Petra!

July 21st was the birthday of Micah and Nathan my two oldest sons, and my first visit to Petra. I wish that they could have been there with me to explore this fascinating place. Petra is an unbelievable site. It is large and difficult to explore, but worth the effort.


At the entrance one is greeted by three kings. :-)




There is some commercialism outside of the entrance since the movie from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was filmed there.



http://www.indianajones.de/indy3/texte/petra.php Use your cursor to move 360 degrees around the entrance near the Treasury.






The Treasury appears at the entrance. It is stunning in size and design.


Explanation of Petra by Chris Tuttle by clicking the above link - Petra

Trip to Tafila Technical University and Wadi Dana Reserve

On the 19th, we took a trip South to Tafilia University where we met with the President. Late that afternoon we moved on to Wadi Dana reserve to spend the night and visit the village. Tafila is only 1 1/2 years old as a university. It was previously a community college, but has been upgraded to a four-year school as part of the nation's efforts to upgrade the educational level of its citizens. The president, Dr. Sultan Abu-Orabi, mentioned that he might be visiting Austin to visit with friends, and I invited him to visit St. Edward's. He is a graduate of the Univesity of Michigan in Chemistry.






We next visited Wadi Dana village a very scenic area in the Wadi Dana reserve. This picture from the village showed the herding of goats through the town's center.

Jerash, Ajloun Castle, and Reserve

July 19th marked a trip to Jerash http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerash and Ajloun Castle http://nabataea.net/ajloun.html. Jerash is one of the best sites of the Roman Empire that remain. This is picture of the central columns.







These columns avoided the fate of many ancient ruins that were destroyed by earthquakes because their design allows them to float and move. There were many ruins in Jordan that were destroyed by earthquakes around 740 C.E. The fingers here show that the columns are constantly in motion by the wind or even our pushing on them.





The view from Aljoun Castle.

Educational System and QIZ

On the 18th, we had a presentation by Zohre Allawzi and Hayat Al-Bow on the educational system in Jordan. Jordanian education is dominated by the Jordanian Secondary School Certificate Examination (Tawjihi). The Tawjihi is extremely stress producing because it determines what colleges you may attend and what majors you may take. Engineering is considered the highest level, so many students who score highest are tracked into engineering whether they are interested or not. There is tremendous family and social pressure to do well on the Tawjihi. The exam has been criticized because of the pressure it produces, and its emphasis on memorization. Critical thinking is not part of the equation.
The education is extremely centralized. There is an effort by the Jordaian Education Initiative to improve the system. Colleges have only existed in Jordan since the 1960s. They have relied over the years to sending their students overseas. King Hussein and King Abdullah were both educated in England.

We visited a textile factory that was participating in a Qualified Industrial Zone (QIZ). It made suits and clothing for many global corporations, such as, Lands End, Hagar, etc. The factory that we visited was El Zay. www.elzay.com

July 17th Lectures

After a brief discussion of colloquial Arabic, we had lectures from several experts in the areas of Human Rights in Jordan, Iraq, and environmental issues. We began with a presentation by H.E. Shaher Bak on Human Rights. He served 46 years in the Jordanian government including ambassador to Spain. He is now director of the National Centre of Human Rights http://www.nchr.org.jo/ They serve as sort of an ombudsman and auditor of human rights for Jordan. They receive complaints, investigate, and lobby for change. They have taken positions to raise civil rights, political rights, economic, social, and cultural rights. A person can be arrested on the suspicion that they might commit a crime. They are trying to outlaw the use of torture. When I asked if press reports about the use of Jordan for rendition of suspected terrorists from the United States were accurate, he said that they had heard the reports, but they have been unable to verify or deny them.

