Microsoft Jordan Fact Sheet
Al Bawaba 2010-2-14
Microsoft Jordan
• Established in 2001 as the first multinational IT company to establish a presence in the Kingdom following a visit by Bill Gates, Microsoft Chairman, in December 2000.
• Microsoft Jordan is a Jordanian entity, staffed by Jordanians dedicated to contributing to the development of Jordan.
• Mrs Rula Ammuri appointed as Microsoft Jordan Country Manager in December 2009.
Microsoft Jordan’s Objectives
• Microsoft Jordan is committed to playing an active role in helping Jordan achieve the objectives of His Majesty King Abdallah II that envision making Jordan an ICT hub for the region.
• Microsoft Jordan aims to help local businesses innovate, save money and help foster growth and new thinking together with robust partner ecosystem.
• The Microsoft Jordan’s partner ecosystem in the Kingdom is providing value to both the economy overall as well as individual organizations.
• Microsoft Jordan is working with the government, industry and society to source and scale innovative solutions for shared economic, social and environmental challenges.
• Microsoft Jordan’s ICT Strategy for the Kingdom will develop local ICT skills and contribute to enhance education, help attract investments, create knowledge, create employment, increase exports and establish Jordan as an IT hub in the region. ...(more)
Daniel 8:25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand
Jordan and U.S. Move Closer to Nuclear Pact
The Wall Street Journal 2010/2/9
Jordan is in advanced talks with the Obama administration to conclude a civilian nuclear-cooperation agreement with the U.S., according to Jordanian and U.S. officials. Successful completion of the negotiations would make Jordan the second Arab state in less than a year, following the United Arab Emirates, to secure nuclear assistance from Washington. Any pact would constitute an international treaty and need the approval of Congress. The talks come as Iran is accelerating its production of nuclear fuel, raising the prospect of an expanding nuclear-arms race in the Middle East. An accord with King Abdullah II's government in Amman would allow U.S. firms to transfer nuclear equipment, fuel and expertise to Jordan ...
Jordan strips Palestinians’ citizenship
The Jerusalem Post 2010/1/2
A US-based human rights group criticized Jordan Monday for stripping the citizenship of nearly 3,000 Jordanians of Palestinian origin in recent years. Nearly half the kingdom's 6 million people are of Palestinian origin and Jordan fears that if Palestinians become the majority, it will disrupt the delicate demographic balance. Concerned about increasing numbers of Palestinians in the country, Jordan in 2004 began revoking citizenship from Palestinians who do not have the Israeli permits that are necessary to reside in the West Bank. Human Rights Watch said Jordan stripped about 2,700 Jordanians of Palestinian origin of their citizenship between 2004 and 2008 and urged them to restore their full rights. The trend continued last year .... ...Jordanian Interior Minister Nayef al-Qadi recently said the government wants Jordanians of Palestinian origin to clarify their status by renewing permits that recognize them as West Bank citizens in order to preserve their Palestinian identity. Wilcke warned others could be at risk from a similar measure, such as 250,000 Jordanians of Palestinian origin expelled by Kuwait during the 1991 Gulf War.
What they're really saying is that they, Jordan, does not want Israel to say that Jordan is the Palestian homeland. Which, by the way, is why the country of Jordan was established in the first place, to be the Palestinian homeland. Reference: HISTORY of Israel & "Palestine"
Israeli proposal: Make Jordan the official Palestinian homeland
Christian Science Monitor 2009/6/1
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior members of his cabinet have pushed back hard against a renewed US demand to end settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories. Interior Minister Eli Yishai said Sunday that it amounted to "expulsion." But 53 Israeli parliamentarians have moved to explore another kind of expulsion: Under a proposal to be reviewed this week, Jordan would become the official homeland for Palestinians now living in the West Bank. ...Nearly half of the Knesset's 120 members moved last Wednesday to pass the "two states for two peoples on the two banks of the River Jordan" proposal on to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for further discussion. ...Most Israelis are quite dismissive of the proposal, however. Prof. Shmuel Sandler, a Bar-Ilan University professor who specializes in Israeli politics and the settlement movement, says the bill was more of a symbolic move meant to frustrate Netanyahu and outflank him on the right. Professor Sandler notes that the National Union didn't even make it into Netanyahu's government because the rightist prime minister chose to put the traditionally left-wing Labor party in his coalition over far-right parties that would rule out options for peacemaking. "As for how serious this is, I don't think the Jordanians have to worry about it. Most Israelis in the establishment see Jordan as an important ally," he says. "The National Union doesn't carry much weight. But it can cause trouble to Netanyahu by making his effort to evacuate settlements more and more difficult."
