The Jordan Festival has been trapped in a swamp of controversy over Publicis Groupe, a French PR firm which alleged had overseen the Israeli 60th anniversary celebrations and currently has a role in the Arab feast.
With only five days to count down and no clues of reconciliation between the Jordanian government and art unions, both guests and Arab stars are wondering where the festival will lead to.
The Jordan Festival, which the government has promoted with great fanfare, is slated to kick off on July 8 and runs through Aug. 9.
Designed to promote tourism, the festival features a variety ofcultural and art activities scheduled to take place in Amman, Jerash, and the Dead Sea, the Ministry of Culture has announced.
So far, it has attracted some big names in global entertainmentindustry including "King of Opera" Placido Domingo, Jazz singer Diana Krall and pop newcomer Mika, in addition to Arab singers andstars.
However, news came out recently that the French PR firm Publicis Groupe is handling with the festival, a claim triggering off a boycott spearheaded by Jordan Artists Association (JAA) though almost immediately rejected by officials as "baseless."
In the name of rejecting "any kind of normalization (with Israel)," JAA President Shaher Hadid vowed to do the utmost so that no Arab singer or musician will take part in the festival.
Hadid said there are protocols among associations in Arab countries, stipulating that once an association takes a decision to boycott an event, the rest of the associations are also bound by it.
Although Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, professional associations and opposition parties prohibit their members from having any links with the Jewish state.
Besides, President of the General Union of Arab Artists in Egypt, Sayyed Radi, made the staunch words that "The decision is final: we are boycotting."
Their words really worked as many Arab artists echoed their call by announcing to cancel scheduled performances during the festival.
Jordan's Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Maha Khatib and Tourism Board (JTB) Managing Director Nayef Fayez, whose agency oversees the festival for this year, pledged that the organizationis 100 percent handled by Jordanians.
They said they only signed a deal with a French company called "Les Visiteurs du Soir" to help in contracting with singers and artists, which has no links with Israel. However, all the explanations seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.
To break the stalemate, the government and unionists held a meeting on Tuesday, during which Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Nasser Judeh slammed a media campaign based on rumors and false information.
He noted that attempts to distort the image of the festival through spreading rumors are likely to harm Jordan's reputation.
During the meeting, JAA President Shaher Hadid accused the government of "deliberately hiding the facts from the public," butdid not elaborate.
The association during the meeting set three conditions to end the boycott: cancelling the alleged agreement with Publicis Groupe,reviving the Jerash Festival, an 25-year-old event which is included under the Jordan Festival umbrella this year, and cancelling the participation of Algerian star Cheb Khalid, who hasallegedly performed with an Israeli artist in Rome.
Also on Tuesday, the French company Publicis Groupe denied any relationship with the upcoming festival, striking a heavy blow to the JAA.
"There is absolutely no kind of cooperation with Jordan in arranging the Jordan Festival. We have nothing to do with the festival at all and we are not involved in it," said Peggy Nahmany,director of external communication at Publicis Groupe in France.
Tuesday might be a turning point for the staggering infant festival, as some Arab stars said the decision to boycott is rooted in an internal Jordanian dispute that should be resolved first and highlighted the binding of concerning professional associations.
Head of the follow-up committee at the Syndicat Des Artistes Professionnels Au Liban in Beirut, Ihsan Sadiq, said "We are obliged to boycott the festival because we have protocols with Arab artists' unions."
"It is not that we want to boycott the event, but are obliged to. We love Jordan, but it is an internal Jordanian problem that the JAA and tourism officials should tackle," Sadiq added.
But the JAA insisted it will not back down with the syndicate'sPresident Shaher Hadid on Wednesday calling on the government to respond to the three conditions.
This is not the first time JAA president Hadid tried to pose resistance to the festival.
Hadid, who reportedly served as one of Jerash Festival's managers for 10 years, voiced in late April against the government's decision to take the Jerash Festival under the umbrella of Jordan Festival.
He called the action as "a crime" against the Jerash Festival. He proposed that the JAA might join hands with another associationto review several proposals to address the issue, including running and supervising the Jerash Festival on their own.
Up to now, some Arab artists including Jordanian singer Omar Abdallathave have reversed their decision and will show up during the festival.
Source:Xinhua
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