US embassy cable - 02AMMAN4258

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 004258 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR R (CROSS, AKATSOULOS), NEA/PPD (JGAFFNEY, 
CBOURGEOIS, MLUSSENHOP), NEA/ARN, NEA (LAROCCO) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR, KPAO, KISL, KPAL, JO 
SUBJECT: IAF PRESS RELEASE RESPONDS TO PRESS CRITICISM OF 
MEETING WITH AMBASSADOR ROSS 
 
Ref: Amman 04236 
 
1.   Summary.  The July 17 meeting between R Special 
Coordinator Ambassador Christopher Ross and the 
leadership of the Islamic Action Front (IAF) was not 
reported in the IAF's weekly Assabeel but received 
considerable attention from other weeklies, including a 
scathing editorial by a former leftist parliamentary 
deputy against the IAF and its mother organization, the 
Muslim Brothers Movement.  This prompted the IAF to issue 
a press release explaining its reasons for accepting the 
meeting with Ambassador Ross and the discussion that took 
place.  End summary. 
 
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IAF weekly overlooked meeting, others did not 
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2.   The July 17 meeting between Ambassador Christopher 
Ross and IAF's Head of the Shura Council Abdul Latif 
Arabiyat, Secretary-General Sheikh Hamza Mansour, and 
Deputy Secretary-General Jamil Abu Bakr (reported 
separately) was not reported in Assabeel, the independent 
Arabic weekly that reflects the views of the IAF party. 
This, however, did not prevent independent weekly Al- 
Hadath from reporting on the meeting in its July 22 
edition.  The report included a quote from Arabiyat that 
said:  "We outlined to the Ambassador our positions on 
the biased American policies, and the reasons for the 
enmity that the street in Jordan and other Arab and 
Muslim countries feels towards American policies."  The 
Al-Hadath article also stated that "Arabiyat expressed no 
anxiety that such a meeting might give rise to 
accusations of any sort against the party.  He said: `Our 
positions and our principles are clear. Any judgement 
should be passed on our statements and our positions in 
such meetings, not on the meeting itself because dialoge 
is a requirement.'"  A similar article also appeared in 
the centrist, influential among the elite English daily 
Jordan Times in its July 26-27 edition. 
 
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Criticism from East-Bank nationalist weekly 
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3.   On July 25, Shihan, a sensationalist East-Bank 
nationalist weekly of negligible circulation, criticized 
the meeting and described it as coinciding with "the 
escalating American campaign against Arab and Muslim 
countries under pretext of fighting terrorism."  Shihan 
also charged that the meeting took place "behind the back 
of the Government of Jordan," which "prompted some 
political activists to call on the government to ask 
embassies to refrain from meeting unofficial 
organizations without the knowledge of the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs."  Mansour also was quoted in Shihan as 
saying: "[The Americans] hear weak words from officials, 
and we wanted to express to them the conscience of the 
Muslim street towards American policies . We stressed to 
them that U.S. terrorism is an aggression against Islam 
and Muslims, that we are not fooled by Bush's visit to a 
mosque because we base our positions on official U.S. 
policies and practices." 
 
4.   Shihan also included a commentary by Hamadeh 
Fara'neh, former parliamentary deputy and former activist 
of the Marxist Democratic Front for the Liberation of 
Palestine (DFLP).  In it Fara'neh charged that the Muslim 
Brothers Movement (MB) and its offshoot party the IAF 
have a long history of coordination with the U.S. against 
Muslim states led by liberation movements, which reached 
its peak when the MB mobilized Arab Muslim youth to fight 
the Soviets in Afghanistan, thereby distracting them 
"away from Palestine and from the battle to defend our 
national and religious existence against the Israeli 
enemy." 
 
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Press release in Arabic dailies 
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5.   On Sunday July 28, all Arabic dailies reported 
excerpts from a press release circulated by IAF Secretary- 
General Hamza Mansour, in which he stressed that "the 
meeting addressed the question posed by Ambassador Ross: 
"Why has the U.S. failed to persuade Muslims that its war 
is against terror not Islam and Muslims?"  It said that 
speakers explained: "Muslims' hatred of America springs 
from its policy that provides weapons, political cover, 
and international support to the Zionist enemy, including 
covering up for this enemy's crimes.  [They also spring] 
from the U.S. aggression against Iraq, its support for 
dictatorial corrupt regimes, and its continuous 
incitement against Islamist movements, which it describes 
as terrorists." 
BERRY