US embassy cable - 05AMMAN6094

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 006094 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR OES 
STATE ALSO FOR NEA/RA LAWSON AND OES/PCI SHAW 
EPA FOR ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR AYRES 
 
E.O. 12658: N.A. 
TAGS: SENV, EAID, TBIO, TSPL, KSCA, JO 
SUBJECT: Jordanians, Israelis Bridge the Rift in Joint 
Scientific Survey 
 
REFS:     (A) Amman 05130 
     (B) Amman 01353 
     (C) 04 Amman 08793 
     (D) 04 AMMAN 01971 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  HANDLE ACCORDINGLY. 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Jordanian, Israeli, and U.S. university 
professors and students in early July participated in a 
joint scientific survey of the Dead Sea area environment 
along the Jordan-Israel border.  This survey and its 
predecessor in January, 2005, are the first of their kind 
and essential parts of the Bridging the Rift (BTR) Center, a 
proposed life sciences research facility that would be 
located on a 150-acre site straddling the border between 
Israel and Jordan in the desert Arava region south of the 
Dead Sea.  Although the BTR Center -- an idea conceived by 
Stanford and Cornell Universities with New York donors -- is 
not yet in its construction phase, joint scientific surveys 
have begun.  The active engagement of the Israeli and 
Jordanian participants shows that the academic component is 
proceeding well.  In the recent desert field survey, Embassy 
intern observed Israeli and Jordanian scientists and 
students sharing a passion for science as they sampled and 
catalogued specimens from the Dead Sea and surrounding 
environments shared by both neighbors.  END SUMMARY. 
 
BRIDGING THE RIFT THROUGH SCIENCE 
 
2. (U)  An initiative of the private New York-based Bridging 
the Rift Foundation, the BTR Center will bring together 
Israeli, Jordanian, and U.S. professors and students as 
colleagues in scientific study of issues that are common to 
both Israel and Jordan (Ref D).  The science center itself 
will be located in a  remote desert setting south of the 
Dead Sea, part of the northern extension of the Great Rift 
valley.  The hope is that science, as a universal language, 
will help build bridges between Israelis and Jordanians, 
cementing relationships and expanding dialogue that began 
with the 1994 peace treaty. 
 
3. (U) Since New York-based BTR founder and Israeli citizen 
Mati Kochavi approached scientists from Stanford and Cornell 
in 2001 to be U.S. academic partners, BTR has recruited a 
number of scientists from Jordanian and Israeli universities 
and established three executive boards in New York, Jordan, 
and Israel.  Within the next year, BTR will begin sending 
professors and students to Cornell and Stanford, fully 
funded, to begin their studies or complete post-doctoral 
programs.  As affiliates of BTR, they will return to do 
research at the Center once it is built.  BTR will also 
involve students in bachelors, masters, and doctoral degree 
programs at local universities. 
 
SCIENTIFIC FIELD WORK ACROSS THE DEAD SEA 
 
4. (SBU) Eighteen BTR affiliates attended the two-day field 
survey on July 8-9, and invited Embassy intern to accompany 
them on the first day of the survey in Jordan.  The second 
day of the survey took place in Israel.  Some of the 
participants had attended the previous survey and others 
were newly involved in the project.  Joining the group were 
two members of the BTR Jordan executive board and one from 
the BTR New York board.  The group comprised four Jordanian 
professors and three Jordanian students, three Israeli 
professors and two Israeli students, and one Stanford 
University professor.  A Jordanian security official acted 
as a Jordan-Israel liaison officer to handle security and 
border-crossing issues. 
 
5. (SBU) The survey began early Friday morning in Amman, 
where the Jordanian participants left to pick up the 
remainder of the group at the Allenby Bridge. The group 
proceeded to the hot water springs of Ma'in, where it took 
samples at several different sites.  Descending from 
mountainous Ma'in to the Dead Sea shore, the scientists then 
sampled the hot springs freshwater as it mixed with the 
highly saline Dead Sea water.  After lunch, the group 
surveyed several different sites in search of Dead Sea water 
that was neither polluted nor tainted by freshwater. 
Throughout the site visits, they collected specimens of the 
tamarisk plant, which will be a focus of study due to its 
ability to survive in salty conditions.  The survey 
participants stayed overnight at a hotel on the Jordanian 
Dead Sea shore and continued into Israel the next day for 
similar testing and sampling of the Dead Sea region. 
 
SCIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE 
 
6. (SBU) The survey was very much a joint effort among all 
of the participants.  The Israelis and Jordanians worked 
side by side.  For example, an Israeli student would take 
samples while the Jordanian student recorded the 
information.  They communicated in English. 
 
7. (SBU) Socially, the Israeli and Jordanian professors were 
very open with each other.  They sat together on the bus, 
chatted during lunch, and discussed their projects.  Some of 
them knew one another from the previous surveys and planning 
meetings and seemed quite comfortable together.  One 
Jordanian professor who had attended the previous survey in 
January told Embassy intern that she was at first "unsure" 
about working with BTR but during the survey she realized 
that they "speak science and all understand."  She viewed 
BTR as an opportunity to go beyond the conflict that has 
been present for so long.  The other told Embassy intern 
that despite his extensive studies of the Dead Sea, BTR is 
the first time he has successfully worked with Jordanian 
colleagues.  The previous - and only - two attempts at 
scientific correspondence between him and a Jordanian 
quickly came to an end.  When discussing BTR, he said the 
joint surveys and successful interaction between the 
Jordanians and Israelis were proof that BTR is "surely" 
different than his past two experiences. 
 
