US embassy cable - 03AMMAN8360

S E C R E T AMMAN 008360 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/21/2013 
TAGS: PREL, KPAL, IS, SY, JO, GE 
SUBJECT: GERMAN AMBASSADOR ON FISCHER VISIT TO JORDAN: 
MEPP, IRAQ, SYRIA 
 
REF: AMMAN 8242 (NOTAL) 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Edward W. Gnehm for Reasons 1.5 (b), (d) 
 
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KING TO FISCHER ON MEPP, IRAQ 
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1.  (C) German Ambassador Martin Schneller briefed Ambassador 
and PolCouns December 17 on German FonMin Fischer's December 
15 visit to Amman.  Schneller said Fischer met with King 
Abdullah and Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher, who both 
delivered a consistent line on Iraq:  we support Iraqi 
independence and the establishment of a sovereign Iraqi 
government, but the Coalition should not leave too soon, lest 
Iraq become unstable.  On Middle East peace, Schneller said 
King Abdullah had expressed to Fischer great frustration with 
the Palestinian Authority and Yassir Arafat, whom he 
described as having "no strategic vision."  Fischer argued to 
the Jordanians that all parties needed to take "small steps" 
to restore confidence, and to deal with the political aspects 
of the dispute. 
 
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... AND SYRIA 
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2.  (S) Schneller said the King and Muasher spent a good deal 
of time making negative points on Syria.  The King said 
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad remained in the grip of the 
old guard who surrounded his father, noting that there had 
been "no change in the political establishment" since Bashar 
came to power.  The King also complained about increased 
infiltration of militants, arms, and explosives across the 
Syrian border into Jordan (bound for Israel, the West Bank, 
and, to a lesser extent, Iraq), as well as concern over the 
lack of Syrian control of the Syria-Iraq border.  The King 
also blamed Syria partially for the failure of the recent 
Cairo meeting of Palestinian factions to reach agreement on a 
ceasefire. 
 
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COMMENT 
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3.  (S) The King's points on the peace process and Iraq 
reflect the line the King has been taking with interlocutors. 
 It strikes us as very useful that the Germans heard the 
King's negative views on Arafat.  It is also interesting that 
the King chose to complain to Fischer about his increasing 
irritation with Syria (ref). 
 
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