".

"Happiness is not just a wish in our country. There will be plans, projects,
programs and indices. It will be part of the job of all ministries," tweeted
Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the ruler of Dubai.

Shamma al-Mazroui, 22, was appointed state minister for youth, while Lubna
al-Qassimi, a veteran minister of international cooperation and development,
was handed the new post of state minister for tolerance.

The cabinet has eight new ministers, including five new women, with an
average age of 38, WAM state news agency said.

An oil-rich federation of seven Gulf sheikhdoms, the United Arab Emirates is
considered a safe haven spared in the wave of Arab Spring uprisings that hit
the region.

Last year its rulers sought to widen the country's nascent democratic
credentials with about a quarter of its one million citizens given the right
to vote.

Eighty-seven of the 330 candidates were women, who play a much larger role
in public life in the UAE than in neighboring Saudi Arabia.

But the authorities have been deeply cautious and in 2014 introduced
sweeping new counterterrorism legislation that rights groups have criticized
as paving the way for a crackdown on dissent of all sorts.

Citizens make up a small minority of the UAE's population of nine million
which is overwhelmingly made up of foreign workers.

SourceAgence France Presse

Culture


+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon)11 Feb.’16:”Russia Ready to Discuss Ceasefire
at International Talks”, by Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Russia ready to discuss Syriaceasefire

QUOTE:”Russia ‘ready to discuss the ‘modalities of a ceasefire’ ”

FULL TEXT:Russia said Thursday[11 Feb] it was ready to discuss a ceasefire
in Syria as foreign ministers gathered in Munich in a bid to kick-start
peace talks derailed by the regime onslaught on the besieged city of Aleppo.

Tens of thousands of Syrians have fled to the Turkish border as government
forces, backed by Russian bombers and Iranian fighters, bombard the northern
city, leaving the opposition there virtually surrounded.

Russia's deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov said Moscow was "ready to
discuss the modalities of a ceasefire" and that peace talks between the
Syrian government and opposition rebels could "possibly start earlier" than
the proposed date of February 25.

The first round of talks in Geneva collapsed earlier this month over the
bombardment of Aleppo, where observers say at least 500 people have been
killed since the Russian-backed regime offensive began on February 1.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov
will host foreign ministers from the 17-nation Syria contact group in
Munich, for a meeting billed as a moment of truth for the floundering peace
process.

Washington said it wants a ceasefire and humanitarian access to besieged
cities but has threatened an unspecified "Plan B" if talks fail, as tension
mounts with Moscow over its air campaign.

"There is no question... that Russia's activities in Aleppo and in the
region right now are making it much more difficult to be able to come to the
table and to be able to have a serious conversation," Kerry said this week.

The U.S. special envoy for the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group,
Brett McGurk, said Russia's bombing campaign was "directly enabling" the
jihadists.

Russia and Iran are adamant the rebels in Aleppo are just as much
"terrorists" as IS and there can be no settlement until they have been
militarily defeated.

The rebels say they will not return to talks in Geneva unless government
sieges and air strikes end. Kerry was due to meet Thursday[11 Feb] with the
main opposition representative, Riyad Hijab, as well as Saudi Foreign
Minister Adel al-Jubeir.

- 'Russia destabilizing the West' -Analysts see little hope of reconciling
the fundamental differences.

Syria is a crucial ally and military staging post for Russia and Iran, while
a growing number of observers say Moscow has benefited from the chaos
created by the war, particularly the refugee crisis in Europe.

"For Russia, the war in Syria is about much more than Assad," Koert Debeuf,
a research fellow at the University of Oxford, told the Carnegie Europe
think tank.

"The goal of Russian President Vladimir Putin is to destabilize and weaken
the West. He wants to end the EU's and NATO's attractiveness to countries he
considers part of the Russian sphere of influence."

Nonetheless, experts also say there is a limit to how much Russian aerial
bombardment can achieve, particularly as the rebels -- who still have the
backing of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries -- dig in for protracted
urban warfare.

"The idea of a full reconquest... seems neither credible nor durable. It
will simply turn into a terrorist or guerrilla situation," said Camille
Grand, of the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris.

- Lack of U.S. commitment -Many have also criticized the United States for
not doing more to support the rebels.

