US embassy cable - 04AMMAN5086

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 005086 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/22/2014 
TAGS: KISL, KPAL, PGOV, PREL, IS, JO, KHUM 
SUBJECT: PARLIAMENT REVERSES COURSE ON PROPOSED BAN ON 
HUMAN RIGHTS COOPERATION WITH ISRAEL 
 
REF: AMMAN 04953 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Edward W. Gnehm for Reasons 1.5 (b),(d) 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
1.  (C) The Lower House of Parliament voted June 20 to remove 
a controversial amendment to a human rights law that it had 
earlier approved which banned cooperation with Israeli 
organizations and "those who support it."  While a strong GOJ 
lobbying campaign succeeded in swaying the votes of former 
Prime Minister Rawabdeh and others, 37 MPs continued to back 
the amendment.  End Summary. 
 
-------------------------- 
THE LOWER HOUSE BACKS DOWN 
-------------------------- 
 
2.  (U) 58 out of 95 MPs present in the Lower House on June 
20 voted to retract a controversial amendment to the National 
Center for Human Rights Law (adopted June 9) which excluded 
"the Jewish entity and those who support it" from any form of 
cooperation in the field of human rights (see reftel). 
Several MPs offered alternatives to the amendment, none of 
which were accepted, ranging from severing relations with 
Israeli organizations only to changing the wording from 
"Jewish entity" to Israel.  Current MP and former Prime 
Minister Abdur Raouf Rawabdeh, who earlier played a pivotal 
role in pushing through the amendment, was among those who 
voted against it. 
 
3.  (C) The Lower House reversal followed a concerted 
lobbying effort by the GOJ to retract the amendment.  Foreign 
Minister Muasher and other senior GOJ official told the 
Ambassador prior to the June 20 vote that they had contacted 
key MPs, including Rawabdeh, to explain how the amendment had 
damaged Jordan's image abroad and were confident that they 
had assembled a majority in the Lower House to remove the 
offensive language from the law. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
4.  (C) The fact that the Lower House changed course under 
GOJ pressure is not surprising given the large number of MPs 
who are firm government supporters.  It is likely that some 
of those who voted for the amendment earlier would not have 
done so had they anticipated the strong GOJ reaction, and 
that of King Abdullah, against it.  What is noteworthy is 
that 37 MPs (20 of whom are not members of the opposition 
Islamic Action Front) continued to back the amendment, giving 
the GOJ a comfortable -- but smaller than usual -- majority 
on a key vote. 
 
Visit Embassy Amman's classified website at 
 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman 
 
or access the site through the State Department's SIPRNET 
home page. 
GNEHM