US embassy cable - 03AMMAN7449

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 007449 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/16/2013 
TAGS: PREL, ETTC, ETRD, EAID, IZ, JO 
SUBJECT: NEW ROYAL COURT MINISTER ON KUWAIT, SAUDI ARABIA, 
PALACE REORGANIZATION 
 
REF: A. KUWAIT 5183 
     B. AMMAN 7297 
 
Classified By: Amb. Edward W. Gnehm for reasons 1.5 (b) (d) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (C)  New Royal Court Minister Samir Rifai told the 
Ambassador that, on his recent trip to the Gulf, the King had 
thanked the Kuwaitis for providing Jordan with free oil and 
had expressed the hope that it continue for a while longer, 
but neither sought nor received a commitment.  PM Fayez will 
return to Kuwait to discuss details in the near future.  The 
Kuwaitis had expressed worry about Saudi Arabia, and Rifai 
said he sensed some acceptance in the region for the recent 
Riyadh bombing, because of popular frustration with the lack 
of progress in the peace process and the association of the 
Saudi regime with the U.S. and U.S. support for Israel. 
Rifai also described his planned reorganization of the Palace 
to add more substance and independence to Palace offices. 
However, the economic unit will be cut back because the King 
finally trusts the economic team in the new cabinet.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
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RELATIONS WITH KUWAIT, SAUDI ARABIA 
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2.  (C)  The new Minister of the Royal Hashemite Court, Samir 
Rifai, told the Ambassador and PolCouns November 12 that King 
Abdullah's November 11 visit to Kuwait had gone well (ref a). 
 The King had expressed thanks for Kuwait's provision of oil, 
and had mentioned delicately that it would be very helpful 
for Jordan if the oil continued for a while longer.  The King 
and the Kuwaitis did not discuss any specifics, and Prime 
Minister Faisal al-Fayez will travel to Kuwait soon to follow 
up and try to get a firm Kuwaiti commitment.  On 
atmospherics, Rifai said he got the impression that the 
Kuwaitis "really do like" King Abdullah, despite the rift 
with King Hussein after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.  He 
said that the Kuwaitis had expressed great concern with the 
situation in Saudi Arabia and the latest Riyadh bombing. 
 
3.  (C)  The King, Rifai continued, had spoken to Saudi Crown 
Prince Abdullah after the Riyadh bombing, but had learned 
little about the situation: "the Saudis don't like to share 
much," he quipped.  Rifai said that, sadly, there seemed to 
be some acceptance of the bombings in the street across the 
region, since the attack was aimed at the Saudi regime, which 
is close to the U.S., which supports Israel, which continues 
to occupy Palestinian land.  "There will have to be movement 
on the Palestine issue," he argued, "for people to see these 
kinds of attacks as completely unwarranted." 
 
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PALACE REORGANIZING TO ADD MORE SUBSTANCE 
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4.  (S)  Rifai also described the broad outlines of a planned 
reorganization of the Palace structure.  The planned changes, 
he said, would rationalize support for the royal family and 
communication with "the people."  Rifai hoped the 
reorganization would give the King "an independent source of 
information and advice," and increase the amount of substance 
in the work of Palace offices.  (NOTE:  An outgoing senior 
Palace official told PolCouns recently that the King and 
Palace staff were not entirely comfortable with the rosy 
reports they received from the General Intelligence 
Directorate (GID) on internal issues.  For this reason, he 
said, the Palace had contracted independently for several 
opinion polls on sensitive topics, especially the efficiency 
and fairness of provision of government services.  END NOTE.) 
 
 
5.  (C)  Rifai noted that -- bucking this general trend -- 
the Palace economic unit would become smaller because "the 
King now has his economic team in place" in the cabinet and a 
large Palace unit is not necessary.  Rifai said that the King 
is comfortable with the new government "because he doesn't 
have to convince anyone of his program."  The personal 
dynamics in the cabinet and in the initial Aqaba retreat 
meeting have been good, with ministers actually discussing 
their programs, not spouting platitudes.  Rifai said that PM 
Fayez was undertaking a "complete restructuring" of the Prime 
Ministry to streamline cabinet meetings ("we'll keep the 
sublime and get rid of the ridiculous") and delegate 
significant decision-making authority to the cabinet itself. 
PM Fayez, he argued, is the man for this job.  He is easy 
going, has no agenda other than the King's, "and is not 
interested in grabbing power." 
 
6.  (U)  Separately, the Palace announced November 16 that, 
as part of the Palace reorganization, the King had abolished 
the position of Chief of the Royal Court (distinct from 
Rifai's position as Minister of the Royal Hashemite Court) 
and appointing the incumbent, Yousef Dalabih as an advisor to 
the King.  The King also appointed Yousef Hassan Eissawi as 
acting Secretary General of the Palace (chief management 
officer), the job Rifai held before his appointment as 
Minister of the Court. 
 
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COMMENT 
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7.  (C)  Like his father, former PM and current Senate 
President Zaid Rifai, Samir Rifai holds his cards close to 
the chest and gives away little.  Rifai, educated at 
Deerfield Academy, Harvard, and Cambridge, speaks excellent 
colloquial English with a touch of sarcasm.  He has moved 
into a position of great responsibility close to the King, 
and seems to have his confidence. 
 
Visit Embassy Amman's classified web site at 
 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/ 
 
or access the site through the State Department's SIPRNET 
home page. 
GNEHM