Dr. Nawal El Tell made a most interesting presentation about the Impact of Iraq War on Jordan. Iraq and Jordan developed a state of interdependency which had helped the economy of both countries. Jordan received Iraqi oil since it does not have any. Iraq was Jordan's most reliable ally in the region since both had Suni leadership and Iraq was a counter to Iran. It is important to Jordan that a united sovereign Iraq comes out of the current situation. It needs to be moderate and tolerant of both shiia and sunni factions. There are estimated to be about 1 million Iraqis in Jordan. They are mostly those with money. They have impacted real estate prices in Jordan by doubling them in the last three years. There are security concerns for Jordan, and they are not allowing Iraqis between the ages of 18-35.
The Arab system collapsed after Kuwait invasion and is very weak. Syria is weak militarily. This has allowed Iran to interfere. The elections in Iraq actually split people rather than unified them. To stabilize Iraq ten times the number of troops are needed. After the decision to invade, the biggest mistake was to disband the Iraqi army. The army was integrated with both Shiia and Sunis. The structure of the army had them working together and unifying the country.
Surveys of Jordan people indicate that most people believe that cause of the war was first Israel and second oil. http://www.css-jordan.org/

Yehya Khalid gave us an overview of environmental issues in Jordan. Jordan is kind of a melting pot of species from three continents. The Rift Valley is a major bird migratory route. The overwhelming environmental issue for Jordan is water. It is in the top ten poorest countries in terms of water. There is a plan to create a canal from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea which environmentalist seem to be very skeptical of its wisdom. There are many conflicts on the use of the Jordan River between Israel and Jordan. It sounds similar to the U.S.-Mexico disputes over the Rio Grande.
In December, they will create an environmental police force which is something that has been contemplated in Texas.

Lectures & Excursion July 16

July 16th began with Arabic lesson and lectures on USAID assistance in Jordan and a youth and women's program. USAID assistance is governed by priorities set Washington. It also is not very efficient because it requires that items and purchases be made through U.S. companies. This results in a U.S. company getting the funds who in turn hires Jordanians to do work. The U.S. company then is an overhead cost as a middle man. In contrast money sent to Israel has no strings attached as to what are the priorties. Israel can use the money to strengthen the Israeli companies and the Israeli economy directly. The difference on this issue may be explained by a recent article by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html.

In the afternoon, we visited the University of Balqaa in Salt. They showed us an impressive display of Arab and Islamic art.

This is a huge reproduction of a beautiful piece from a Jerusleum mosque that had been destroyed by fire. The picture does not do it justice in terms of scale or detailed work. It is put together without any fasteners or glue.

Visit to the Al Khatib Family

On July 14th, we were assigned to visit with the family we had met at the earlier BBQ. Lil and I visited the Al Khatib family. Walid and his son, Mohammed picked us up at the hotel, and took us to their home on Friday afternoon. The family has had experience with Americans serving as a host family for American and Dutch foreign exchange students.

From left: me, Amar, Tamara, Mohammed, and Walid

Amar is a retired school counselor. Tamara just graduated with her bachelor's degree in accounting. Mohammed is an energetic 15 year old with a great sense of humor. Walid is an agricultural engineer who works for the Jordanian government.


They served us some wonderful Arabic food and answered our questions about their family. They have a wonderful apartment with a nice balconey. We smoked the argeela pipe.
Mohammed watches a lot of American movies on television. He had watched five movies on the day we visited.



Mohammed and Tamara pose. She had recently gone through graduation. She had a slumber party the night before with much singing and dancing.

This is a very warm family who are fun to be with. They laugh often with affection for each other.

Mt. Nebo, Madaba, & Dead Sea

On July 13th, we set off to the East. Our first stop was Mt. Nebo.
This a crucifix at Mt. Nebo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Nebo_(Jordan)

We visited a workshop in Madaba that makes mosaics.

The famous map from St. George's Church in Madaba. This church was built on top of a Byzantinian church. The mosaic was a very accurate layout of the known world of the time.

http://www.atlastours.net/jordan/madaba_map.html

We move on to the Dead Sea from Madaba.

This is the view of the Dead Sea from the newly constructed Dea Sea Panoram Museum. It is 800-900 meters above sea level. The Dead Sea is 400 meters below sea level.

No one needs a float or life preserver on the Dead Sea.

