US embassy cable - 03AMMAN6119

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 006119 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, KISL, PHUM, KPAL, IS, JO 
SUBJECT: ANTI-NORMALIZATION CAMPAIGN IN JORDAN HAS LASTING 
IMPACT 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Edward W. Gnehm for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d) 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
1. (C) The effects of an Anti-Normalization Committee, 
disbanded over two years ago, linger. One remnant of its 
campaigns to discredit Jordanians who supported relations 
with Israel is the ongoing legal case filed by one of its 
targets, Jordanian businessman and self-proclaimed peace 
advocate Tariq al-Hammedi.  Al-Hammedi's lawsuit against the 
former head of the Committee and Islamic Action Front (IAF) 
member Ali Abu al-Sukkar charges that the anti-normalizers' 
smear campaign in 2001--which branded al-Hammedi an Israeli 
"collaborator"--bankrupted him and his reputation.  The 
latest hurdle facing the case resulted from Abu al-Sukkar's 
election to Parliament in June and resulting constitutional 
protection from legal prosecution. The judge in the case has 
since requested the Justice Ministry to lift this immunity, 
but the case remains in limbo: the Justice Minister says he 
forwarded a request to consider the matter to Parliament, but 
the Speaker claims no such request has been received. 
Al-Hammedi has appealed for U.S. support.  This case is an 
example of the continuing presence of anti-normalizers in 
Jordan, and of the difficulties ordinary Jordanians have 
endured for openly supporting Jordan's unpopular peace treaty 
with Israel.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
Despite Crackdown, Anti-Normalizers' Legacy Lingers 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
2. (SBU) The Jordanian Professionals Union formed the 
Anti-Normalization Committee in 1995 in an effort to 
consolidate anti-Israel sentiment and pressure the Jordanian 
government to retract its 1994 peace treaty with Israel.  Ali 
Abu al-Sukkar, a member of the IAF, the political arm of the 
Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood, headed the committee.  The 
group gathered steam after the second Palestinian intifadah 
erupted in September 2000, capitalizing on growing 
anti-Israeli sentiment among many segments of Jordanian 
society.  In early 2001, the committee began publishing lists 
naming suspected Jordanian "normalizers" i.e. collaborators 
with Israel, including individuals, companies, and even some 
schools.  The lists, which appeared in the Jordanian press 
and regularly in mosques and public gathering areas, were the 
main tool the committee used to pressure the Jordanian public 
to boycott listed people and companies.  In addition, several 
individuals named in the lists told us at the time that they 
began to receive anonymous threats after their names 
appeared.  After the Committee published several such 
lists--including one naming two secondary schools to which 
elite Jordanians send their children--the government declared 
the Committee illegal and arrested its members, including Abu 
al-Sukkar. 
 
3. (C) One target of the campaign, Jordanian businessman and 
self-proclaimed peace advocate, Tariq al-Hammedi, appeared on 
several of the lists. More than two years later, he says he 
continues to suffer the effects of the Committee's smear 
campaign.  Al-Hammedi told us all his pro-peace achievements 
have been squandered as a result of the anti-normalizers 
campaign against him.  Al-Hammedi boasts a resume of 
peace-oriented activities, including an unsuccessful bid in 
1997 for Parliament on a peace platform, and helping to 
organize peace-promoting camps for Jordanian, Palestinian, 
and Israeli youth.  As a gesture of support for the 1994 
peace agreement, he renamed his restaurant the Palace of 
Peace.  In September 2000, just before the outbreak of the 
intifadah, he launched a newsletter called Sawt As-Salam 
(Voice of Peace). 
 
4. (C) He says he has suffered severe financial losses and 
has been personally threatened for his pro-peace stance.  He 
blames the Committee's actions for bankrupting his restaurant 
business.  He said once his name began appearing on the 
lists, his customers dwindled.  It also forced him to publish 
his newsletter in Ramallah, because no Jordanian publisher 
would grant him access to their printing presses.  With the 
exception of the Safeway food store chain, no retailer would 
sell his newsletter, and he ended that venture as well.  He 
claims he received telephone threats and was personally 
accosted after his name appeared on the Committee's lists. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Legal Case Faces Continual Obstacles 
------------------------------------ 
 
5. (C) Determined to fight back, al-Hammedi brought a libel 
lawsuit against Abu al-Sukkar in 2001, which drags on today. 
Meanwhile, Abu al-Sukkar was elected in June 2003 to Jordan's 
Lower House of Parliament, and thereby granted immunity from 
legal prosecution.  Initially, Abu al-Sukkar complied with 
the court's orders, appearing before the court to answer 
al-Hammedi's charges just before Parliament's regular session 
opened this summer.  However, on the advice of his attorneys, 
Abu al-Sukkar has refused a second summons citing immunity 
from legal prosecution, according to a press report on 
September 3. The judge in al-Hammedi's case has since 
appealed to the Justice Minister to request that Parliament 
consider lifting Abu al-Sukkar's immunity so that he can 
appear before his court.  According to the law, however, Abu 
al-Sukkar's immunity from prosecution can be lifted only if 
two-thirds of MPs vote in favor.  The Justice Minister said 
he forwarded the request to Parliament, while the speaker 
says no such request has been received.  The case remains in 
limbo.  Regardless of their views on the case at hand, in an 
vote MPs will be strongly influenced by their personal 
interests in protecting the principle of their immunity. 
 
6. (C) Al-Hammedi says that after a hearing in July 2001, the 
Jordanian Bar Association--a member of the Professional 
Unions--disbarred his Jordanian lawyer after branding him a 
"normalizer" for taking al-Hammedi's case.  The Bar also 
threatened disciplinary action against any other lawyers who 
would take al-Hammedi's case, according to al-Hammedi.  Abu 
al-Sukkar, on the other hand, is represented by the chief of 
the Bar Association. 
Al-Hammedi says he attempted to contact the American Bar 
Association seeking legal help, to no avail. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
Desperation Drives al-Hammedi to U.S. Embassy's Door 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
7. (C)  Despite press coverage of the lawsuit, al-Hammedi has 
not gained local support. When he contacted the 
newly-established Jordanian Human Rights Center for 
assistance, they advised him to pursue his case in court. 
His written appeals to the highest levels of the Jordanian 
government, including King Abdallah, Queen Rania, and Queen 
Noor, have gone unanswered.  He complained that when the GOJ 
disbanded the Anti-Normalization Committee in 2001, it should 
have assisted the victims of the campaign, since he had 
suffered financial and personal losses as a result of his 
strong and vocal support of his government's peace stance. 
 
8. (C) Al-Hammedi says his lack of options and feeling of 
helplessness have brought him to the U.S. Embassy for help. 
In several meetings with Emboffs since August 25, al-Hammedi 
claims that he does not seek financial compensation for his 
situation, only moral support from the United States.  He 
notes that the United States backs peace activists in Israel 
and Palestine, but feels that the plight of those in Jordan 
has not received similar attention.  He clearly hoped we 
would ensure the GOJ is aware of his case. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
9. (C)  Given the negative atmosphere in the region and 
Parliament about the status of Israeli-Palestinian situation, 
as well as personal motivations of MPs to preserve maximum 
protection for their immunities, a two-thirds vote in 
Parliament to lift Abu al-Sukkar's immunity is improbable, 
and the house's leadership is unlikely to test the matter and 
risk a visible symbolic blow to the government's policy on 
normal relations with Israel. 
GNEHM