EAST BANK-WEST BANK DIVIDE GROWS AS INTIFADA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 002334

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/12/2012
TAGS: PREL KPAL PGOV IS JO
SUBJECT: EAST BANK-WEST BANK DIVIDE GROWS AS INTIFADA
INTENSIFIES

REF: A. AMMAN 1805 B. AMMAN 2070

Classified By: CDA GREGORY L. BERRY FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D)

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) Over the past few weeks the Israeli offensive in the
West Bank has
highlighted a trend we have seen growing as the Intifada has
intensified--the
cleavage between Palestinian Jordanians (West Bankers) and
Transjordanians
(East Bankers). Residual mistrust left over from the 1970
PLO attempt to
overthrow the Hashemites has resurfaced, and there is growing
fear that Israel
could try to force Palestinians from the West Bank into
Jordan. While most
East Bankers openly support the Palestinian cause, many have
privately
expressed resentment that Palestinian Jordanians are once
again a destabilizing
force in the country. End Summary.

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EAST BANKERS: LINGERING DISTRUST
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2. (C) The protests in recent weeks against the Israeli
incursions have
sharpened the division between East and West Bankers. This
division is
particularly acute in Amman, where Badia police from
traditional East Bank
areas were brought in to deter pro-Palestinian protests.
While many
Palestinian contacts have blanched at the government's use of
the Badia police,
many East Bank contacts have conveyed their resentment that
Palestinians are
once again posing a challenge to the authority of the
government.


3. (C) While few Palestinians refer back to the 1970
Palestinian attempt to
usurp King Hussein, also known as Black September, East
Bankers more frequently
bring up the topic to explain their lingering distrust of
Palestinian Jordanian
intentions here. While most East Bank contacts acknowledge
that the
circumstances that allowed the Palestinians to challenge King
Hussein in 1970
no longer exist, distrust and resentment remain.


4. (C) Several East Bank contacts told Poloff that tensions
between Palestinian
Jordanians and East Bankers increased substantially during
the demonstrations
over the past few weeks. While many were sympathetic to the
protesters' cause,
East Bankers were unsure how far the mostly Palestinian
demonstrators would
push the government. One East Bank government official was
enraged after
hearing reports (unconfirmed) that refugee camp residents
were burning pictures
of King Abdullah and Queen Rania. Another East Bank Foreign
Ministry contact
pointed to the experience of the Palestinians in Kuwait, "the
Kuwaitis took
them in and gave them good jobs, they live there for 30
years, then Saddam
invades and the Palestinians turn on their hosts." This
tension has also crept
into the business sector. The Chairman of the Irbid Chamber
of Industry spoke
with frustration recently about attempts by the Amman Chamber
of Industry to
politicize the work of the Chambers in Amman, Irbid, and
Zarqa. In contrast to
the pro-business (and East Banker-controlled) Chambers in
Irbid and Zarqa,
which count a number of QIZ producers among their membership,
he noted the
Amman Chamber is dominated by Palestinian Jordanians, has
close ties to
Islamist professional associations, and has been pushing hard
to get the
Chambers to call for a boycott of U.S. goods and of
businesses that deal with
Israel.


5. (C) Another underlying East Bank fear is that continued
Israeli incursions
in the West Bank will push large numbers of Palestinians into
Jordan. It is
widely believed here that Jordan can not absorb another wave
of Palestinians.
East Bank reluctance to sever ties with Israel in part stems
from their mutual
peace treaty, which they see as a guarantee that Israel will
not conduct
large-scale expulsions of Palestinians to Jordan. (see Ref
B) King Abdullah
and Prime Minister Abul Ragheb have both issued public
statements in the last
month confirming that Jordan would close its bridges if faced
with a
large-scale refugee flow. Indeed, during Israeli incursions,
Jordan on
occasion has closed the land border or has limited the hours
for crossing to
stem the traffic flow from the West Bank.


6. (C) While some East Bank contacts see the demonstrations
creating
instability, some East Bank contacts also place some blame on
the government
for its heavy-handed use of the police in the last few weeks.
Nasir al-Lawzi,
a well-connected East Banker, told Poloff that he was
particularly concerned
when the opposition was scheduling a large protest in spite
of a government
ban. (see Ref A) "The situation was very explosive,
particularly if the police
overreacted--what would happen if the police killed a
protester?"

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WEST BANKERS: FEELING INSECURE
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7. (C) In return, many Palestinians here have complained
about heavy-handed
government tactics and say these tactics betray the
government's
anti-Palestinian bias. Poloff recently has heard some
anecdotal stories about
police harassment of Palestinian Jordanians. Most stories
revolve around
name-calling and occasional unprovoked beatings. Former
Royal Court advisor
Adnan Abu Odeh said that Jordan is the only country that
mentioned "national
unity" when calling for calm. Abu Odeh questioned why
demonstrations against
the Israeli offensive would threaten national unity, "it
implies that
Palestinians are anti-Israeli and Transjordanians are
pro-Israeli." Abu Odeh
believes (we think mistakenly) that the GOJ inserted
undercover security
officers into the demonstrations to provoke the crowd,
thereby justifying its
harsh response.


8. (C) Throughout the recent round of demonstrations, lasting
roughly five
weeks, we have heard several anecdotal stories of
Palestinians in the Rabia
area worried about the presence of the Badia police, one
family even leaving
their home for the weekends when the Badia were brought in to
patrol. These
Palestinians feared that Badia police would not recognize the
difference
between Palestinian protesters and Palestinian residents.
Though still very
angry at the ongoing situation, Palestinians appear reluctant
to protest too
loudly since the government established the "red-line" for
demonstrations that
were planned on April 12 (see ref).


9. (C) Abu Odeh attributes some of the Palestinian reluctance
to test the
government's "red-line" to the Palestinian feeling that they
are merely
residents of Jordan, not citizens. As such, they believe
their position in
Jordan, economically and socially, is at the mercy of the
government and
security services. Abu Odeh said he was not surprised that
the opposition
backed down and canceled demonstrations on April 12 when the
government stepped
up security. He said the Muslim Brotherhood rank and file is
made up of
Palestinians, but the leadership is made up of
Transjordanians. The
Transjordanian leadership, according to Abu Odeh, want to
maintain some
friendliness with the government, otherwise it would risk
their future ability
to secure high-ranking ministerial positions.


10. (C) While some see the division between East Bank and
West Bank clearly, a
few contacts stress that Jordanians are united. One East
Bank contact said
that relations between East Bankers and West Bankers are
getting so intertwined
that it is difficult to completely separate the two. "When a
Palestinian in
the West Bank is killed, condolences are received in the East
Bank." Abdul
Karim Abul Haija, Director General of Jordan's Department of
Palestinian
Affairs, told Refcoord that the situation was so bad during
the demonstrations
because "our own people are firing on us." However, it seems
clear that
Transjordanians with a stronger sense of their East Bank
identity do not see
that as the case.

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COMMENT
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11. (C) The East Bank-West Bank division is a complex
nationality issue in
Jordan. Many Palestinian Jordanians emphasize that they
consider themselves
solely "Jordanians" since they were born in the West Bank
when it was under
Jordanian control. However, East Bankers still tend to
question the loyalty of
Palestinian Jordanians and to which state they are most loyal
to--Jordan or the
future Palestine. Almost all Jordanians--East Bank and West
Bank--support the
Palestinian cause, but the rise in Palestinian activism
during the last several
weeks--and the fact that it is mostly East Bankers who have
responsibility for
maintaining order--has exacerbated this division in Jordanian
society.


BERRY