JORDANIAN ASSISTANCE TO PALESTINIANS

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 003901 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/04/2016 TAGS: EAID KPAL PREL JO SUBJECT: JORDANIAN ASSISTANCE TO PALESTINIANS REF: STATE 86455 Classified By: AMBASSADOR DAVID HALE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B AND (D) ¶1. (C) Ambassador delivered reftel demarche May 30 to Foreign Minister Khatib. Khatib welcomed the proposed creation of a temporary international mechanism to provide direct assistance to the Palestinian people, and stated that international aid was sorely needed to prevent a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories. He agreed that the Hamas-run Palestinian Authority bore primary responsibility for deteriorating conditions in the West Bank and Gaza, and stressed that Jordan was cooperating with Israeli authorities to ensure that Jordanian medical and food aid was not routed through any PA-controlled institution. ¶2. (C) During a meeting the previous week, Muhib Nimrat of the Foreign Minister's private office told poloff that four shipments of food and medical supplies for the Palestinian people had been sent over the past two months through the Jordan Hashemite Charitable Organization (JHCO). NOTE: JHCO President Abdul Salam Abbadi told local press on May 15 that the fourth convoy consisted of 25 trucks carrying roughly 400 tons of food and humanitarian supplies. END NOTE. Nimrat said that Jordanian officials were in regular contact with the office of Palestinian President Abbas to ensure that all JHCO assistance was delivered to organizations controlled by Fatah and/or Abbas and distributed in such a manner so as to not bolster Hamas in any way. ¶3. (C) Firas Khoury (please protect),Second Secretary at the Jordanian Consulate in Gaza City, told refcord May 21 that the first two JHCO aid convoys to the Palestinian territories were delivered before Hamas assumed control of the PA. The third convoy, delivered on or about May 1, was handed over to the Palestinian Relief Committee (PRC),an NGO affiliated with Abbas' office. While the GOJ was confident that the shipment's medical supplies went directly to Gaza's largest hospital, it was concerned that some of the food aid may have found its way into the hands of Hamas-affiliated charities. To prevent this possibility from arising again, Jordan insisted that the PRC deliver all JHCO aid in subsequent shipments to the "Program for Relief in Gaza," a Fatah-affiliated network of Gaza-based NGOs organized by two ex-PA ministers approximately two months ago. Khoury added that he has received calls from Indian and Turkish officials interested in also using the Program for Relief in Gaza to deliver bilateral humanitarian assistance. HALE