US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT3563

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 003563 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/ARP, NEA/NGA, NEA/IPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/04/2013 
TAGS: PREL, KPAL, IZ, AL, KU 
SUBJECT: (C) ORAL MESSAGE FROM SECRETARY TO ARAB LEAGUE 
FOREIGN MINISTERS DELIVERED 
 
REF: STATE 224109 
 
Classified By: AMB. RICHARD H. JONES; REASONS 1.5 (B, D). 
 
1.  (U) Action Request - see paragraph 4. 
 
2.  (C) Pol Chief delivered reftel oral message to Shaykh Dr. 
Ahmed Nasser Mohammed al-Sabah, the Foreign Minister's Office 
Director, August 4.  Shaykh Ahmed replied that Kuwait and all 
other GCC states endorse the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) 
and support Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu 
Mazen).  However, before giving money to the Palestinian 
Authority, the GOK wants assurances that Israel will not 
seize or freeze such funds, and that it will move swiftly and 
predictably to release PA funds already seized/frozen. 
 
3.  (C) Anticipating that Abu Mazen will visit Kuwait within 
the next two weeks, he asked that the USG impress upon him 
that his visit will go much better if he speaks out against 
Saddam's regime and the mass graves before he gets here, as 
well as in the joint communique the GOK is preparing.  In 
fact, Shaykh Ahmed added, Abu Mazen's relations with Kuwait 
will go better "the more he distances himself from Arafat." 
He stressed that Kuwaitis still feel betrayed by the 
Palestinians who supported Saddam during the Iraqi occupation 
after "living among us" for so long.  (NOTE:  it is becoming 
painfully clear to Kuwaitis that their fellow-citizens 
missing since the Iraqi occupation are buried somewhere in 
those mass graves; there are about 600 missing Kuwaitis, a 
huge number for this small population, proportionally 
equivalent to about 180,000 missing Americans.  END NOTE.) 
 
4.  (C) ACTION REQUEST:  We request that the State Department 
ensure that Abu Mazen is aware of the GOK's sentiments before 
he visits here. 
 
5.  (C) Shaykh Ahmed stated that Kuwait will not participate 
in the August 5-6 meeting of the Arab League Sharm el-Sheikh 
Summit "Follow Up and Steering Committee," as it is not a 
member of the Committee.  Regarding the Arab League itself, 
he said Kuwait will present a reform proposal in September, 
intended to move away from "the empty slogans of the last 
fifty years" towards a more meaningful, constructive role. 
He said the GOK is pressing Egypt to rein in Arab League 
SecGen Amr Musa, who behaved "unacceptably" by meeting with 
"some of the most extremist factions in Iraq" while refusing 
to meet with the IGC. 
JONES