Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04ABUDHABI629
2004-03-07 13:28:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Abu Dhabi
Cable title:  

Perceived inaction on Roadmap fuels debate

Tags:  PREL PGOV KPAL IS TC 
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Cable 
Text: 
 
 
CONFIDENTIAL

SIPDIS
TELEGRAM March 07, 2004


To: No Action Addressee 

Action: Unknown 

From: AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI (ABU DHABI 629 - ROUTINE) 

TAGS: PREL, PGOV, KPAL 

Captions: None 

Subject: PERCEIVED INACTION ON ROADMAP FUELS DEBATE 

Ref: None 
_________________________________________________________________
C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 00629

SIPDIS
CXABU:
 ACTION: POL 
 INFO: PAO RSO AMB DCM P/M ECON 
Laser1:
 INFO: PAO 

DISSEMINATION: POL
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: AMB:MMWAHBA
DRAFTED: POL:JFMAYBURY
CLEARED: DCM:RAALBRIGHT PA:HOLSIN-WINDECKER

VZCZCADI425
RR RUEHC RUEHEE RUCNRAQ
DE RUEHAD #0629/01 0671328
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 071328Z MAR 04
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3438
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 000629 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/FO, NEA/IPA, NEA/ARP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/14
TAGS: PREL PGOV KPAL IS TC
SUBJECT: Perceived inaction on Roadmap fuels debate

Classified by Ambassador Marcelle M. Wahba, Reasons
1.5 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 000629

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/FO, NEA/IPA, NEA/ARP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/14
TAGS: PREL PGOV KPAL IS TC
SUBJECT: Perceived inaction on Roadmap fuels debate

Classified by Ambassador Marcelle M. Wahba, Reasons
1.5 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: There is a perception here among
policymakers, students, journalists, and academics,
that the USG no longer considers the Palestinian-
Israeli issue a major priority. That perception is
fuelled in recent weeks by the lack of any mention of
it in the President's inaugural interview on Al Hurra
and in President Bush's State of the Union address.
In addition the Administration's overwhelming emphasis
on Iraq, recent press reports on our consultations
with the Europeans -- and not the Arabs -- about the
Greater Middle East initiative, and the media frenzy
over U.S. domestic politics have contributed to the
belief that the US has put this issue, so central to
the region's stability, on hold. The GME and even
MEPI's broad agenda for reform in the region are seen
as a diversion from the unresolved Palestinian issue
Arabs care most about. Daily images of parents and
children attempting to scale Israel's newly-built wall
and the continuing violence between the two sides is
the main event in newspapers and television stations
throughout the region. While we remind our
interlocutors that we remain engaged on the Roadmap,
all are skeptical about our commitment to
implementation. The prevailing opinion is that unless
the USG becomes re-engaged in the peace process, it
will be difficult to make progress on other issues,
such as Iraq, and mistrust of American policy will
facilitate recruitment by extremist groups opposed to
the United States and its allies. End summary.

Frustration at perceived U.S. inaction
--------------


2. (C) A recurring theme in political discussions,
conferences, and editorials here in recent months has
been the diminished role of the United States as a
peace broker in the Arab-Israeli dispute. Emiratis,
like Arabs elsewhere, view the U.S. through the
Palestinian prism, and they question U.S. inaction
given the ongoing deterioration and the controversial
wall construction. "There is a great amount of
frustration. People don't see any progress being made
to resolve the problem," Abdullah Rashid Al Nuaimi,

the UAE Foreign Ministry's assistant under secretary
for political affairs, told Polchief on January 26.
Many of our interlocutors were upset that President
Bush's State of the Union address made no mention of
the Arab-Israeli issue and that it was not raised
during his interview with Al Hurra correspondent
Mouwafac Harb. A young Emirati in training at the
UAE's Diplomatic Institute said it was as if the West
had abandoned the Palestinians. "The U.S. policy of
not intervening against (Prime Minister) Sharon, or
just letting Sharon (act alone right or wrong) reduces
the credibility of the United States," the U.S.
college graduate said. The fact that the topic was
not covered during the President's exclusive interview
with Al Hurra was "proof" for some of our press
contacts "that the US wants to avoid the subject" and
evidence that Al Hurra is not going to have any
credibility because "no professional journalist
reporting for the ME would have the President on his
program and not cover the Palestinian/Israeli issue."

