Almost $500,000,000 each year from the U.S. That’s comparable to what Egypt gets,population wise. I wouldn’t mind a few of them peanuts myself.

“مما كان له آكبر الأثر على دفع عملية النمو الاقتصادي وترسيخ التنمية المستدامة في المملكة ØŒ حيث يتسم سوق العقار بتأثيره المباشر في تحريك ونمو باقي القطاعات الاقتصادية الأردنية المختلفة خاصة قطاع الانشاءات الذي يوفر فرص العمل التشغيلية للايدي العاملة، ويخلق نشاطا ملحوظا لكافة الخدمات المساندة مثل تنشيط اسواق الحديد والاسمنت والخشب والزجاج والالمنيوم والادوات الصحية وغيرها، اضافة إلى تطوير قطاعات البنية التحتية والمشاريع الاسكانية والاستثمارية المختلفة. ”

“which had the greatest effect on accelerating the process of enonomical growth in the country, because the realestate market has a direct effect on the growth of the other economical sectors in the Jordanian economy specially the constrution which provides job apportunities to the market, and creats a remarkable boost in all the assisting sectors such as the market of steel, concrete, wood, glass, alaminuim and sanitary equipment, in addition to improving the sectors of the infra structure and the various residential and commerical projects”

the following chart shows the size of continues grothw in the real estates sector:

جـدول رقــم (1) يبــين
حجــم التــداول فــي سوق العــقار الأردنــي للاعـــوام
2000-30/6/2006

السنـــه حجــم الــتداول / مليــون ديــنار
2000 900
2001 1100
2002 1200
2003 1300
2004 2000
2005 3500
1/1-30/6/2006 2800
المصدر : دائرة الاراضي والمساحة

which shows that the size of investment in the sector has grown rapidally from 900 Millions JDs in 2000, to 3.5 Billions in 2005, knowing that in the first six months only in 2006 it was 2.8 Billions. fair to assume that if it went the same rate until the end of 2006 it would be 5.6 billions.

and the report goes on talking about the role of foreigners, saying that the Iraqis came first in the list of non Jordanian owners during 2004 and also 2005 (report made in mid 2006) followed by saudis, and then Americans, Syrians, Brish and people of the UAE, in that order.

admit it. Iraqis are good contributors to this country! they are feeding it and not leaching on it! says official Jordanian numbers!

I apologize for my late reply, but i am just too busy. i dont have time to teply to all what was said, although i really wish i could.

Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it. However I too am extremely busy so I’ll apologize in advance for probably not being able to respond to your comment until at least Friday night.

anyways.

to make a long story short, all yoru points are trying to prove that Iraqis are not the biggest contributer to Jordan economy, and that others, foreigners and khalayja have more investments etc, which i agree with, in the matter of fact i never claimed that they are, all i said that they are contribuers, they brought a lot of money after the war, yes billions, and helped jordan a lot before the war. and unfortunatly no, they dont get the 100 000 back, as long as they wanna keep their legal residency status they keep that money as a deposit. they dont even get interests for it, its wadee3a y3ni marboo6a.

ok, i was saying, even the poor Iraqis are spending their own money, they are not costign the JOrdanian economy becuase they are not depending on any sort of goverment support and are not getting any.

Iraqis in universities are paying like ofriegners, my point is that they are not leachign on the universities, they are paying what they have to pay, jsut like any other people coming to Jordan, and yes, i would expect Jorda to give them free seets, or at least treat them like the jordanians, or even better and give them discounts, after all Jordan is a partner in this war that lead these Iraqis to becomign refugees no? nevertheless, i am saying that they are paying, and paying so well too.

same goes for every other sector.

so as i said, i dont want to elaborate in discussing all the points, or proving that the nunebrs that other cmomenters provied about iraqis are false, i just want to say:

Iraqis have brought a lot of money, they are living in jordan using their own money, the rich and the poor ones, and if you are being efected personaly or the country as a whole by suffering from some traffic jams, then so be is, those are our brothers and sisters, you are not holding your weapon and fighting in Iraq, you are not doing much in financial support for Iraqis, then the least, the least you can do is to live with some traffic jam, for heavens sake.

