Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04AMMAN459
2004-01-20 16:00:00
SECRET
Embassy Amman
Cable title:  

PM FAYEZ ON RELATIONS WITH GULF, ISRAEL, IRAQ

Tags:  PREL ECON EAID KU IS SA JO 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 000459 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/20/2014
TAGS: PREL ECON EAID KU IS SA JO
SUBJECT: PM FAYEZ ON RELATIONS WITH GULF, ISRAEL, IRAQ

REF: A. AMMAN 348

B. AMMAN 409

Classified By: Amb. Edward W. Gnehm for reasons 1.5 (b) (d)

-------
SUMMARY
-------

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 000459

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/20/2014
TAGS: PREL ECON EAID KU IS SA JO
SUBJECT: PM FAYEZ ON RELATIONS WITH GULF, ISRAEL, IRAQ

REF: A. AMMAN 348

B. AMMAN 409

Classified By: Amb. Edward W. Gnehm for reasons 1.5 (b) (d)

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) PM Fayez told the Ambassador January 19 that he did
not receive a promise from Kuwait to continue its supply of
free oil to Jordan on his recent trip there, but that he
would keep "chipping away." It was more important to
continue the larger Saudi supply, and he hoped his family
connections to the Saudi royal family would help. Fayez
complained about a statement by Israeli PM Sharon that
Jordan's support for the ICJ case against the separation
barrier would hurt Jordan, and argued that Israel must give
Jordan some accommodation because of the Islamist opposition
in the new Parliament. The PM pledged Jordan's continuing
strong support for efforts to rebuild Iraq, including
training of Iraqi security forces in Jordan. Fayez supported
Rafidain Bank's talks with a technical committee and Jordan's
transfer of frozen Iraqi assets to the DFI, but asked that
the promised team be sent to Jordan to address Jordan's
concerns and settle Jordanian claims against frozen Iraqi
assets. END SUMMARY.

-------------- --
WILL KEEP CHIPPING AWAY AT KUWAIT, SAUDI ARABIA
-------------- --


2. (C) Prime Minister Faisal al-Fayez told the Ambassador
and PolCouns January 19 that he was received "like royalty"
on his recent visit to Kuwait, including being met at the
airport by "all the royal family except the Amir." However,
he said, he did not receive a commitment to continue the
supply of free petroleum, noting that there is some
opposition to this in the Kuwaiti Parliament. "We will keep
chipping away," he commented. Fayez credited his warn
reception to the close relations his father had enjoyed in
Kuwait, particularly because of his father's opposition to
Iraq's invasion in 1990. (FonMin Marwan Muasher commended to
the Ambassador last week that he, too, had been received
grandly in Kuwait, but had not gotten a commitment for the
supply of more free oil - ref a).


3. (C) Fayez said that in Kuwait he had given several

strong statements of support for Saudi Arabia, and hoped
those statements would be noticed in Riyadh. Fayez said that
he hoped to secure continued free oil from Saudi Arabia: "If
I get Saudi Arabia, that is nearly half a billion (dollars),
and I can live without (free oil from) Kuwait and the
Emirates."


4. (C) Fayez said "oil" was not the only important issue he
focused on in the Gulf. He mentioned interest by Qatar in a
USD 400-700 million dollar investment in Aqaba, and interest
by Kuwait in increasing its investment in the country as
well. Fayez said it was also critically important to
Jordan's economy to reopen the Gulf and Saudi Arabia to
Jordanian agricultural products. He hoped that Saudi Arabia
would soon send a survey team to look at Jordanian
agricultural production to eliminate fears of contamination
of Jordanian produce by reuse of wastewater. (Note: Water
and Agriculture Minister Hazem Nasser had earlier told the
Ambassador that he was pessimistic about the possibility of
large increases of exports of agricultural products to Saudi
Arabia after having encountered an uncompromising attitude
among Saudi officials on a recent trip. END NOTE.)