Concern at highest UAEG levels
--------------


3. (C) In meetings with the Ambassador, members of the
UAEG leadership have made clear their concern over the
situation in the Palestinian territories and the
perception that the US has put this issue on hold
until after the presidential elections. In a meeting
with presidential son and director of State Security,
Shaykh Hazaa bin Zayed told the Ambassador that
extremists would continue to gain support in the
Muslim world as long as the Palestinian/Israeli
conflict remained unsettled. He argued that the
region would remain unstable without its resolution
because the Palestinian "cause" provided the rallying
cry for those groups opposed to the US and its allies.

Other U.S. preoccupations feed resentment
--------------


4. (C) Many Arabs in the UAE believe the Arab-Israeli
dispute is being relegated to a lesser priority by
other U.S. preoccupations. Iraq is one of those
"diversions," said Hana Zakaria, a Palestinian-born
British national working as a reporter for Abu Dhabi
TV. She told Polchief that unless the Palestinian
issue is resolved, "drops of blood will accumulate
across the world." Others said the unresolved
Palestinian issue is a kind of cancer in the region.
We have been told that MEPI, and now the Greater
Middle East initiative, would resonate more positively
here if people could see tangible progress on the
Roadmap. Instead, the "Greater Middle East" concept
is being portrayed by many as a paternalistic
initiative by the U.S., in consultation with NATO and
the Europeans, thus reinforcing themes that the West
dictates to the Arab/Muslim world. A political
cartoon in the Arabic daily Al Khaleej illustrated the
initiative as a U.S. whip about to swat a pesky fly.

Prescription for change: More U.S. engagement
--------------


5. (C) Critics of U.S. policy say we need to apply
real pressure on Israel, not just what they consider
"cosmetic" pressure. They see Israel's security fence
as a concrete fact on-the-ground that will ensure that
there is no Palestinian State. Our interlocutors
believe the U.S. needs to actively encourage both
sides to re-engage on the political level and thereby
shore up our own credibility in the region. In a rare
admission of the need for the Arabs to become more
active, Omar Khalaf, deputy director of the MFA's
Diplomatic Institute, said that Arabs need to play a
more public role in the peace process. The idea that
Arabs need to do some self-criticism was echoed by a
number of others.

Warnings from Arab intellectuals
--------------


6. (C) In recent public lectures we have attended, a
variety of diplomats and scholars have warned against
ignoring the Palestinian issue. "The Palestinian
issue represents for us the historic challenge. It
has an impact on the GCC and the Muslim world as a
whole," said Saudi Prince Turki Al Faisal at a
conference of the UAE think tank Emirates Center for
Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR) in January. At
the same conference, Iranian Vice President Mohammed
Ali Abtahi said that U.S. military intervention in the
region and the U.S. backing of Israel in its
confrontation with Palestinians has pushed many
Muslims to extremism. Abtahi said that the U.S.
policy on Palestine has placed heavy psychological and
moral pressure on Arab nations while terrorism has led
to instability in the Gulf region.


7. (C) Nadir El Mahdy, a political science professor
at Zayed University, an all-Emirati women's
institution, said more dialogue will break down the
mistrust that exists between Arabs and the West. When
Emboffs have spoken to his "Windows on America" class,
the students most often have questions about U.S.
policy toward Palestinians, and the double standard in
U.S. Middle East policy. At the UAE Diplomatic
Institute, a number of diplomats in training were more
blunt. How, they ask, can the U.S. call for democracy
and reforms in Arab countries and not do the same for
Israel? Emiratis, who occasionally make references to
Israeli WMD in our discussions, are troubled by this
double standard, not only as it pertains to U.S. calls
for political and economic change, but to weapons
proliferation as well.


8. (C) Comment: It is almost impossible to have a
political discussion or hear a scholarly lecture on
the Middle East without being reminded of the
unfinished business concerning Israel and the
Palestinian territories. Some believe the U.S. has
been negligent, or too one-sided, and will suffer as a
consequence. Others understand that there are
multiple actors, including Arab states, who need to
intervene. Either way, our interlocutors believe the
peace process needs to move forward to prevent further
alienation of Arabs and Muslims over the one
historical and emotional issue that unites them.
WAHBA