as for the construction sector, its very fair to say that its flourishing, and it wasnt only few months, its been for years now, actually in 2004 the number of real flats that were bought by iraqis are more than any other non-jordanian nationality! says the official records, and now in 2007, there is a free newspaper delivered to my door every friday that only advertises new compunds, new lexury villages, new fancy buildings and apartments being built or in the market, many of them, cost more than 200 000 JDs. every friday news advertisments and new compunds! that says something no?:)

The Iraqi investments in Jordan are big, and in various important sctors too, just one example is the 300 million dollars invested by iraqis to build a factory to assemble and maitnain airplaens, to open an academy to train pilots, another traingin center to train helicopters pilots, Hotels, entertainment center, all that is the investment of one group of Iraqis (check here http://www.moheet.com/asp/cunt_show.asp?lol=1975770) in the matter of fact, Mr Majid Assaidi, the head of the Iraqi buisnesmen center center, says that the total ammount of Iraqi investment in Jordan exceeds 10 Billions Dollars (billions and billions? really?) distributed among over 10 000 companies, in addition to many other companies where Iraqis are partners and shareholders.

The poor Jordanians cat afford to buy apartments, I agree, but as i said before, this is a fruit of a capitalist system that doesnt provide real aid to poor people, a system that is designed to assist capitalist and investments, and not assist the poorest of people, anyways, you know that now the Jordanian goverment is building thousands of new apartments to be sold to people with limited and low income, now 8500 apartments in the first project only that will be between Amman and Zarqaa, with very cheap prices varying between 17-22000 Jds, about (25 000 - 30 000) dollars, so that solved, i dont know what other justifications there will still be to complain about Iraqis.

This project is a step the Jordanian goverment deserves credit for, and should have came years ago, and its being built with cooperation with 2i3mar.

back to what i was saying,
I agree with what you said, and what others also said: we are supposed to be brothers, we are supposed to help and support each other, we are supposed to stand up for each other, we are supposed to sacrifice our blood for each other, thats why its very condemned, very not-acceptable, from Jordanians to complain about their brothers coming to them, and not justifiable in anyway, the treatment they are recieving at the borders, and yes my dear, wether you know it or not, patrols going in the very poor areas asking iraqis about their residency and deporting them if they dont have one, are a fact, every Iraqi knows it, all people that work in the NGOs knows it, UNRWA knows it, i know it, i dont think even that the jordanain goverment denies it? just because you dont know about them, doesnt know they dont exist:) its not a daily practice, comes and goes in campaigns, not enought o take everyone in the street, but enought o keep everyone terrified and on their toes, alot of iraqis are afraid to leave their houses at all in these areas because of these patrols.

brothers and sisters stand up for each other in the rough times. the rpactices on the borders are systimatic, when an airplane comes from jordan, alot of the passengers, most of them sometimes are turned at the airport and forced to stay there until another flight takes them abck home, in couple of days, they sleep on the floors, like the photoes you said. i went personally with BBC to meet an Iraqi BBC invited for a certain story, two young men, they werent allowed to enter, and it took us the entire day to put huge pressure using ministers and people in the mukhabart to be able to meet them, just meet them, in the “jail” area, they were on the edge of a nervous breakdowns, have been sleeping on the floor for two days, didint have a chance to shower, were treated really bad. saying that its just bad aplles doing that, is just like saying that its only bad apples in abu ghreib that trat iraqis badly, its not true: the system is creating an enviroment that treats iraqis like that on borders, and its been going on for long time, a while a go a person i know came from Iraq, only 3 passengers were allowed into jordan and the rest werent. only 3!!

instead of complaining, writtnig posts complaining, start working, volunteer some of your money and your time to help your iraqi brothers, at least the ones in Jordan, thats the least we can do, thats our patriot responsibility as Jordanians, thats how we want the world to view us, generous, good hosts, that stand fort heir brothers when they need us, dont we?
lets start working on it then!

and whether you are “angry” or not is irrelevant to the point i was trying to make anywa

that is true, although in a country like jordan the sudden socio-economic changes are inevitable calls for tensions. in any case, back to your point, yes there are many people to blame for the situation but like i’ve said several times in my post and comments, I personally am not looking to place blame on anyone, least of all Iraqis. I’m just trying to look at the whole picture which is confusing enough as it is.

mohanned:

On the border they give them a 3 months pass to jordan, after the 3 months they become “illegal” for exceeding the time limit that they were given, but no one is going after iraqies, except if they commit an offence to the law, and deportations are not the norm.

granted there are no mass deportations, but the system in itself is essentially flawed. it leaves the illegality wide open.