Mukaiwer, Um Al Rassas, and Kurak

On July 12th, we set out for Mukaiwer by bus. This picture was taken at our stop with the Dead Sea in the distant background. This site was a Roman on the top of a hill/mountain.

From the left: Julie, Rana, Efrain, Lil, Me, Cindy, Jane, Will, Paul, Matt, and Darren. A great group of people from coast to coast and Puerto Rico.







We next moved to Um Al Rassas which was a large site that has been partially unearthed. The ruins of Um Al-Rassas lie near the Kings' Highway, 30 kilometers south east of Madaba, in a barren desert, no longer the lush fertile terrain it was during the Roman rule, as described by the Jewish historian of the time, Josephus. The biblical name of this town, Kastron Mepha'at, is mentioned in Joshua 13:18 and in Jeremiah 48:21.
The Roman fortress, originally a Nabatean city, is a square walled town with very high walls supported by towers. A 15-meter tower stands in the middle and has generated a much speculation on the purpose it served. http://www.jordanbeauty.com/UmAlrassas.html
The site had been destroyed by the earthquake from around 740 C.E. There were some beautiful mosaics found inside from an old Byztine church.




These Mosaics were very large and intricate telling about the times with elaborate symbolism.

Our next stop was Karak Castle. It was one of the Crusader castles. http://www.vkrp.org/studies/historical/town-castle/ The castles symbolize to Arabs from the area the violence and massacres carried out by the crusaders. The crusaders when they conqueored a town would kill everyone including children sometimes by decapitating everyone. To them an Arab life was worth less than a Christian's life. Some think they see parallels in Lebanon when one Israeli soldier is killed the response is that 100 Arabs must die. The legacy of the crusades is why there was such an uproar when President Bush talked of his invasion of Iraq as a crusade.

The castle is located on top of a mountain peak with deep valleys on all sides. There was a moat and drawbridge.

This shows how steep the sides the castle were for anyone approaching.

This country has a lot of police. This one specializes in policing tourists outside of Kurak.

The Signs of War

An Israeli girl on Monday writes a 'message’ in Hebrew on shells ready to be fired by mobile artillery unit towards Lebanon (AP photo by Sebastian Scheiner)

From Jordan Times 7-18-06

http://www.jordantimes.com/tue/index.htm

Baqa’a Refugee Camp

There are ten refugee camps in Jordan. We visited one in Amman named Baqa'a. Statistics about the camp are contained at http://www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/jordan/baqaa.html These stats show 80,000+ The camp director reported 90,000, but the numbers are difficult because of the flow of people in and out, and a number of people are classified as displaced persons who aren't refugees. Displaced persons are those people who have escaped from the West Bank who were already Jordanian citizens.

We were shown the best parts of the camp. Although, originally tents, concrete stuctures have been built on the spots. A family might have been given 10 meters. I went in one residence that was shared between a man and his brother. There were ten people residing in an area smaller than my hotel room. The man was suffering from depression. Since this was his past, present, and future, it is easy to understand why. I wonder how long can this go on? Will these camps still be here through this century?



A passing truck driver after asking where we were from yelled, "I love America, but not Bush."







These kids clamoured to pose for a picture. They love digital cameras because they can see themselves. I wonder if it confirms their existence and importance.



Information about all of the Jordanian camps http://www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/jordan.html
Some personal stories of people who have spent 50 years in a camp. http://www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/stories/56th_anniversary.html

I wonder if in human history if the world has produced temporary refugee camps that are permanent like the American Indian reservations. I guess when you take someone's land you put them in camps so they can't get their property back.
As current events continue to expand, we may have additional refugees and displaced persons in Jordan. I am reminded of the saying "That to continue to do the same thing when it doesn't work expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity."

Rise of Fundamentalism

One of the puzzling questions of our time is why the rise of fundamentalism in Islam. One factor not always noticed is the contribution of literacy. Until fairly recently there were not many people in the region who could read the Koran. Like the Protestant revolution in which literacy and printing allowed access to the Bible. Literacy allowed many people to read the Koran and make their own interpretations and misinterpretations. It now seems that some feel that any individual can issue a Fatwah or call someone an Apostate. It also seems that many have mixed up their cultural ideas into Islam. Technology has allowed for the spread of radical ideas via the Internet.

