GOJ MOVES TO RETURN AMBASSADOR TO TEL AVIV

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 000103

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/05/2015
TAGS: PREL KPAL IS JO
SUBJECT: GOJ MOVES TO RETURN AMBASSADOR TO TEL AVIV

REF: AMMAN 00044

Classified By: CDA David Hale for Reasons 1.4 (b),(d)


1. (C) Summary. The King has instructed his government to
return an Ambassador to Tel Aviv, and the Israeli Ambassador
here - usually a glass half empty man - is modestly
optimistic that a way can be found to save the Jordanian
government's "face" with a modest release of Jordanian
prisoners, now that Jordan has dropped its insistence that
four men convicted of pre-treaty terrorist murders be
included. The arrangements may not be made in time for a
visit by Silvan Shalom, penciled in for January 12 - the
timing of which Israeli diplomats say privately is driven by
Shalom's vanity. End summary.


2. (C) Royal Court Minister Samir Rifai told CDA on January
4 that King Abdullah, after his December trip to Washington,
directed that Jordan's ambassador to Tel Aviv be returned as
soon as practicable after the January 9 Palestinian
elections, and certainly within the month of January. The
onus was on the government to figure out how to get out of
what Rifai readily described as "the box Jordan had put
itself" in by linking the return to impossible demands
related to the release of four Jordanian prisoners held by
Israel for pre-peace treaty terrorist murders. As reported
reftel, Foreign Minister al-Mulki has been searching for a
face saving-way to do so, and dropped the demand related to
the four.


3. (C) Israeli Ambassador Yacov Handelsman confirmed to CDA
on January 5 that in line with press reports, Israel was
working with the GOJ to prepare for a visit by Foreign
Minister Shalom to Amman next week. Handelsman said that the
GOI was "definitely prepared to do something" on the release
of some other Jordanian prisoners now that the GOJ had shown
some flexibility. Handelsman noted, however, that legal,
political and procedural obstacles could prevent movement on
the prisoner issue in time for Shalom's proposed visit to
Jordan, which the Israeli DCM (protect) characterized as
driven more by Shalom's concern that DPM Olmert's visit to
Amman last week upstaged him in his self-perceived role as
the manager of Jordan-Israel relations. A Jordanian MFA
spokesman told the press January 3 that al-Mulki had informed
Shalom that "the Israeli government must take an initiative
that would facilitate the visit and guarantee its success by
releasing Jordanian prisoners."
HALE