JORDAN SUGGESTS EUROPEAN INTERVENTION WITH ARAB

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 002257 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/08/2012 TAGS: PREL KPAL JO UNGA SUBJECT: JORDAN SUGGESTS EUROPEAN INTERVENTION WITH ARAB GROUP TO MODERATE LANGUAGE ON SPECIAL SESSION ON CHILDREN REF: A. AMMAN 2222 ¶B. USUN 1154 Classified By: CDA Gregory L. Berry for reasons 1.5 (B)(D) ¶1. (C) Responding to our earlier demarche (ref a),Acting Foreign Minister Shaher Bak told the Charge and PolCouns May 8 that Jordan does not want the UN Special Session on Children to be "hijacked" by radical language from the Arab Group. He said that PM Ali Abul Ragheb had instructed the head of Jordan's delegation, Social Development Minister Taman al-Ghul, to moderate the language of the conference and keep the session focused on children's issues to the extent possible. He said, however, that if there was "unanimous agreement" from other members of the Arab group on insertion of language about the plight of Palestinian children, there would be nothing Jordan could do to oppose it. ¶2. (C) Bak suggested that the U.S. ask key European countries to approach Arab Group members and argue against inclusion of such language. Coming from the Europeans, Bak argued, such a message would have greater impact. Such European action, Bak concluded, might help Jordan to moderate Arab Group language. He promised that he would stay in touch with delegation leader al-Ghul throughout the conference, and said the Jordanian delegation would be willing to work with the U.S. delegation to produce a positive outcome. BERRY