MOROCCO ON MESSAGE TO THE ARAB LEAGUE AND REGIONAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 001169 SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/MAG E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/03/2015 TAGS: IO IS IZ LE PREL SY MO SUBJECT: MOROCCO ON MESSAGE TO THE ARAB LEAGUE AND REGIONAL SUPPORT FOR ADVANCING THE PEACE PROCESS REF: A. STATE 97599 ¶B. RABAT 817 ¶C. STATE 104272 Classified By: Pol/C Timothy Lenderking for reasons 1.4 (b),(d). ¶1. (C) Poloff met June 2 with MFA Director of Arab and Islamic Affairs Mohamed Azeroual to discuss ref(a) demarche regarding the opening of an Israeli liaison office in Rabat, the closure of the Central Boycott Office (CBO) in Damascus, and support for resolving the membership of Magen David Adom in the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement. Azeroual responded by describing how the GOM had pledged "total support" to the Palestinian Authority during Mahmoud Abbas's recent visit to Morocco on his return from meeting with President Bush in Washington. Azeroual said that Abbas had been very pleased with his visit to the U.S., and hoped that the promises made would "become concrete." As Azeroual said he and other Moroccan officials had told A/S Welch during the latter's April visit to Morocco, Abbas "needs a little time," to sort things out (ref b). His problems are not with Hamas, but rather with Fatah. If the elections were held tomorrow, according to Azeroual, the "hawks" would easily win. Sharon's government must understand this dynamic and do everything it can to help Abbas, said Azeroual. Along those lines, Azeroual said he understood that the date for a summit between Abbas and Sharon had been set for June 22. Morocco stood ready to do anything necessary to help create positive conditions for a dialogue, Azeroual said. ¶2. (C) Opening Trade or Representative Offices: Responding specifically to the potential reopening of the Israeli liaison office in Rabat, Azeroual said that the GOM continues to have contacts with the Israelis, but not necessarily in diplomatic channels. That said, Azeroual noted that advanced steps in the peace process would need to be taken to prepare the ground for the reopening of an office in Rabat. No dates could yet be fixed for such an event. ¶3. (C) Arab League Boycott: Azeroual asserted that there was "no real boycott," and in any case, the Moroccans have never really applied it (using Coca Cola's prevalence in Morocco as an example). Azeroual acknowledged that the CBO continues to meet under Syrian influence, but "is not effective" in stopping others from countering the boycott. For the Moroccans, Azeroual said he believed that the Arab League boycott and the U.S.-Moroccan Free Trade Agreement were incompatible, indicating his belief that the issue was moot for Morocco. ¶4. (C) Magen David Adom (MDA): According to Azeroual, the Arab League is not necessarily against the inclusion of MDA, but said that as long as there is no peace agreement it is premature to discuss this issue. Azeroual emphasized that this is not a categorical no, but rather conditioned on progress in the peace process. He also noted that he understood that the conference to be held in Switzerland had been postponed for the time being (ref c). RILEY