US embassy cable - 05RABAT1169

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 001169 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/MAG 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/03/2015 
TAGS: IO, IS, IZ, LE, PREL, SY, MO 
SUBJECT: MOROCCO ON MESSAGE TO THE ARAB LEAGUE AND REGIONAL 
SUPPORT FOR ADVANCING THE PEACE PROCESS 
 
REF: A. STATE 97599 
 
     B. RABAT 817 
     C. STATE 104272 
 
Classified By: Pol/C Timothy Lenderking for reasons 1.4 (b), (d). 
 
1. (C) Poloff met June 2 with MFA Director of Arab and 
Islamic Affairs Mohamed Azeroual to discuss ref(a) demarche 
regarding the opening of an Israeli liaison office in Rabat, 
the closure of the Central Boycott Office (CBO) in Damascus, 
and support for resolving the membership of Magen David Adom 
in the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement. Azeroual responded by 
describing how the GOM had pledged "total support" to the 
Palestinian Authority during Mahmoud Abbas's recent visit to 
Morocco on his return from meeting with President Bush in 
Washington.  Azeroual said that Abbas had been very pleased 
with his visit to the U.S., and hoped that the promises made 
would "become concrete."  As Azeroual said he and other 
Moroccan officials had told A/S Welch during the latter's 
April visit to Morocco, Abbas "needs a little time," to sort 
things out (ref b).  His problems are not with Hamas, but 
rather with Fatah.  If the elections were held tomorrow, 
according to Azeroual, the "hawks" would easily win. 
Sharon's government must understand this dynamic and do 
everything it can to help Abbas, said Azeroual.  Along those 
lines, Azeroual said he understood that the date for a summit 
between Abbas and Sharon had been set for June 22.  Morocco 
stood ready to do anything necessary to help create positive 
conditions for a dialogue, Azeroual said. 
 
2. (C) Opening Trade or Representative Offices:  Responding 
specifically to the potential reopening of the Israeli 
liaison office in Rabat, Azeroual said that the GOM continues 
to have contacts with the Israelis, but not necessarily in 
diplomatic channels.  That said, Azeroual noted that advanced 
steps in the peace process would need to be taken to prepare 
the ground for the reopening of an office in Rabat.  No dates 
could yet be fixed for such an event. 
 
3. (C) Arab League Boycott:  Azeroual asserted that there was 
"no real boycott," and in any case, the Moroccans have never 
really applied it (using Coca Cola's prevalence in Morocco as 
an example).  Azeroual acknowledged that the CBO continues to 
meet under Syrian influence, but "is not effective" in 
stopping others from countering the boycott.  For the 
Moroccans, Azeroual said he believed that the Arab League 
boycott and the U.S.-Moroccan Free Trade Agreement were 
incompatible, indicating his belief that the issue was moot 
for Morocco. 
 
4. (C) Magen David Adom (MDA): According to Azeroual, the 
Arab League is not necessarily against the inclusion of MDA, 
but said that as long as there is no peace agreement it is 
premature to discuss this issue.  Azeroual emphasized that 
this is not a categorical no, but rather conditioned on 
progress in the peace process.  He also noted that he 
understood that the conference to be held in Switzerland had 
been postponed for the time being (ref c). 
RILEY