Palestinian PM turns to Jordan first
The Palestinian prime minister’s visit to Amman has given a boost to the potential that Jordan can provide a serious alternative to economic dependency on Israel.
On July 3, Jordanian taxi driver Mohammad Hamdan dropped off at the local passport agency office three Palestinians he had picked up at the Palestinian Embassy in Amman. Shortly afterward, when he had to hit the brakes while driving downhill, a bag stuck under the back seat flew forward. He opened the bag and found it was full of money. Hamdan returned to where he dropped off the passengers, and even went back to where he picked them up, but couldn’t find them. He called a local taxi radio show and the anchor told him to take the bag to the nearest police station.
Two hours later, the passengers showed up at the police station and couldn’t believe their eyes when they met the driver and recouped their bag. They had withdrawn the 192,000 dinars ($270,800) to make a land deal, but had to go back to a government agency to get a missing document when they forgot the bag in the taxi.
The next day, the local radio station, Radio al-Balad, honored the driver, who received on-air calls from the head of the General Union of Mechanical and Ground Transport Workers and a representative of the mayor’s office.
A member of the Palestine National Council, Najeeb Qadoumi, came to the radio station in person to thank Hamdan and to applaud “brotherly” Jordanian-Palestinian relations. A number of taxi drivers came to the station to be photographed with the driver who had returned such a large amount of money.
