GOK SKEPTICAL ABOUT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 003843

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/09/2014
TAGS: KWBG EAID IS KU
SUBJECT: GOK SKEPTICAL ABOUT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO THE
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY (TIMING IS EVERYTHING)

REF: SECSTATE 236229

Classified By: Ambassador LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Minutes after Suha Arafat made a spectacle of herself
and the Palestinian leadership, Ambassador delivered reftel
request for increased financial assistance for the
Palestinian Authority to Minister of Foreign Affairs Shaykh
Dr. Mohammed Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah. Deputy Secretary
Armitage raised the issue with Prime Minister Shaykh Sabah
the evening before (7 November) (septel.) The Ambassador
asked that the GOK help support the PA in this crucial
period, explaining that the U.S. approach is to support the
people we believe in within the PA. In response to the
Ambassador's explanation that any assistance would be
controlled by Finance Minister Fayyad, or could be routed
through the World Bank, Dr. Mohammed said that the GOK had
"heard good things about Fayyad," but he had not met him. He
also added that the GOK "trusts Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas)."
Overall, Dr. Mohammed was non-committal about any additional
assistance to the PA at this time, and focused on Suha
Arafat's apparent ability to trump the Palestinian leadership.


2. (C) Dr. Mohammed echoed the Prime Minister's earlier
skepticism of the PA's ability to properly control its
finances (at best.) Dr. Mohammed illustrated his, and the
Prime Minister's, frustration with Suha Arafat's influence
over the PA by giving his take on the reported cancellation
of Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie (Abu Ala'a) and PLO
Secretary General Mahmoud Abbas' planned visit to see Arafat

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in Paris. "The two most powerful individuals in the PA
wanted to travel to Paris and Suha made them cancel," he
said. If the GOK were to provide assistance, Dr. Mohammed
asked, "what would lead us to believe that Fayyad would say
no if Suha calls and tells him to send her the money?" He
added that it was his belief that "Suha calls the shots," and
that, in a sense, "Arafat still is ruling through Suha." Dr.
Mohammed also discussed a 7 November Al-Arabiya program which
raised a number of pointed questions about the PA's finances,
and he expressed hope that the PA's finances would become
more transparent over time.


3. (C) Comment: The Kuwaitis have been and will continue to
be generous to the Palestinians, but they are likely to wait
and see how the leadership shakes out. ConGen Jerusalem will
know best whether a visit to Kuwait by Abbas and/or Fayyad
would be helpful, but our take is that it would not hurt at a
point after the furor over the Arafat family fortune subsides.
LeBaron