Another interesting factor is the collapse of the Soviet Union which had some unintended consequences. The Soviets had provided funds for change oriented groups. The collapse of funding weakened people who wanted change in a secular fashion. I remember when the Shah of Iran was overthrown by Khomeni the only concern that the U.S. had was that he was not a communist. Many were blinded by their anti-communist view of the world and missed other threats. The U.S. support for the Islamists in Afghanistan against the Soviets returned to backfired yet again.

Rise of fundamentalism across various religions is also interesting phenomenon. The Reverend Davidson Loehr in a sermon entitled, "The Fundamentalist Agenda" on 3 February 2002 in the First UU Church of Austin, TX made the follow observations:
It is terribly important for us to realize that the fact that “our” Christian fundamentalists have the same hate list as their Muslim fundamentalists is not a coincidence!
From 1988-1993, the University of Chicago conducted a six-year study known as The Fundamentalism Project, the largest such study ever done. About 150 scholars from all over the world took part, reporting on every imaginable kind of fundamentalism. And what they discovered was that the agenda of all fundamentalist movements in the world is virtually identical, regardless of religion or culture.
They identified five points shared by virtually all fundamentalisms:
1. Their rules must be made to apply to all people, and to all areas of life. There can be no separation of church and state, or of public and private areas of life. The rigid rules of God and they never doubt that they and only they have got these right must become the law of the land. Pat Robertson, again, has said that just as Supreme Court justices place a hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution, so they should also place a hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible. In Khomeini's Iran of two decades ago, and in the recent Taliban rule of Afghanistan, we saw how brutal and bloody this looks in real time.
2. The second agenda item is really at the top of the list, and its vulgarly simple: Men are on top. In every way. Men are bigger and stronger, and they rule not only through physical strength, but also and more importantly through their influence on the laws and rules of the land. Men set the boundaries. Men define the norms, and men enforce them. They also define women, and they define them through narrowly-conceived biological functions. Women are to be supportive wives, mothers, and home-makers.
3. A third item follows from the others indeed all of these agenda items are necessarily interlocked, and need each other to survive. Since there is only one right picture of the world, one right set of beliefs, and one right set of roles for men, women and children, it is imperative that this picture and these norms and rules be communicated precisely to the next generation. Therefore, they must control the education of the society. They control the textbooks, the teaching styles, they decide what may and may not be taught. In Afghanistan, women were denied any education at all beyond basic literacy and sometimes not even that much. And in our own country it was a long and hard battle to get women access to college and professional educations and credentials.
4. A fourth point isn't an agenda item, but an observation voiced by several of the scholars: there is an amazingly strong and deep resemblance between fundamentalism and fascism. Both have almost identical agendas. Men are on top, women are subservient, there is one rigid set of rules, with police and military might to enforce them, and education is tightly controlled by the State. One scholar suggested that its helpful to understand fundamentalism as religious fascism, and fascism as political fundamentalism. Fundamentalists spurn the modern, and want to return to a nostalgic vision of a golden age that never really existed. Likewise, the phrase overcoming the modern is a fascist slogan dating back to at least 1941.
5. And the fifth point is the most abstract, though its foundational. Fundamentalists deny history in a radical and idiosyncratic way. Fundamentalists know, as well or better than anybody, that culture taints everything it touches. Our teachers, our times, color how we think, what we value, and the kind of people we become. If you have perverse teachers or books, you develop perverse people and societies. And they agree on the perversions of our current American society: the air of permissiveness, narcissism, individual rights unbalanced by responsibilities, sex divorced from commitment, and so on. The culture must be controlled because it colors everything in it. So far, so good. What they don't want to see is that exactly the same thing was true when their own sacred scriptures were created. Good biblical scholarship begins by studying the cultural situation when scriptures were created, to understand their original intent so we can better discern what messages they may still have that are relevant for our lives. But if fundamentalists admit that their own scriptures are as culturally conditioned as everything else, they lose the foundation of their certainties. St. Paul had severe personal hangups about sex, for instance, that lie behind his personal problems with homosexuality and women. How else would he say that it is a shameful thing for a woman to speak in church, or that men are made in the image of God, but women are made in the image of men? These are the reasons that informed biblical scholars take some of Paul's teachings as rantings rather than revelations. But for fundamentalists, their scriptures fell straight from heaven in a leather-bound bootitlery jot antitlele intact.
The complete sermon is available at http://www.austinuu.org/sermons/loehr020302.html