Naseem, the only difference between “legal” and “illegal” is the money which is wrong, I gave this piece of info for the “brother” who keeps saying “we did and we gave”, Which I say to him you didn’t give, saddam did, and if it was for you you wouldn’t give jordan sh!t! I am not saying that I love saddam, but to use his legacy which I assume you hate is somehow wrong, right? When you curse a “leader” and his legacy you don’t pick and choose..

“encourages those who don’t have it (the majority) to become illegal”
On the border they give them a 3 months pass to jordan, after the 3 months they become “illegal” for exceeding the time limit that they were given, but no one is going after iraqies, except if they commit an offence to the law, and deportations are not the norm.

a2ulak balash angry .. lets say unhappy .. or upset .. agitated .. how about uncomfortable .. choose the one that satisfies you
and whether you are “angry” or not is irrelevant to the point i was trying to make anyway

The question that begs it’s self,why rich Iraqis are welcomed and poor ones are kept out????

There’s nothing out there that actually has the socio-economic breakdown of Iraqi, hence the initiated fafo study, however most professionals I’ve met in the field who would have some knowledge of it would put it between 50-50 to 60-40…latter numbers being the poor.

The 100,000 deposit thing is only for getting legal residancy permit, the percentage of people who have legal residency is less than 5% of the Iraqi refugees, more than 90% of the iraqi refugees are considered “illegal” from the residency perspective.

mohanned, I think that may be the problem as I said before. asking for that much money only encourages those who don’t have it (the majority) to become illegal.

if you’re really angry that your precious country is full of unwanted visitors

I’m not angry. You must be confused.

reduced oil prices from one Arab country to the other should not be a gift, they should be a duty that you pan Arabists demand!

ouf…am I awake or dreaming?

is it possible that hamzeh actually agrees with me on something? there should be balloons or something.

btw, what you described above was an actual idea that was floated by Saddam a few years back and shot down by the Gulf.

It’s funny how people keep saying that Iraq and Iraqis pumped money into the country for decades. Was it not in exchange for anything? During the sanctions, money that entered Jordan from Iraq was all in the form of contract awards in exchange for goods, like food, medicine and agricultural needs. The reduced oil prices we got were in exchange for the strategic alliance between the two countries and quite honestly, for all those Pan Arabists who cry 3oroobeh and unity, reduced oil prices from one Arab country to the other should not be a gift, they should be a duty that you pan Arabists demand!

We were the first country to open our embassy in Iraq after the war. The terrorists had it bombed. Now our embassy is not operating there, and at least we are still giving Iraqis the chance to come to Jordan and give it a shot. We don’t have good facilities. We didn’t build a prison for Iraqis in Queen Alia Airport, they came and there’s no place to put them other than the airport. Let Iraqis start boarding planes to Chicago, see if they will get past the Passports station.

The only grief I have with what happened is the fact that they have to wait over night to go back to Baghdad. If a process can be put in place so that they don’t have to wait so long, this would be much easier.

Again, this is just to clear some things up, this by no way is meant to minimize the positive effects that Iraqies had and still have on jordan.

Rather an inflaming subject, no matter which prepective you take, but I agree with you…why dont other arab countries step up to the plate and help Jordan out with the refugee crisis??

Also there was some criticising of the king in some of these comments…how about if the king had shut the borders to Iraqi’s long ago? Iraqi’s…Palestinians…Lebanese and any other group of people that have seeked/seeking refuge in Jordan should at least be thankful for the safe haven there are provided in Jordan…Understand this is JORDAN, and its inhabitants may be a little frustrated at the MASSIVE influx of refugees. Obvious there will be some friction, but understand there is no outright rejection…I dare someone to suggest a country that would allow 1million (roughly 20% of the population) into the country, without strong policing and security measures?? Jordan’s infrastructure is under huge strain because of the over inflated population…reducing the standard of living of the original inhabitants, obliviously the majority are more than eager to aid the Iraqi brothers, but would not be happy if this was at the expense of the their living standard. I pray for stability in Iraq and Palestine so the refugees can choose to go home and return the their lands and there dignity, until that day, don’t burn the tent you have been giving as it is all you have.

