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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Minister of State for Media Affairs and Government Spokesperson Jumana Ghneimat, said that Jordan is steadfast in rejecting the Israeli occupation and supporting the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the borders of June 4, 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital.

During a meeting with chief editors of daily newspapers and news directors of local TV channels, Ghneimat referred to the participation of His Majesty King Abdullah II in the Arab emergency summit and the Islamic summit held in Mecca. During the summits His Majesty affirmed Jordan's firm position towards the Palestinian issue, and the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent State.

The minister reiterated the government's strong condemnation of the continuation of Israeli violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque, describing the incursions and attacks on worshipers and Waqf employees by Israeli extremists this morning as "provocative," especially that they were carried under the protection of the Israeli police.

She warned of the dangerous consequences of Israeli practices, which could drag the region into a new cycle of violence that would threaten the security of the entire region, calling upon the international community to act and shoulder its responsibilities and force Israel as an occupying power to respect its obligations under international law and its implementation.

Ghneimat pointed out that the government sent a memo to the Israeli government rejecting these provocative violations, and affirming the need to respect the feelings of Muslims in this holy place, especially in the last days of the holy month of Ramadan.

On the issue of UNRWA, she stressed that Jordan strongly supports the role of UNRWA and continues to make every effort to mobilize international political and financial support for the agency and enable it to continue to perform its duties by serving millions of Palestinian refugees.

At the local level, Ghneimat revealed that the government is currently considering ways to improve the tax system to be more fair and efficient.

She pointed out that the number of tax evasion cases that have been transferred to the Integrity and Anti-corruption commission is 46 until now in 2019 compared to 32 cases in 2018. She pointed out that there was an increase in revenues from controlling tax evasion during the first five months of 2019 by 45% to reach JD43.8 million, compared with JD30.1 million for the same period last year.

Regarding the "tobacco case" that was raised yesterday, Ghuneimat confirmed that this issue is inseparable from the efforts to fight evasion, stressing that the fight against tax evasion in continuing and that money collected increased by 150% during the last period.

With regard to the loan approved by the World Bank, the minister said the loan will help the Kingdom save around JD50 million a year at a low interest rate of 4 percent and will be repaid over 35 years with a grace period of up to five years.

"This loan will not increase borrowing from the target in the budget, because it will enable the government to repay other loans we previously obtained with higher interest rates. We will therefore benefit from a reduction in loan interest. It will also contribute to reducing the cost of financing, and protect foreign currency reserves".