We have had fundamentalist revivals throughout our history. It seems to me that the grasping for anchors by fundamentalists historically has tended to come as a reaction to a rapidly changing society. Globalization seems to be facing resistance from people more prone to tribalism. Some see the choice of globalization as between "Jihad v. McWorld," http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199203/barber It all remains to be seen how things will turn out.

Lectures Sunday and Monday 9th and 10th

We had a series of lectures on Jordanian and regional issues and politics from some very knowledgable academics and professionals. Two speakers from the U.S. Embassy gave us the U.S. positions and policies. One of speakers asked us to not post their comments, so I won't. There wasn't anything that was different than anything in the media.
On Monday, we went to the Jordanian Embassy and met with Jordanian Foreign minister, Dr. Abdelelah Al-Khatib spent an hour with us as we had a cup of tea http://www.mfa.gov.jo/ . He was very gracious and accommodating explaining the main issues facing Jordan as (1) Israel-Palestine and (2) Iraq War. He was educated at John Hopkins.

I asked him if there is anything that he would like changed about U.S. foreign policy. He said, "Yes, a lot." He then provided some specifics about the need for evenhandedness in the Israel-Palestinian issue. He seemed to be a very sincere man who wants to serve his country. I can't imagine having a cup of tea with Condi Rice.

Weddings, BBQ and Folk Dancing

Weddings are a major production in the Middle East. Our hotel has a wedding nearly every night.

Thursday night there were fireworks with many spectacular displays outside the hotel. When I looked across the street at the Four Seasons there was a major wedding with a band playing and people clapping and cheering at the bride took about five minutes to procede down the staircase with major spotlights highlighting the descent.

Friday is a holy day in Islam. Friday, July 7th was our first down time. We had no classes and worked on our laundry and catching up with our rest. The city was very quiet like a Sunday morning in America. In the evening a BBQ to meet our families.

We were treated to Jordanian music and folk dancing by a group from Jordanian University name Al-Ramth. They were invited by a professor and associate dean for student affairs who graduated from Texas A&M.
The group mostly men danced in a line except for the lead dancer with a sword and dancing drummer who were extremely active and agile.


The lead dancer's moves reminded me of Mick Jagger in his energy and personality. He twirled the sword constantly.









This is the lead male singer. There was also a female singer, but they didn't sing together. The songs were very long maybe 20 minutes. They used big speakers and electronics for some of the instrumentation.





They needed some assistance from our group. At one point I was passed the sword by the Aggie graduate, figures. I tried to figure out how to twirl, but thought better of it.






I was given instruction in the Argeela. It was only scented tobacco.

It was a fun evening of food, music, and comradeship.

Current Events

The news about Israeli attacks in Gaza and Lebanon has distracted me from the series of posts about my experiences in Jordan. It seems to me that most people in the region view the Israelis as practicing a type of apartheid that we justly condemned in South Africa. A view of how U.S. policy has been set on this issue is contained in a recent article by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html

I liken the dispute between the Israelis and Palestinians to a domestic dispute. The police officer [USA] arrives at the dispute and sees that the two parties have been fighting. Following a policy that has been in place for decades he tells the two to work out their differences. The Israelis are the large male who has battered the woman [the Palestinians]. This strategy was not effective in family violence situations. Current law and practices require that the officer determine who the primary aggressor is in the situation and intervene to protect the other.