I would like you to focus on the issue but it seems you always skirt around it.

How am I skirting around the issue when I’m addressing and debating it head on? I think you think that this is a single issue that is unrelated to anything, when anything that happens in the middle east is neither simple nor unrelated to other things. There is always a greater context to consider.

This is not about immigrants flooding into Jordan and even less to do with security. This is all happening for the sake of vindictive humiliation plain and simple…This has happened too many times now to say that this is a result of a few rogue officers.

I strongly disagree with that, but I’m assuming this is a statement or opinion that is completely dependent on one’s personal point of view. The generalization is in itself wrong to begin with, let alone the assumption behind its source.

Nas, the security police are humiliating and insulting legitimate visitors to your country. This is thoroughly reprehensible behaviour. The repeated actions of these officers against visitors to Jordan brings shame on the whole country. The fact that you as a Jordanian are not prepared to condemn this in the strongest possible terms brings shame on you.

dude…what’s wrong with you? I have condemned the acts a hundred times.

I even went as far as to support a call for an investigation. what do you want me and others to do? Write poems and sing songs about it? Reimburse the victim Iraqis?

pick something

keep cool:)

dont mis-quote me, the comment where i said i hate racist jordanians was particulary in a reply where i particulary talked about http://bakkouz.net/2007/08/13/im-proud-to-be-jordanian/ specifically in a post where i talked only about it, i named it, i said i will reply to IT, and i said i hate racist jordanians. and that comment is now deleted too as you can see!! and then there is another post, in another part of the thread, talking about all the other bloggers that are spreading this idea of Iraqis leaching on Jordan and that Jordan is doing all the best for them, both ideas of which are not true, where i said: flood THEIR blogs with comments. why is flooding their blogs with comments offending or upsetting or in anyway positive to you?! mish fahim! and that one is still there you can see it in the link you provided yourself!!! why are you trying to push me to the extreme and prove that i have anythign against you while i dont, why would i deny it if i do?!

and i didnt say at any point, or did anyone else actually in the thread ( i had to go and read all of it actually!) about “getting us” where did you find that?! walla dawwarit ma la2et.ha hay! i am sure i didnt say it, and didnt find anyone elsa saying it too! help me find it y3ni iza kanat marrat 3alay!

anyways, as you said, its beside the point, lets stick to what we are saying here and discuss the points, to save both our times and stick to the subject.

Once i have time, i will write you the reply i promised!

i never called you a racist or a hater of iraqis, or a governemnt official at all, not even once:) i suggested couple of times like you did in your comment, that if you think that then you will be a goverment spokesman, if you are an official, then you might want to arrest someone that curses the king, etc. both case, you are not.

this whole “if you think this then you’re that” is a very negative way to peg someone and it’s a very obvious attempt at doing so.

i have to clear something, that forum is a private mailing list, i forgot its online:) and my comment was a reply to salam’s letter, as it obviosuly shows, where he talks about

http://bakkouz.net/2007/08/13/im-proud-to-be-jordanian/

which i replied and said i will reply to him once my stomach settles down, and called him a racist, and said that i hate racist jordanians. i didnt talk about you:) i didnt talk about jordanians, because i am one, remember?:) i talked about racist jordanians, and i hate racist ameriacns, and racist iraqis, and racists of every other nation too, who doesnt?:)

You referred to “us” versus “them”, with my blog being mentioned several times in that topic in relation to the exchange that took place between you and Salam. Flooding “their” blog(s) is just one example and I think you and I both know what you meant when you said that so lets not kid ourselves here.

That being said, this is all besides the point. The objective here was to throw these insults and misconceptions aside and focus on the issue as opposed to the person (or blogger).

this said, i will reply to your comment soon enough, inshala!:)

inshallah, looking forward to it!