US embassy cable - 05AMMAN9327

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 009327 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WERNER/SINGH 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/01/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PREF, PGOV, PTER, SY, IS, LE, JO 
SUBJECT: MGLE01: PLO REFUGEE DEPT. ON ZAKI'S NEXT MISSION 
TO LEBANON 
 
REF: BEIRUT 3799 
 
Classified By: DCM Daniel Rubinstein for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY: PLO Department of Refugee Affairs (DORA) DG 
Mohammed Abu Bakr is preparing to return to Beirut with 
Palestinian Commissioner Abbas Zaki in mid-December to 
commence negotiations with the GOL.  According to Abu Bakr, 
the PLO is ready to assume sole negotiating responsibility in 
order to secure the continued engagement of PM Siniora's 
government.  However, Abu Bakr is trying to neutralize the 
PFLP-GC's historical influence over the PLO DORA offices in 
Beirut to take full advantage of Lebanon's willingness to 
improve conditions in Lebanon's refugee camps.  Abu Bakr also 
believes that Abbas Zaki has decided to visit Damascus en 
route to Lebanon to lay the groundwork for his discussions on 
Palestinian militia disarmament.  He also revealed that Zaki 
has had problems recruiting an official to head the PLO's 
formal diplomatic mission in Beirut.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (C) BACKGROUND: Abu Bakr is a former private banker and 
ally of the PA President.  Abu Mazen appointed him to join 
Abu Zaki's negotiating team shortly after meeting with PM 
Siniora in Paris.  He accompanied Zaki on his initial 
November 5-11 mission to Lebanon and participated in Zaki's 
calls on factional and militant leaders, including Hizballah 
leader Nasrallah.  Abu Bakr was organizing the PLO's return 
mission until November 19 when he was hospitalized in Amman 
with a life-threatening heart condition.  He briefed visiting 
PRM Acting A/S Greene on the PLO strategy shortly before 
being hospitalized, and contacted refcoord again after his 
release from the hospital November 28 to review how the 
meeting PM Siniora and PA President Abu Mazen held over the 
weekend in Barcelona was affecting PLO strategy. 
 
PLO PREPARED TO START TALKS WEEK OF DECEMBER 11 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
3. (C) On November 28, Abu Bakr confirmed that he and Abbas 
Zaki were preparing to return to Lebanon the week of December 
11 to start negotiations with the GOL.  Characterizing Abu 
Mazen's position as "sincere and committed," he confirmed 
that the PLO is prepared to assume sole responsibility for 
the Palestinian negotiating position, but noted that he and 
Zaki would need to continue to leverage their position on the 
ground to fulfill their strategic objectives of ensuring 
Palestinian refugees are not used as "bullets in the guns of 
others" and to take advantage of the unprecedented 
opportunity the GOL was providing to improve the conditions 
Palestinian refugees face in Lebanon. 
 
ZAKI TO VISIT SYRIA MID-DECEMBER EN ROUTE TO BEIRUT 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
4. (C) Abu Bakr believes that Zaki has decided to visit 
Damascus en route to Lebanon.  He revealed that SARG GAPAR DG 
Ali Moustapha (strictly protect) had approached him on the 
margins of a November 15-17 UNRWA stakeholders meeting at the 
Dead Sea to convey an offer to facilitate such a visit, and 
indicated that the PLO hopes that that overture means the 
SARG will exert constructive pressure on the PFLP-GC and the 
Fatah al-Intifada.  Abu Bakr thought Zaki would meet with 
rejectionist groups if SARG meetings do not materialize to 
try to leverage messages groups in northern Lebanon are 
clearly receiving.  Abu Bakr explained that Zaki received a 
cold reception when he visited the pro-Syrian camps in the 
north, and was also warned by Nasrallah "not to discuss 
disarmament with Lebanon" during his last visit.  (COMMENT: 
Abu Bakr suspects that Ali Moustapha, a Palestinian refugee, 
may be acting on his own initiative.  END COMMENT.)  Abu Bakr 
also indicated that Zaki was having difficulty recruiting 
officials from within PLO ranks to represent them in Beirut. 
According to Abu Bakr, former PLO Representative in Lebanon 
Shafiq El Hout rejected Zaki's offer to head the formal 
diplomatic mission the GOL is reestablishing.  Abu Bakr also 
noted that practical issues are working against them.  The 
PLO, for example, is still waiting for the GOL to respond to 
its request to help evict/compensate several Lebanese 
families squatting in its Beirut offices. 
 
PLO, UNRWA POSITIONING THEMSELVES TO RAMP UP AID 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
5. (C) However, Abu Bakr said that he is trying to 
immediately open a separate office in Beirut to start 
GOL/Palestinian coordination on humanitarian aid issues, 
explaining that it is critical to de-link humanitarian aid 
initiatives from disarmament talks in the mind of Palestinian 
factions on the ground.  While acknowledging that all 
Palestinian factions generally support improving refugee 
living conditions, Abu Bakr said that there is deep 
skepticism about Zaki's motivations.  Abu Bakr added that he 
does not trust the existing PLO/DORA office in Beirut to work 
constructively with the GOL, explaining that the rejectionist 
sympathies of some of the staff in that office have left the 
DORA office "a virtual PFLP-GC office in the eyes of the 
refugees."  (NOTE: Abu Bakr needs external funding to open 
this office; he has approached the Swiss in Amman to date. 
END NOTE.)  In addition to establishing a trusted team to 
work on humanitarian issues in Beirut, Abu Bakr has secured 
the agreement of Gaza-based head of PLO/DORA/Fatah Central 
Committee Member Dr. Zakaria al Agha, to make his first trip 
to Beirut December 14 to persuade Lebanon Fatah Party 
Representative Sultan Abu Al-Aynayn to support his efforts. 
Abu Bakr said he also hoped to explore whether PLO/DORA could 
use its own funding to immediately launch projects to 
ameliorate conditions in the camps. 
6. (C) Separately, UNRWA Lebanon Field Director Richard Cook 
told PRM A/S Greene in a November 17 meeting at the Dead Sea 
that UNRWA is starting to position itself to take advantage 
of the new openings presented by the GOL's Palestinian 
initiative.  According to Cook, Commissioner-General Abu Zayd 
is currently deciding whether UNRWA should launch a separate 
appeal for Lebanon, given that several pressing projects to 
repair UNRWA's severely deteriorating housing, sewer and 
water systems in Beirut camps were removed from the Medium 
Term Plan, which UNRWA launched in February, based on the 
lack of GOL support that existed at that time.  Cook 
predicted that UNRWA would proceed cautiously and use a new 
15 million Euro package of education projects that UNRWA 
expects to sign with the EC in Beirut next month as a test 
case.  (NOTE:  The GOL has indicated that it is actively 
considering providing UNRWA additional land outside its 
densely populated camps in Beirut to construct four new 
schools. END NOTE.) 
 
7.  (U) PRM Acting A/S Greene and Embassy Beirut cleared this 
message. 
 
HALE