Obama promises Arabs Jerusalem will be theirs
Official: President said Palestinian state with holy city capital 'in American interest'
WorldNetDaily 2009/5/30
President Obama and his administration told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting last week the U.S. foresees the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, according to a top PA official speaking to WND. "The American administration was very friendly to the position of the PA," said Nimer Hamad, Abbas' senior political adviser. "Abu Mazen (Abbas) heard from Obama and his administration in a very categorical way that a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital is in the American national and security interest," Hamad said. ...Another PA official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told WND today that Obama informed Abbas he would not let Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "get in the way" of normalizing U.S. relations with the Arab and greater Muslim world. "We were told from this new administration they will not allow a Netanyahu government to hurt their efforts of rehabilitating U.S. relations with the Arab and Islamic world, which is a high priority of Obama," the official said, speaking during a visit to Cairo. ...
Jordan king goes undercover to check services
American Foreign Press 2009/5/27
Jordan's King Abdullah II disguised himself on Wednesday in a black dishdasha or thob and traditional red-and-white keffiyeh to inspect services at a health ministry centre in Amman, an official said.
"The king, who was also holding a walking stick, visited the centre this morning and mingled with people to inspect health services provided to them," the official told AFP.
"But he was recognised by some people later..." The official did not give further details. Following in the footsteps of his father, the late King Hussein, the Jordanian monarch, 47, has gone undercover several times since he took office in 1999 ...
No "57-state solution" to Mideast conflict, says Arab League chief
Monsters & Critics 2009/5/23
Speaking to reporters at the end of a meeting of foreign ministers from the 57 members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting in Damascus on Saturday, Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa said media reports suggesting the OIC might offer Israel a joint peace deal were inaccurate. 'This is not on the table. All talk of this is inaccurate,' Mussa said. Jordan's King Abdullah II, in a May 11 interview with the Times of London, had spoken of a '57-state solution.' 'We are offering a third of the world to meet (the Israelis) with open arms,' King Abdullah said two weeks ago. 'The future is not the Jordan river or the Golan Heights or Sinai, the future is Morocco in the Atlantic to Indonesia in the Pacific.' 'The Jordanian proposal is in accordance with the Arab proposal,' Mussa said Saturday. 'The conflict would be finished with Israel's withdrawal from all occupied territories and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.' ...
Daniel 8:25 ...and by peace shall destroy many
Daniel 11:21 ...but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries
Revelation 9:15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
So I ask, "why the third part of men?". Perhaps now we have the answer.
Pope Benedict Looks For Resurrection Of The Holy Land
Catholic News Agency 2009/5/20
At his Wednesday general audience, Pope Benedict XVI recalled his recent trip to the Holy Land. He told the 20,000 pilgrims present in St. Peter’s Square that peace is possible in the Holy Land, with the help of faith ..."In that Land blessed by God at times its seems impossible to escape the spiral of violence. But nothing is impossible for God and for those who trust in Him! For this reason, faith in the one God, just and merciful, which is the most precious resource those people have, must have the power to release all its potential of respect, reconciliation and collaboration." The Pope went on to explain how he had expressed this hope to the Grand Mufti and the heads of the Muslim community of Jerusalem, to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and to organizations dedicated to inter-religious dialogue. Jerusalem, the Pope said, is “the crossroads of these three great religions and its very name means city of peace, it expresses God’s divine plan for humanity.” “All believers,” he added, “must leave prejudice and the will to predominate at their backs and unanimously practice the fundamental commandment that is to love God with all our being and love our neighbor with all of ourselves.” “This is what Jews, Christians and Muslims are called to witness, to honor by our deeds the God that we pray to with our tongues,” the Pontiff continued. “This is what I carried in my heart as I prayed in Jerusalem at the Western Wall and at the Dome of the Rock.” ...“I would like to sum up the entire itinerary in the sign of the Resurrection,” Benedict XVI concluded. “Despite wars and destruction and even conflicts between Christians, the Church has continued in its mission, it is on the road to full unity.”
Revelation 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
Revelation 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
King Inaugurates Special Operations Training Centre
The Jordan Times 2009/5/20
...King Abdullah on Tuesday inaugurated the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Centre (KASOTC) in Amman, a facility planned to serve as a regional centre for counter-terrorism training. ...“This centre, with its strategic location, is the King’s idea to unify regional efforts to counter terrorism. It will be a military training base for the Arab world and the region,” he said.
