AS ZAYED CENTER FLAP GROWS, UAEG WANTS USG TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 003817

SIPDIS

NSC FOR AMB ELIOT ABRAMS

NEA/FO AND NEA/ARP, CAIRO FOR HEGADORN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/18/13
TAGS: PREL PGOV TC
SUBJECT: AS ZAYED CENTER FLAP GROWS, UAEG WANTS USG TO
INTERVENE WITH HARVARD

Refs: A. Abu Dhabi 3801 B. 02 Abu Dhabi 4712


1. (U) Classified by Charge d'Affaires, a.i.,
Richard Albright, for Reasons 1.5 (B) and (D).


2. (C) Summary: In very frank terms during a meeting with
the Charge and Polchief on August 19, UAE Information
Minister Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan said President Sheikh
Zayed "went the extra mile" when he decided to close down
the Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow-up (ZCCF)
because of its negative activities. If the matter "turns
sour," Sh. Abdullah warned, referring to Harvard
University's possible decision to return Sh. Zayed's $2.5
million endowment to establish an Islamic Studies Chair at
the Divinity School, the first to be hurt will be America's
friends in the UAE. Meanwhile, the Arab League, Arab
journalists, and the to be ousted director of the ZCCF are
rallying to the defense of the Center. Two UAEG emissaries
are on their way to the U.S. to meet with Harvard
officials, hoping to persuade the university not to return
the endowment. End summary.

--------------
UAEG: Frank talk on a sensitive subject
--------------


3. (C) UAE Information Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed
Al-Nahyan met with Charge and Polchief August 18 and urged
the Administration to intercede with Harvard to be sure
that University officials understand the steps the UAE has
taken to deal with the Zayed Center and urge Harvard not to
return Sheikh Zayed's $2.3 million endowment. Charge noted
our appreciation for the steps being taken to halt the
Center's negative activities and as he did with de facto
Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (HbZ)
two days earlier, the Charge said that the continued
presence of the ZCCF Web site (www.zccf.org.ae) with its
negative content diminishes the impact of the UAEG's
actions on the Zayed Center. Sh. Abdullah was surprised to
learn that the Web site was still active.


4. (C) Sh. Abdullah warned that if Harvard returns Sh.
Zayed's endowment, the first to be hurt "are your friends
in the UAE," and "whoever has been supporting in whatever
way the Zayed Center will end up being victorious."
Everyone who has been "nasty" with the U.S. and with the
UAE because of its desire to have stronger relations with
the U.S. "will be laughing in our faces and saying, 'You
deserve what you get.'" Nevertheless, Abdullah pledged that
the UAEG would not change its policy toward the U.S.
Charge agreed that a Harvard decision to return the
endowment would be a very damaging development. He assured
Sh. Abdullah that his concerns would be communicated to
Washington.

--------------
UAEG Emissaries to Harvard
--------------


5. (C) The UAEG is sending Dr. Jamal Al-Suweidi, the
director of the UAEG think tank Emirates Center for
Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR),and Ahmed Mohammed
Al-Humairi, an undersecretary for consultative and
technical affairs at the Office of the President, to meet
with Harvard officials (see reftel A). Although he did not
know details of their appointments, Sh. Abdullah said one
of their meetings may be with Harvard theology student
Rachel Fish who first raised the ZCCF issue with Harvard
administrators.


6. (U) Meanwhile, the ZCCF issue has been receiving front-
page coverage in the local and Arab world press in the last
two days. London-based Arabic daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat
reported August 18 that the UAE will close the ZCCF after
the Center was accused of promoting conspiracy theories.

--------------
Center Ties to the Arab League
--------------


7. (U) In a statement to the Associated Press, Arab League
spokesman Hesham Youssef in Cairo said it would be a great
loss if the Center's activities were reduced in any way.
He termed accusations of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism
"absolutely baseless." As reported in reftel B, the ZCCF
was founded in 1999 as the result of a 1997 Arab League
Symposium held in the UAE. The symposium recommended that
there should be a research center created to coordinate
activities within the Arab League and promote Arab causes
abroad. The project was endorsed by the Arab League
Council, which comprises the foreign ministers of member
states, to become an affiliate of the League. The ZCCF was
set up under a decree by UAE President Sheikh Zayed.
Although officially associated with the Arab League, the
ZCCF is funded almost entirely by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
The Center has its own printing press, which churns out
studies and lectures, and it features a Web site that
carries summaries of recent presentations. (As of COB
August 19, the site was still up, and contained the same
information that was supposed to have been eliminated,
including a past guest speaker's lecture in which he
questioned the Holocaust, which had caused the
controversy.)

--------------
ZCCF Director Defends Center's Purpose
--------------


8. (U) In Abu Dhabi, Mohammed Khalifa Al-Murar, the to be
ousted Director General of the Center, strongly rebuffed
claims that the ZCCF promotes anti-Semitic views. The
English-language daily "Gulf News," published an article
Aug. 19 under the headline "Zayed Center hits back at
Zionist campaign." In it, Al-Murar asserted that the
Center is exercising its right for freedom of expression,
and it is a neutral institution that offers a platform for
all scholars to air their ideas. "Gulf News" also reported
that the Center has received solidarity signatures from
hundreds of Arab journalists who want to keep the Center
open and who denounce what described as a "systematic smear
campaign by Zionist circles in the United States and
Britain against the Zayed Center because of its distinct
cultural and civilized role." The "Gulf News" article did
not mention the anti-Semitic and anti-US content of the Web
site.


9. (C) COMMENT: Sheikh Abdullah's decision to go public in
the August 18 Sharq al-Awsat with the ZCCF closure story is
a significant departure from the normal practice of the
close lipped Beni Fatima. It appears that they have
calculated that their private letters and messages had not
proved effective and that they were going to have to enter
the media fray to combat accusations against the UAEG that
have been circulating for months. Now that the debate has
gone public, to be fired Zayed Center director al-Murar has
been in the media defending himself and his Center; the
Arab League is calling for the Center to remain open and; a
collection of Arab nationalist "intellectuals" is crying
that this is all a Zionist conspiracy. It will probably
take the UAEG some time to work through this, formally
close the Center, shut down the website and deal with the
Arab League. This debate, which erupted in the UAE media
today, reflects a growing degree of press freedom that the
UAE has tried to promote. Sheikh Abdullah cited these
concerns in explaining their hesitancy to close ZCCF's
website. For now, the government has gone public and is
taking the flak from the Arab world. This step may help
them with Harvard. We recommend that Department officials
meet with ECSSR director Jamal as-Suweidi to discuss these
developments and next steps.

ALBRIGHT