Even outgoing French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius could not hide his
frustration as he announced his resignation on Wednesday[10 Feb], saying:
"You don't get the feeling that there is a very strong commitment" by the
U.S. in Syria.

Washington has been reluctant to involve itself in another war after the
quagmires of Afghanistan and Iraq, and ultimately is more concerned about
combating IS than getting involved in the civil war between Syria's regime
and rebels.

"The U.S. has given up the idea of toppling Assad," said Grand. "Kerry seems
willing to accept pretty much anything to resolve the crisis... because
their objective is to stop the expansion of IS."

Joseph Bahout, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Foundation in Washington,
said the U.S. has "no credibility" left after two years of failed
negotiations.

"Nothing is expected from the Americans... they say one thing in public and
another in private," he told Agence France Presse. "In Munich, they want to
agree a ceasefire that will not be put in place because the Russians will
continue to bomb the 'terrorists'."

Adding to the complexity, Washington's increasingly close alliance with the
Kurdish militias in the fight against IS has put it on a collision course
with NATO ally Turkey, which is fighting Kurdish separatists.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday[10 Feb] furiously
criticized the U.S. alliance with Syrian Kurds, saying it was turning the
region into "a pool of blood".

+++SOURCE:Jordan Times 11 Feb.’16:”King: ‘Our northern border is secure’
“,by JT
SUBJECT:King assures northern border is secure’
EXCERPT:AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday[10 Feb] asserted that
the Kingdom's northern border with Syria is strong and safe, voicing his
confidence in the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army’s (JAF) ability to protect
the country.

“The northern border of the Kingdom is tight and safe, and our Arab Army and
security bodies are capable of protecting it," the King said during a
meeting with representatives and key figures from Mafraq Governorate at the
Royal Court.


+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 11 Feb.’16:” Gov’t sends messages of assurance over
integrating Syrians into labour force”,by Omar Obeidat

SUBJECT: Job opportunities for Jordanians safeguarded

QUOTE:”Syrian refugees in the Kingdom will not compete with Jordanians over
job opportunities”

FULL TEXT:AMMAN – The government on Wednesday[10 Feb] said that allowing
Syrians to join the labor market would not "by any means" affect job
opportunities for Jordanians.

At a meeting with chief editors of daily newspapers and columnists to talk
about the outcome of the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference, held in
London last week, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said Syrian refugees in the
Kingdom will not compete with Jordanians over job opportunities, adding that
Syrians will be allowed to work in jobs usually shunned by Jordanians.

Ensour said Syrians can contribute to certain sectors in the labour market,
such as agriculture and construction, as the majority of labourers in such
fields are guest workers from various nationalities, indicating that the
percentage of Jordanian workers in the agriculture sector, for example,
stands only at 7 per cent.

On Sunday, the government announced that donor countries pledged during the
London conference hundreds of millions of dollars to help Jordan cope with
the Syrian refugee crisis in the form of grants and cheap loans, while the
Kingdom pledged to integrate Syrians in the labor market.

Sending a message of assurances to the Jordanian public regarding Syrians’
access to the labor market, Ensour read out a paragraph of the “Jordan
Compact”, the final statement issued by the Kingdom following the London
donor conference. It outlined Jordan’s “holistic approach” to the refugee
crisis and listed pledges made by donors to the Kingdom.

“Cumulatively, these measures could in the coming years provide 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 document said.

The premier said this sentence was misunderstood by certain media outlets
which assumed that the priority would be given to Syrian nationals.

“I want to assure all Jordanians. If a Jordanian applies for a job, it will
be his or hers. But if Jordanians do not go for certain jobs, the priority
will go to Syrians, among the guest workers,” he added.

Labour Minister Nidal Katamine explained that 18 “closed professions” will
remain exclusive to Jordanians. He named engineering, medical, education,
administrative and accounting jobs as examples.

Katamine reasserted that competition for jobs will be between Syrians and
guest workers from various nationalities, adding that the government agreed
with the private sector to integrate Syrians within the ratios of guest
workers allocated for private businesses.

He said creating new jobs would be through new investments with priority
given for Jordanians and then for Syrian workers.

Making Syrian labour in the Kingdom more efficient would be through
attracting investments to five development zones: Irbid, Karak, Muwaqqar,
Maan and Mafraq, he noted.

