US embassy cable - 05AMMAN4657

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 004657 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/09/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, CASC, IZ, IS, JO, NNPT 
SUBJECT: JORDAN: CHARGE REVIEWS BILATERAL ISSUES WITH FM 
QASRAWI 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 4203 
 
     B. AMMAN 4075 
     C. AMMAN 4303 
 
Classified By: CDA David Hale for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1.  (C)  Charge reviewed a number of bilateral issues with 
Foreign Minister Qasrawi during a meeting on June 8.  Head of 
the Americas Desk Nabih Shuqom and Walid Obeidat from the 
FM's private office also attended the meeting.  Highlights of 
the meeting follow: 
 
2.  (C)  U.S.-EU Iraq donors conference:  Qasrawi confirmed 
to Charge that he will attend the conference in Brussels (ref 
A).  He told Charge he plans to mention Jordan's police 
training program for Iraq and announce the assignment of a 
Jordanian ambassador to Baghdad.  Qasrawi said he has had two 
discussions with the King on candidates for the slot, but 
acknowledged they are not easy to find. 
 
3.  (C)  On a related matter, Qasrawi noted that the draft 
communique for the Brussels conference refers to the next 
donors' conference, which is planned for July in Jordan. 
Qasrawi told Charge that there are no plans to postpone the 
July donors event, despite rumors to that effect in Amman and 
Baghdad.  Qasrawi sought assurances (which the Charge 
provided) of continued U.S. support for Jordan's hosting of 
the event.  Qasrawi told Charge that Iraqi Foreign Minister 
Zebari recently reaffirmed Iraqi support as well. 
 
4.  (C)  Proliferation Security Initiative:  Ambassador 
Shuqom said the MFA was still consulting internally about the 
PSI but that "five of seven agencies" had registered 
objections to the initiative, including in connection with 
concerns about "sovereignty" and the "law of the sea" (refs B 
and C).  He did not provide details, but Charge offered to 
address methodically any specific GOJ concerns.  They agreed 
to discuss this matter as soon as the GOJ has developed a 
response. 
 
5.  (C)  Consular Memorandum of Understanding (MOU):  Qasrawi 
confirmed that the GOJ had reached agreement internally on a 
MOU text which amends our draft to provide references to 
Jordanian law.  He said that if we agree with the text, the 
next step will be forwarding the draft to the cabinet. 
Qasrawi said the Ministry will convey the amended draft to 
post by diplomatic note soon. 
 
6.  (C)  Article 98:  Qasrawi reaffirmed that the government, 
once confirmed, would submit the Article 98 agreement to 
Parliament for ratification.  However, because of the 
difficult political environment facing the cabinet in the 
parliament, he did not expect it to happen until the ordinary 
session convenes this fall. 
 
7.  (C)  Jerusalem:  Underscoring Jordan's continued 
obligations concerning the Muslim and Christian holy sites in 
Jerusalem, Qasrawi said there was a cabinet discussion during 
the evening of June 7 about recent Israeli "provocations" at 
al-Aqsa mosque.  The Jordanians fear that Jewish extremists 
might provoke an incident that could damage Jordanian-Israeli 
relations.  Qasrawi asked for unspecified U.S. assistance in 
calming tensions there.  In response to Charge's question, 
Qasrawi said there is no plan for a Shalom visit to Jordan. 
 
8.  (C)  UNSC Expansion:  Noting the numerous demarches being 
delivered to him on this issue, Qasrawi asked for our 
position, which Charge provided, with a promise to deliver 
more details in the coming days. 
 
Please visit Embassy Amman's classified web site at 
http://www.state.sgov/p/nea/amman/ or access the site through 
the Department of State's SIPRNET home page. 
HALE