US embassy cable - 04KUWAIT3843

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 003843 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/09/2014 
TAGS: KWBG, EAID, IS, KU 
SUBJECT: GOK SKEPTICAL ABOUT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO THE 
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY (TIMING IS EVERYTHING) 
 
REF: SECSTATE 236229 
 
Classified By: Ambassador LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1.  (C) Minutes after Suha Arafat made a spectacle of herself 
and the Palestinian leadership, Ambassador delivered reftel 
request for increased financial assistance for the 
Palestinian Authority to Minister of Foreign Affairs Shaykh 
Dr. Mohammed Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah.  Deputy Secretary 
Armitage raised the issue with Prime Minister Shaykh Sabah 
the evening before (7 November) (septel.)  The Ambassador 
asked that the GOK help support the PA in this crucial 
period, explaining that the U.S. approach is to support the 
people we believe in within the PA.  In response to the 
Ambassador's explanation that any assistance would be 
controlled by Finance Minister Fayyad, or could be routed 
through the World Bank, Dr. Mohammed said that the GOK had 
"heard good things about Fayyad," but he had not met him.  He 
also added that the GOK "trusts Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas)." 
Overall, Dr. Mohammed was non-committal about any additional 
assistance to the PA at this time, and focused on Suha 
Arafat's apparent ability to trump the Palestinian leadership. 
 
2.  (C) Dr. Mohammed echoed the Prime Minister's earlier 
skepticism of the PA's ability to properly control its 
finances (at best.)  Dr. Mohammed illustrated his, and the 
Prime Minister's, frustration with Suha Arafat's influence 
over the PA by giving his take on the reported cancellation 
of Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie (Abu Ala'a) and PLO 
Secretary General Mahmoud Abbas' planned visit to see Arafat 
 
SIPDIS 
in Paris.  "The two most powerful individuals in the PA 
wanted to travel to Paris and Suha made them cancel," he 
said.  If the GOK were to provide assistance, Dr. Mohammed 
asked, "what would lead us to believe that Fayyad would say 
no if Suha calls and tells him to send her the money?"  He 
added that it was his belief that "Suha calls the shots," and 
that, in a sense, "Arafat still is ruling through Suha."  Dr. 
Mohammed also discussed a 7 November Al-Arabiya program which 
raised a number of pointed questions about the PA's finances, 
and he expressed hope that the PA's finances would become 
more transparent over time. 
 
3.  (C) Comment: The Kuwaitis have been and will continue to 
be generous to the Palestinians, but they are likely to wait 
and see how the leadership shakes out.  ConGen Jerusalem will 
know best whether a visit to Kuwait by Abbas and/or Fayyad 
would be helpful, but our take is that it would not hurt at a 
point after the furor over the Arafat family fortune subsides. 
LeBaron