Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
02AMMAN5653
2002-10-01 15:30:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Amman
Cable title:  

FTOS: QUARTERLY REVIEW

Tags:  PTER ASEC KCRM JO 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 005653 

SIPDIS

S/CT FOR JANEAN MANN AND ANTONIA CHAMBERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/01/2012
TAGS: PTER ASEC KCRM JO
SUBJECT: FTOS: QUARTERLY REVIEW

REF: SECSTATE 179250

Classified By: AMBASSADOR EDWARD W. GNEHM FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 005653

SIPDIS

S/CT FOR JANEAN MANN AND ANTONIA CHAMBERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/01/2012
TAGS: PTER ASEC KCRM JO
SUBJECT: FTOS: QUARTERLY REVIEW

REF: SECSTATE 179250

Classified By: AMBASSADOR EDWARD W. GNEHM FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D)


1. (C) Per reftel, a number of foreign terrorist
organizations (FTOs)--mostly Palestinian rejectionist
groups--maintain a clandestine presence in Jordan. Those
that qualify under the FTO status are HAMAS, PFLP, PFLP-GC,
PIJ, Abu Nidal, and Hizballah. Although DFLP no longer
qualifies as an FTO, they too maintain a presence in Jordan.
To our knowledge, these groups are not currently involved in
targeting U.S. or Jordanian interests, but use Jordan as a
base for propaganda, fund-raising, and political purposes.
These groups probably also provide some support
infrastructure--including weapons smuggling--for anti-Israeli
operations inside Israel and the West Bank.


2. (C) We believe al-Qa'ida also has a presence in Jordan.
Two cells affiliated with the al-Qaida organization were
arrested in 1999 for plotting to carryout attacks against
hotels catering to Westerners and at Christian religious
sites within Jordan. A recent thread of reporting indicating
that al-Qa'ida members may have planned to conduct kidnapping
operations against American businessmen in Jordan suggests
al-Qa'ida continues to consider Jordan as a platform for its
anti-American operations.


3. (C) There are also a unknown number of Islamic extremists
in Jordan who sympathize with Bin Ladin's anti-American
message or related extremist idelogies. Jordanian officials
recently arrested a number of these sympathizers who may have
been planning to target Americans in West Amman, the area
where the U.S. Embassy is located. We continue to monitor
these Islamists to see if they coalesce into an organized
group that would qualify as an FTO.


4. (C) The GOJ continues to aggressively pursue
counterterrorist operations against all these groups. The
GOJ also vigilantly patrols their borders and has
successfully disrupted several attempts to smuggle personnel
and weapons to Palestinian rejectionist groups in Israel and
the West Bank.


GNEHM