During training, coaches apply a number of urban warfare scenarios. Operations are computerised and recorded by 360 cameras, he said. "This provides an after-action review for training purposes, either directly after the exercise or at a later date," the officer added. According to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff General Khaled Sarayreh, the centre poses as a model of cooperation and partnership between Jordan and the US to combat terrorism in all its forms. “The root causes of terrorism are a mix of special agendas of many extremist organisations, operating in environments characterised by oppression, despair, frustration, poverty, unemployment, hunger….,” said the general, adding that the best way to fight terrorism is to “develop comprehensive strategies focusing on the employment of political, economic, social, technical and intelligence efforts, information sharing and the large scale-use of technology, besides military efforts”. Gary Heral, director of KASOTC, said the centre is one of a kind in the world. “This is the world’s premier counter-terrorism operations centre, or special operations centre. It is 25 square kilometres and has everything from single room dwellings to five-storey apartment buildings. There is no special operation training that you cannot do here.” ...
Daniel 8:24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
Daniel 11:38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
Jordan Opens World’s Largest Special Ops Training Camp
The Media Line 2009/5/20
The world’s largest special operations urban warfare training base opened on Monday in Jordan. The center, which was inaugurated by Jordan’s King Abdullah, will be known as the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Centre (KASOTC). The facility northeast of the capital Amman cost about $90 million to build and took three years to complete. Part of the funding was provided by the Unites States government and the inauguration ceremony was co-sponsored by U.S Special Operations Command-Central. Also present were representatives from the Afghan, Pakistani, Iraqi and Gulf armies. ...The KASOTC instrumented Military Operations on Urban Terrain site was built with the latest technology available and allows us to share this expertise with our government's allies, adding to their combat effectiveness and supporting their security interests." ...The facility contains a central operations center from where officers can monitor and control all audio, video, special effects and target technology such as networked day/night thermal cameras with 360-degree coverage to capture exercises for reviewing afterwards, the constructors said in a statement. “This center, with its strategic location, is the king’s idea to unify regional efforts to counter terrorism. It will be a military training base for the Arab world and the region,” 'Adnan 'Abadi, a commander at the center told the Jordan Times. ...
Daniel 8:24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
Daniel 11:38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
Jordan's King Abdullah: We're Going to Have a War
Catholic Online 2009/5/19
What we are talking about is not Israelis and Palestinians sitting at the table, but Israelis sitting with Palestinians, Israelis sitting with Syrians, Israelis sitting with Lebanese. And with the Arabs and the Muslim world lined up to open direct negotiations with Israelis at the same time. So it’s the work that needs to be done over the next couple of months that has a regional answer to this — that is not a two-state solution, it is a 57-state solution. King Abdullah was asked at the end of his interview whether it would matter if the Arab initiative failed. "We're going to have a war," was his answer. ...
Arab leaders split over peace moves
The Jerusalem Post 2009/5/18
... Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, said on Sunday that Arab states should refuse to have any dealings with Netanyahu until there is a complete freeze on settlements. "They must not meet with him if building in the settlements continues and if demolitions of homes in Arab villages continue," Moussa said at the World Economic Forum in Shuneh, Jordan, on Sunday. "This will change the demographic balance and undermine our cause." Moussa said that halting settlement construction "must be a precondition" to a meeting between Netanyahu and any Arab leader. "If they meet with him, they will be publicly rejecting the two-state solution, and therefore the freezing of all settlement building must be a prerequisite," he said. "Otherwise, we Arabs will be undermining our own cause." ...
Arabs Pressure Obama for Quick Peace Accord
Townhall.com 2009/5/13
Last Sunday, the British newspaper The Times published an interview with Jordan's King Abdullah II, in which the maturing king demonstrated a deft touch in putting pressure both on the new prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and on President Barack Obama. The king's comments -- coming about two weeks after his Washington visit with our president, one day after his visit with the pope, and about one week before Prime Minster Netanyahu's Washington visit with Obama -- put heavy geopolitical pressure on Israel while simultaneously maximizing President Obama's personal stakes in the success or failure of this newest Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative: "(President Obama) feels the urgency of the need to move today. … So this is a critical moment. … What we are talking about is not Israelis and Palestinians sitting at the table, but Israelis sitting with Palestinians, Israelis sitting with Syrians, Israelis sitting with Lebanese. And with the Arabs and the Muslim world lined up to open direct negotiations with Israelis at the same time. … That is not a two-state solution; it is a 57-state solution. ... Note how shrewdly the king has tried to weight the scales for President Obama. Our president is in the middle of what he has described as one of his important personal policy objectives as president: to reach out to the Muslim world and rectify relations between it and the United States. To that end, he already has spoken on an international Arab television network and before the Turkish Parliament, and next month, he will go to Egypt for a major address to the Arab and Muslim people.
And now the king of Jordan, in surprisingly blunt language, has warned our president that if there is not a peace deal in 2009, "All the tremendous credibility that Obama has worldwide and in this region will evaporate overnight … (and) then there will be a feeling that this is just another American government that is going to let us all down." ...