During the London conference, the government announced that donors pledged
$700 million a year for 2016, 2017 and 2018 to develop services and
infrastructure in the fields of health, education, water and municipal
services in host communities.

Donors also pledged to offer concessionary loans worth $1.9 billion a year
until 2018, in addition to grants worth $900 million over three years.

They also expressed willingness to secure funds for education to 80,000 to
90,000 Syrian students at a cost of $1 billion to build more classrooms and
new schools to accommodate them.


+++SOURCE: Associated Press 9 Feb.’16:Palestinian doctor aims to boost West
Bank medical services”, by Mohammed Daraghmeh
SUBJECT: Returned surgeon to boost West Bank medicine

QUOTE:”Dr Saleem Haj-Yahia was born in an Arab village in Israel and earned
his first medical degree in the prestigious Technion in the northern Israel
city of Haifa”

FULL TEXT:NABLUS, West Bank— After Dr. Saleem Haj-Yahia performed the
first-ever successful artificial heart transplant in the West Bank last
month he was greeted with flowers, balloons and cheering crowds and publicly
praised by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The British-educated cardiologist has become a media darling in his native
land and now speaks of ambitious plans to raise the level of the entire
Palestinian medical infrastructure.

"I've done enough in the U.K. and now it's time to do something in my
country for my people," said Haj-Yahia, 47. "In the U.K. you cannot have a
bigger impact, because the system is working well while here any significant
efforts can make a difference."

Haj-Yahia's goal involves far more than mere national pride. He seeks to
increase Palestinian medical self-sufficiency, and make the Palestinian
medical system less dependent on its Israeli counterpart. For years, any
complicated operations or sophisticated treatments have had to be carried
out in Israeli hospitals, creating both a dependency and a major expenditure
for the already cash-strapped Palestinian government.

"Most of the Palestinian patient transfers to Israel were heart and cancer
cases and we managed to reduce them largely," said Haj-Yahia, seated in his
office at An-Najah University in the West Bank city of Nablus. "Some
Palestinian doctors from New York, experts in transplanting marrow, will
join in the near future and we will be in the first line in the world in
this field."

Since returning home in 2014 to become dean of the medical school at the
An-Najah teaching hospital, Haj-Yahia has focused on improving the
hospital's capabilities in the fields of cancer treatment and organ
transplants. Local health officials say that his efforts have already
yielded tangible results.

Dr. Amera Hindi, head of the Medical Transfer Unit in the Palestinian Health
Ministry, said the money spent on transferring Palestinian patients to
Israeli hospitals has dropped by 30 percent in the last year. She credited
the "development of the medical services in the Palestinian hospitals."The
Palestinians see increasing the self-reliance of their medical system as a
harbinger of autonomy on other fronts and a form of preparation for the
overall independence they seek as a future state.

"If we succeed in building the system, the medicine will see huge
developments" Haj-Yahia said. "It's our duty to build the system with the
new generation of doctors who are joining our universities."

Haj-Yahia was born in an Arab village in Israel and earned his first medical
degree at the prestigious Technion in the northern city of Haifa before
pursuing higher education in Britain. He trained in the Royal Brompton &
Harefield Hospital in London, where he served as a transplant fellow from
2002-2009 and was involved in the development of the artificial heart
program and lung transplant program.

After spending four years running a cardiac transplant program in Glasgow,
Scotland, he decided to accept An-Najah's offer to return home — saying it
offered him a rare opportunity to really influence change.

In January, he transplanted an artificial heart into an 18-year-old boy who
was suffering from severe heart failure.

"He was on the verge of death and would have died in two months if this
operation wasn't done," Haj-Yahia said.

The patient, Ahmad Sabareh, now says he is making plans to attend university
soon. "I lifted weights today. I'm doing well," he said while watching TV in
his hospital room. "It's a new life ... I have lots of plans for the
future."

Haj-Yahia's work has resonated widely in Palestinian society, where medical
education is relatively new, particularly among the students at An-Najah,
4,000 of whom study medicine, pharmacy and nursing.

"Professor Haj-Yahia inspires every one of us. He made us much more
confident of our education and ourselves," said second-year student Dalia
Yaesh.
=====================
Sue Lerner - Associate, iMRA

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