US embassy cable - 02AMMAN5511

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 005511 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/23/2012 
TAGS: PREL, KPAL, IZ, JO 
SUBJECT: "FRIENDS OF AMERICA" DECRY LACK OF PUBLIC U.S. 
CONDEMNATION OF MUQATAA SIEGE, U.S. FOCUS ON IRAQ TO THE 
EXCLUSION OF ISRAEL 
 
 
Classified By: Amb. Edward W. Gnehm for reasons 1.5 (B) and (D) 
 
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WHY NO U.S. CONDEMNATION OF MUQATAA DESTRUCTION? 
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1.  (C)  A group of self-described "Friends of America" 
representing the Amman World Affairs Council called on the 
Ambassador and PolCouns September 22 to deliver a letter from 
the WAC to President Bush (excerpts in para 7 below).  The 
group members said that they had all lived and studied in the 
U.S. and admired the "honesty, sincerity, and hopefulness" of 
average Americans, as well as the open democratic U.S. system 
of governance.  However, U.S. policy in the region in recent 
months had caused them to "lose confidence in the principles 
of U.S. life and government."  According to one group member, 
"it is a difficult time for people who support the U.S." 
 
2.  (C)  The group expressed dismay that, unlike most of the 
rest of the world, there had been no strong public U.S. 
criticism of the Israeli destruction of much of PA Chairman 
Yassir Arafat's Muqataa compound in Ramallah, and only 
limited U.S. pressure on Israel to stop its actions.  One 
group member said "the U.S. can stop Israel when it wants to 
-- Eisenhower did it" (during the Suez Crisis of 1956).  What 
is frustrating for Jordanians regarding this situation is, 
they argued, that "the U.S. can do something to restrain 
Israel but chooses not to." 
 
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NOT ONLY WEAPONS CAUSE MASS DESTRUCTION 
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3.  (C)  The group expressed a lack of understanding of the 
U.S. preoccupation with the urgency of the threat from Iraqi 
WMD.  They noted a "contrast between U.S. policy on Iraq and 
on Israel" regarding both WMD and enforcement of UNSCRs. 
They argued that Israeli actions against Palestinians -- 
"especially the Israeli curfew and blockade" -- are a more 
imminent cause of mass destruction, and the threat is current 
and on-going.  For example, the city of Nablus, they argued, 
has been under nearly continuous curfew for more than 80 
days.  People cannot go out to shop for food or other basic 
necessities.  The sick cannot see doctors or go to hospitals. 
 Most people cannot go to work, or children to school. 
Israeli incursions into Nablus have caused not only the 
destruction of police and security infrastructure, but also 
the British era government center and health, education, and 
land offices, where irreplaceable records were destroyed. 
"Israel is trying to dismantle the infrastructure of daily 
life in Palestine, as well as Palestine's history and its 
future." 
 
4.  (C)  Given the "existential" nature of the targets that 
Israeli forces have been destroying in the West Bank, the 
group continued, more and more Jordanians were beginning to 
believe that Ariel Sharon might even attempt to force the 
transfer of Israeli Arabs into the West Bank, or even the 
transfer of Palestinians from the West Bank into Jordan. 
"Last year," one visitor commented, "I would have considered 
myself paranoid for thinking this way.  Now I do not." 
 
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"WE ASK FOR JUSTICE, NOT THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL" 
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5.  (C)  World Affairs Council Executive Director and group 
organizer, Fakhri Abu Shakra, concluded by saying that 
Israeli actions are hurting the "70 percent" of Palestinians 
who are peace-loving.  The actions of the Israeli government 
and Palestinian terrorists, he argued, reinforce each other 
and will prevent a solution -- unless the U.S. steps in.  He 
asked that the U.S. put greater pressure on Israel to improve 
the conditions for average Palestinians, and to reduce 
actions that provoke a violent Palestinian response.  In the 
end, Jordanians are asking "for justice, not the destruction 
of Israel."  He cited the Arab League initiative and Quartet 
roadmap as concrete ideas the U.S. must work with. 
 
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COMMENT 
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6.  (C)  This conversation was unexceptional, but drew 
together the most commonly heard threads of Jordanian public 
and elite opinion on the MEPP.  Despite loud public criticism 
of U.S. policy, this conversation, like most with educated 
Jordanians, concluded with a plea for continued (and even 
increased) U.S. involvement in the MEPP. 
 
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EXCERPTS OF WAC LETTER TO PRESIDENT BUSH 
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7.  (U)  The group had earlier sent a two-page letter 
critical of U.S. policy in the region addressed to President 
Bush and dated September 10, 2002.  Following are excerpts 
from that letter. 
 
Mr. President, 
 
We the undersigned represent a group of intellectuals, men 
and women, Muslem and Christian, from different walks of 
Jordanian society.  We cherish the values of freedom, human 
rights, democracy, good governance, and political pluralism. 
We believe in the basic rights and freedoms of man, including 
his right to live free from oppression and persecution. 
 
Few weeks ago (sic), you called upon all nations to stop 
terrorist killings....   However, when an Israeli F16 missile 
attack on Gaza killed fourteen innocent civilians, nine of 
them children, and wounded and maimed 180 other civilians in 
one night, you were far less engaged, simply describing as 
"heavy handed" the death and devastation caused by the 
Israeli use of American arms. 
 
Sharon deliberately chose to launch that attack on the very 
day Palestinian leaders of various factions were about to 
sign a pledge to suspend violence, and Hamas leaders had 
spoken publicly about ending suicide bombings.... 
 
US policy has stripped Palestinian violence of its context, 
failing to appreciate that it is the response of a desperate 
and horribly oppressed people against the appalling weight of 
decades of military occupation.... Such unconditional support 
for Israeli actions is heading to become the source of major 
regional and global disorder. 
 
Yet the Palestinians remain the natural allies to your yet to 
be realized vision, Mr. President, to move the region away 
from mutual assured destruction, toward just and lasting 
peace which future generations of Palestinians and Israelis 
can accept and protect.  Such a vision will materialize into 
reality when the relevant U.N. and Security Council 
resolutions, combined with the Arab Summit Beirut initiative, 
are articulated within a short term time-table for Israeli 
withdrawal from all the Palestinian and Arab territories 
occupied in 1967, the total dismantling of Israeli 
settlements in East (Arab) Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza 
Strip and the establishment thereon of the sovereign State of 
Palestine. 
 
Mr. President 
 
You are a leader of a great and powerful country at decisive 
times....Responsible statesmanship requires listening to the 
proposed solutions of rational humanists rather than the 
loose cannons of the military industrial complex warned 
against by President Eisenhower. 
 
The world does not have to be made up of enemies, Mr. 
President.  You are in a position to make the difference. 
 
(the letter was signed by 38 members of the World Affairs 
Council including several former Ministers, Members of 
Parliament, academics, and prominent businessmen) 
 
end text of letter. 
 
GNEHM