--------------
ISRAEL, THE FENCE, AND THE ICJ
--------------


5. (S) Fayez complained about a statement by Israeli PM
Ariel Sharon on January 19 before the Knesset saying that
Jordan will "lose a lot" for its support of Palestinian legal
action against the separation barrier in the International
Court of Justice (ICJ). Fayez said that "the wall" affects
core Jordanian national interests, and Jordan must act on
those interests, especially when some in Sharon's ruling
Likud party continue to say that Jordan is Palestine. He
said that the GOJ, working through GID Chief Saad Kheir, had
been sending positive messages about the relationship, but
also noting that Jordan now has a vocal Parliament of its own
to deal with. Fayez said the security relationship with
Israel remains close, but "they have to make some concessions
on political issues."


6. (C) The Ambassador pressed Fayez to think carefully
about the core importance of the Jordan-Israel relationship
and to deal positively with all of its elements. Jordan, he
suggested, needed to remain agile and flexible. For example,
a GOJ decision to delay all high-level contacts with Israel
until after the scheduled January 28 visit of FonMin Silvan
Shalom to Amman had unintended consequences. It probably
delayed the extension of the agreement on 8 percent Israeli
content (which will roll back to 11.7 percent) in goods
exported to the U.S. from Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZs).
Without high level contact to finalize this agreement,
Jordanian QIZ factories could lose future contracts, leading
to layoffs of workers, and a fall in the volume of Jordanian
exports. Fayez took the general point, saying that he had
reaffirmed to all parliamentary political blocs last fall his
government's strategic commitment to the relationship with
Israel. However, with increased pressure from the Muslim
Brotherhood, "I cannot say that Sharon is nice and wants
peace." He promised to talk to Deputy Prime Minister and
Trade Minister Mohammed Halaiqa to try to solve the QIZ
issue.

--------------
REBUILDING IRAQ, IRAQI ASSETS
--------------


7. (C) The Ambassador noted that the U.S. is sensitive to
Iraqi views about their future and constantly assessing the
best course of action to give sovereignty back to the Iraqis
and to support Iraqi efforts to build an open and pluralistic
society and government. We are trying to reach out more to
Sunni tribes. Fayez said these were good steps, and
reaffirmed Jordan's strong commitment to do what it can to
rebuild Iraq, including police and military training. (see
ref b for Fayez's comments on Muslim Brotherhood criticism of
the police training program). The Ambassador thanked Fayez
for the decision to permit Royal Jordanian to fly to Baghdad
again. Fayez said he had asked RJ to limit the number of
Jordanians on any one flight, hoping to avoid a large number
of Jordanian casualties and a public outcry should there be
an "accident."


8. (C) The Ambassador thanked Fayez for Jordan's recent
transfers of Iraqi assets into the Development Fund for Iraq
(DFI). The PM supported the transfer of assets to the DFI
and Rafidain Bank's cooperation with the Iraqi technical
team. (We understand a bank representative participated in a
meeting earlier in the day of the technical committee chaired
by the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank.) The
conversation quickly turned to the absence of a USG-CPA team
that could address Jordanian concerns. With such a team,
Fayez asserted, the GOJ could finish adjudicating Jordanian
claims on frozen assets and transfer the remaining frozen
assets to the DFI "within a month."

--------------
PM TO ANNOUNCE PRICE INCREASES
--------------


9. (C) At the end of the meeting, Fayez noted that he would
go before Parliament that afternoon and announce price
increases on certain commodities (septel). He said that he
would also have a strong answer to the IAF or other
oppositionists who challenged Jordan's training of Iraqi
personnel or Jordan's relations with Israel.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


10. (C) In discussing Jordan's relations with the Gulf,
Fayez seemed to be relying on his personal and family
connection to prominent royal family members, continually
referring back to his and his father's close personal
relations with Saudi and Kuwaiti princes (his father was
married into the al-Saud family). As we have previously
mentioned, we believe that dispatch of a team empowered to
address Jordan's concerns about frozen Iraqi assets and the
trade ledger would speed resolution of these issues, as well
as transfer to the DFI of the remaining Iraqi assets frozen
in Jordan.


11. (U) CPA Baghdad minimize considered.

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