8. (SBU) Although the students worked together during 
sampling and surveying, they were more reserved socially. 
The Jordanian professors said that some of the Jordanian 
students were still "uncomfortable" with the thought of 
working with Israelis.  Nevertheless, the students  relaxed 
with each other as the day progressed.  One of the Jordanian 
students is of Palestinian descent and often visits family 
in the West Bank.  Prior to the BTR survey, her only 
interaction with Israelis was with the soldiers whom she 
encountered during her family visits.  She told Embassy 
Intern that she views her work with BTR as an opportunity to 
know and work with Israelis who are not soldiers.  For one 
Israeli student, the BTR survey was his first time visiting 
Jordan.  He spoke very highly of the program and the 
prospects for peaceful dialogue between Israelis and 
Jordanians, stating the commonly used BTR phrase that 
"science is the universal language." 
 
BENEFITS ENCOURAGE BTR SCHOLARS 
 
9. (SBU) All participants, especially the Jordanians, felt 
strongly that BTR would present them with excellent academic 
opportunities.  Many of the participants will be invited to 
enroll in graduate and post-doctoral programs at Stanford or 
Cornell University, and will receive degrees.  In addition, 
participation in BTR scientific surveys allows both Israeli 
and Jordanian students to gain excellent field experience, 
an essential skill for a career in scientific research and 
academia.  The Israeli professors and students were 
interested in BTR as an opportunity to expand their studies 
of the Dead Sea area, which are currently limited by 
national borders.  BTR presents Jordanian professors with 
the opportunity to establish and build expertise in areas 
where they are not as advanced as their Israeli and U.S. 
colleagues.  The U.S. professor told Embassy intern that in 
order for BTR to be successful, participants must build and 
maintain parity between science in Jordan and Israel. 
Because Israeli science is generally much more developed 
than is Jordanian, BTR must devote extra time and energy to 
the development of Jordanian science in order to reach 
parity with Israel.  In other words, BTR will bring about 
major advancements in Jordan's scientific capacity and 
ability, he said.  The primary example is bioinformatics, 
which is the use of techniques from applied mathematics, 
informatics, statistics, and computer science to solve 
biological problems.  Bioinformatics is a field in which 
Israel and the U.S. are highly advanced but Jordan has very 
little experience.  Two of the Jordanian professors were 
selected and recruited to be trained in bioinformatics, 
which would enhance their careers as the first 
bioinformatics experts in Jordan. 
 
JORDANIAN POPULAR SUSPICION 
 
10. (SBU) From talking to the professors, it was clear that 
the Israeli participants enjoy markedly greater popular 
support than the Jordanians.  Although King Abdullah, like 
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, fully supports BTR, 
most of the Jordanian professors prefer to keep their 
involvement a s_ecret, as this kind of engagement with 
Israelis has grown quite unpopular with many Jordanians 
since the beginning of the second intifada, especially with 
the professional associations, which have mounted name-and- 
shame campaigns against so-called "normalizers."   (refs B, 
C, and D). 
 
11. (SBU)  The Jordanian professors find little support for 
their BTR work among university faculties.  While the 
Yarmouk University president is very supportive, many of the 
participating Yarmouk professor's colleagues oppose her 
involvement.  In a similar situation at the Jordan 
University for Science and Technology (JUST), the professor 
does not want many of her colleagues or students to know of 
her participation, for fear of their reaction.  The Jordan 
University professors said their colleagues and supervisors 
will not "formally" support their involvement.  In contrast, 
one of the Israeli professors stressed that he knows 
numerous Israeli professors who would be happy to be 
involved in BTR. 
 
THE NEXT STEP 
 
12. (SBU) After the survey, each group of specialists will 
take their samples back to their universities for study and 
analysis.  The Stanford University professor will remain 
with two of the Jordanian professors to train them on 
certain methods of DNA isolation and Polymerase Chain 
Reaction - a molecular biological technique for amplifying 
DNA without using a living organism - in order to 
comprehensively analyze their samples.  The scientists plan 
to come together to report and share their findings, 
formulating the next steps in their joint scientific 
research. 
 
 
A GOOD SIGN OF SUCCESS 
 
13. (SBU) COMMENT:  Despite the fact that the construction 
of the BTR Center has not yet begun, this second scientific 
survey suggests that the academic component of BTR is 
advancing and that the project as a whole is making headway. 
While the academic component is still in its initial phase, 
the two scientific surveys held within seven months of each 
other, the follow-on conferences, and the growing number of 
participants are positive signs of success.  Politics aside, 
the progress of BTR will have strongly positive scientific, 
educational, and environmental effects on Jordan and its 
participants.  The fact that one of the necessary components 
of BTR is to dramatically increase Jordan's scientific 
capacity and advancement is a benefit in itself.  The 
engagement of Jordanian and Israeli participants in the 
academic and scientific setting is an additional positive 
sign that they will be able to successfully work, study, 
research, and publish together. These are among the goals of 
the 1994 peace treaty.  Nonetheless, BTR still faces many 
challenges.  Legal and security complications are being 
addressed (Ref A) and look to be solved within the year. 
The popular Jordanian suspicion of this kind of engagement 
with Israel forces BTR to advance slowly and quietly.  END 
COMMENT 
 
HALE