King Abdullah of Jordan's ultimatum: peace now or it’s war next year
TimesOnline.co.UK 2009/5/11
America is putting the final touches to a hugely ambitious peace plan for the Middle East, aimed at ending more than 60 years of conflict between Israel and the Arabs, according to Jordan’s King Abdullah, who is helping to bring the parties together.
The Obama Administration is pushing for a comprehensive peace agreement that would include settling Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians and its territorial disputes with Syria and Lebanon, King Abdullah II told The Times. Failure to reach agreement at this critical juncture would draw the world into a new Middle East war next year. “If we delay our peace negotiations, then there is going to be another conflict between Arabs or Muslims and Israel in the next 12-18 months,” the King said. ...
Jordan sees new war if US does not act quickly
The Houston Chronicle 2009/4/26
President Barack Obama and Jordan's King
Abdullah II, left, talk as the king leaves, Tuesday,
April 21, 2009, after their meeting in the Oval Office
of the White House in Washington.
(AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
Jordan's king urged President Barack Obama Sunday to take a more forceful role in the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, warning of a new Mideast war if there is no significant progress in the next 18 months.
Speaking to NBC's "Meet the Press," King Abdullah described the Israeli-Palestinian dispute as the core problem of the region and solving it would help the U.S. in dealing with Iran and combatting the appeal of radical Islamic groups like Al-Qaida.
"In the next 18 months, if we don't move the process forward, and bring people to the negotiation table, there will be another conflict between Israel and another protagonist," he said in the interview recorded in Washington on Friday. "If it's left to the players, the Israelis and the Palestinians by themselves, we're not going to get anywhere... . The king also addressed the use of torture, acknowledging that he had heard in the press that it was being used by United States, but denying allegations that Jordan was involved. Human Rights Watch, among other groups, has issued reports alleging that the Jordanian intelligence service brutally interrogated detainees on behalf of the CIA. Instead, Abdullah said his intelligence services specialized in turning enemy agents and using them as informants."I think that we have been very smart in being intelligent (and) convincing operatives that we have come across to end up working for us — and you can't do that when it comes to torture," he said. ... .
Jordan's Abdullah: Israel Must Choose Between Isolation and Integration
FoxNews.com 2009/4/24
Israel must choose between integration and isolation in the Middle East, Jordan's King Abdullah II said Friday on a visit to the United States.
He also warned that delaying a two-state solution would be disastrous for both Israel and the Palestinians, according to reports from Haaretz Service and Reuters.
"Israel now has to make its choice — to integrate into the region ... with normal relations with its neighbors or to remain fortress Israel," the king said, Reuters reported.
The king said the 2002 Arab peace initiative was the best option for Israel. The initiative would establish normal ties between Israel and all Arab states in return for it relinquishing territory gained in the 1967 Middle East war, the creation of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for its refugees, Reuters reported.
He said the 2002 Arab peace initiative was the best option for Israel and he urged it to take up the offer.
The United States will be key to peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and both sides are already testing President Obama's resolve, he said.
"I cannot emphasize enough how important U.S. partnership is to help Israel accept the opening the Arab world has offered," the king said ...
Obama Signals 'Not Business as Usual' to Israel
NEWS.NewAmericanMedia.com 2009/4/24
...To Arab media, that signals that President Barack Obama is serious about being an honest broker in the peace process. Jalal Ghazi writes the Eye on the Middle East for NAM. Arab media typically suggests that no American president can ever be an honest broker when it comes to Israel and Palestine. They believe the influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is too strong and the U.S. policy is completely biased towards Israel. That stance is starting to shift in the media. The first sign was President Barack Obama giving an interview to Al Arabia Television right after he came to office in January. Now after his speech in Turkey and his meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan in the White House, Arab media are suggesting that Obama is going to play a more balanced role as mediator between Israelis and Palestinians than his predecessor. It is important to note the U.S. position has not really changed. The two-state solution also was part of the Bush administration’s Middle East policy. What is new, said Marwan Bishara, senior political analyst with Al Jazeera English “is that the Obama administration considers reconciliation and peace part of its national security. Under the Bush administration, conflict and war on terror were part of its national security.” Resuming the peace process in the Middle East would help redeploy U.S. troops from Iraq to Afghanistan. It would also allow him to continue the diplomatic process with Muslim countries, especially Syria and Iran. However Obama’s vision for the Middle East is on a collision course with that of the Israeli right-wing government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “There is a completely radical government that Israel has not seen in the last sixty years,” said Bishara. “Its radical position towards the Palestinians, Arabs and the peace process makes it hard for Washington to reconcile what the Obama Administration views as American national security with what those in Israel today view as Israel’s national security.” ...
