SECRETARY'S ORAL MESSAGE AND THE UAE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 000917 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2015 TAGS: PREL EAID TC SUBJECT: SECRETARY'S ORAL MESSAGE AND THE UAE REF: A. STATE 32566 ¶B. 04 ABU DHABI 4218 Classified By: Ambassador Michele J. Sison. Reason 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Ambassador delivered the Secretary,s oral message to the Arab League to MFA Under Secretary Abdullah Rashid al Noaimi on February 27. Al Noaimi reported that UAE Foreign Minister Rashid Abdullah (his father) looked forward to seeing the Secretary in London on March 1 to discuss the issue of Palestinian restructuring. The UAEG had &high hopes8 and remains optimistic about the prospect for peace in Israel and Palestine. The UAE would do its best to support Abu Mazen, Al Noaimi said. ¶2. (C) Al Noaimi took exception to the February 26 &Washington Post8 characterization that only Saudi Arabia had fully met its pledges to assist the Palestinian Authority while &other wealthy states in the Persian Gulf region, such as Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain, gave nothing.8 He noted that the UAE,s understanding was that the London meeting &would not be a pledging conference.8 The UAE delegation &was likely8 in London to share figures on its assistance to Palestine, said Al Noaimi, although the files were &still being prepared.8 ¶3. (C) He noted the past two PA assistance tranches, totaling approximately USD 40 million already made by the UAEG in 2002 and 2003. Al Noaimi added that the UAE would like to see contributions from other Arab League members who had yet to make any such payments. In the meantime, he said, considerable UAE assistance was &going directly to the Palestinian people8 for basic humanitarian needs, including health clinics, housing, and school projects. In listening to reftel points, Al Noaimi declared that &100 percent8 of the UAE,s humanitarian assistance would go to &the people,8 whereas he wondered what percentage of the USG,s $350 million commitment would &be eaten up in overhead and contract costs.8 Ambassador asked Al Noaimi about the possibility of the UAE opening of a trade or other representative office in either Israel or the Palestinian territories as a sign of support for the peace process. Al Noaimi replied that this would &happen someday... when the time is right.8 ¶4. (C) Comment: The UAEG has provided generous humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians, primarily in the form of health, education and housing projects implemented by the UAE Red Crescent Society, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, and the Mohammed bin Rashid Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation. These three governmental or semi-governmental organizations provided over USD 210 million in assistance to the Palestinian people in 2003 (ref B). Although Al Noaimi acknowledged that Palestinian Finance Minister Fayyad had made a recent visit to Abu Dhabi, he provided no details of the outcome of those discussions. While the UAEG has been reluctant to finance the Palestinian Authority directly in the past because of concerns about corruption and lack of faith in Arafat,s leadership, the UAEG has a strong relationship with Abu Mazen and is committed to supporting him. End Comment. SISON