UPDATE ON JORDAN'S SUBMISSION TO THE ICJ CASE ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 001017 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2014 TAGS: PREL KPAL IS JO ICJ SUBJECT: UPDATE ON JORDAN'S SUBMISSION TO THE ICJ CASE ON ISRAEL'S SEPARATION BARRIER Classified By: DCM David Hale for reasons 1.5 (b) (d) ¶1. (C) MFA Legal Department head Samer Naber told PolCouns and PolOff February 9 that Jordan has not yet decided whether it will make an oral presentation to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Israeli security barrier. Nevertheless, it will likely request from the court permission to give an oral statement before the February 13 deadline to preserve its right to make an oral argument should it choose to do so. Should Jordan give an oral argument, Naber said that he, Jordanian Permanent Representative to the UN Prince Zaid bin Raad, the Jordanian UN Mission Legal Advisor, and a prominent British attorney named Sir Arthur Watts would collaborate. Naber commented that he had spent a great deal of time reviewing the legal briefs submitted in the ICJ case, and complimented both the U.S. and Israeli submissions as complete and well presented. He said the good briefs from the U.S. and Israel had made him work harder to refine Jordan's legal brief. Visit Embassy Amman's classified web site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/ or access the site through the State Department's SIPRNET home page. GNEHM