Umm Qais/Qays

We arrived at Umm Qays after our trip to Bethany. The weather is much more pleasant moving from below sea level to breezy heights in the North of Jordan near the Syrian border. Known as Gadara in ancient times, modern Umm Qays is in the northernmost part of Jordan, just south and east of the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights. It was also known as Gadara in ancient times. Jesus was supposed to have been there at some point.
The following picture is of the Sea of Galliee from Umm Qays.






Its other name is Lake Tiberias. Our lunch was from an outdoor patio with the Sea of Galilee. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_of_Galilee




This is the view of the Golan Heights which can be seen from the resturant patio. The Golan Heights is the Israeli occupied area of Syria. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_Heights

View of some of the ruins. Much of the area was destroyed by a major earthquake around 740 c.e. This land is privately owned as many of the ruins in Jordan. It has only had a very small area restored. Most of what is seen is from the Roman era.




Sheep graze through the ruins at Umm Qays [pronounced um case].

Bethany

On Thursday July 6th, we set out for Bethany [http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1556/]and Umm Qais [http://www.romero-jordan.com/about_umm_qeis%20.htm]. This post will focus on Bethany. I will follow with a post on Umm Qais.




We stopped on the road to note that we were at sea level. Which when we are still in the mountainous regions seems kind of strange. The area in the background looks like desert to me, but we are told it is only arid now and that it blooms in the Spring. We are told we will see real desert later during our stay.


As we arrive in the Jordan valley we go through several checkpoints as it is considered a military zone. As we await our passes to go to the site where Jesus is reported to have been baptized by John the Baptist, this picture is of the city of Jericho. Jericho is the oldest continously inhabited city in existence - the first ancient city was established in approximately 8,000 BC. [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/palestine/jericho.htm]

As we approach the mighty Jordan River, Dr. Peteet warns us to not be disappointed to keep our expectations low. The following photo shows why she warned us

The site where Jesus is reported to have been baptized by John the Baptist is at an old channel of the Jordan that is now dry. The Jordan's channel varied over time as floods came and went. This site is at located where a spring intersected with the Jordan thus making the water cleaner and more appropriate for baptisms.

A church and dock has been built on the Jordan. The dock allows one to splash a little water from the river. This cowboy from Texas shows how it is done without falling in. The water is considered to be polluted, and we are urged to wash our hands with antibiotic soap.

There is lovely John the Baptist church that has been built at this Jordan River site.

Immediately across the river is a symbolic sign from Israel.

This is the cave that John the Baptist lived in which I think was fairly recently discovered.

We saw just barely Jerusaleum, but the haze was thick enough that pictures didn't come out.

We left from here and drove toward Umm Qais the next post.

First exploration July 5

We set out via tourist bus to explore some areas of Amman.


We saw the Roman Theatre in the downtown area. It could hold up to 6,000 spectators. It dates from the 2nd century. The steps were very steep.





This is a view of the Citadel from the Theatre with a telephoto lense. It is more than a mile away as the crow flies, but the streets of Amman are winding with very steep hills.







We visited some small art galleries in two houses. We visited the Citadel which is on hill overlooking downtown. It is a very interesting site. It is an interesting archaeological site with ruins of ancient Rabbath-Ammon, the Romans, Byzantine, and early Islamic remains built on top of each other. There is archaeological digging still underway to the left see a wall being uncovered.






Roman columns at the Citadel.









The mosque that is being restored is on top of a site if I remember correctly was the site for a Roman temple pre-Christian and post-Christian. The civilizations build on top of each other reusing stones from previous societies.





The inside of the mosque under restoration.




This an early Christian church that was built on the site of the Citadel.



After a lunch with Mesa and Maza which was delicious. We visited a souq that was all jewelry mostly gold which is reputed to be of high quality and at good prices. There were 20 shops like this one. Eventhough each shop has a million dollars worth of gold behind simple glass, they have no problems with thefts because everyone would pursue a robber.


We also visited the King Abdullah Mosque.