NEW JORDANIAN AMBASSADORS TO ISRAEL AND LEBANON

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 004768 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/27/2016 TAGS: PREL PINR IS JO LE SUBJECT: NEW JORDANIAN AMBASSADORS TO ISRAEL AND LEBANON Classified By: CDA Daniel Rubinstein for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) GOJ'S AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL -------------- ¶1. (U) Jordan's new Ambassador to Israel is career diplomat Ali Al-Ayed, most recently the chief political advisor to Prime Minister Bakhit. A charge d,affaires has run the Jordanian Embassy in Tel Aviv since August 2005. Al-Ayed is to arrive in Israel June 27. ¶2. (U) PM Bakhit (himself, a former Jordanian ambassador to Israel) promoted Al-Ayed to the political advisor job in February 2006; he had served Bakhit since December 2005 as press coordinator. Al-Ayed served as DCM at the Israeli Embassy in Tel Aviv from late 2004 to November 2005, and for most of that time was Charge d,affaires Before that, Al-Ayed was director of then-Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher's private office; when Muasher became Deputy Prime Minister, Al-Ayed followed him to a posting as Muasher's senior aide. Al-Ayed also served at Jordan's Embassy in Washington, D.C. ¶3. (C) Al-Ayed (a Muslim East Banker) and his British wife have one son and one daughter, both of whom are teenagers. He is personally liberal and cosmopolitan, though he recently admitted to polcouns that he has advocated within the GOJ for a "go-slow" approach to political liberalization in Jordan, out of fear that quick democratization would destabilize the country. Al-Ayed is frank, engaging, accessible to American government officials, very positively inclined to the U.S., and speaks English fluently. GOJ'S AMBASSADOR TO LEBANON -------------- ¶4. (U) The GOJ has recently announced that career diplomat Ziad Khazer al-Majali will serve as its new Ambassador to Lebanon. A Muslim East Banker, Majali was born in Amman in 1952 and earned a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Jordan, as well as a postgraduate diploma in political science in Cairo. Majali has been posted at Jordanian diplomatic missions in Belgrade, Cairo and Washington, D.C. He was head of Jordan's Representative Office in Gaza from 1995-99, and served as the Jordanian Ambassador to South Africa from 2000 until 2005, when he returned to Amman to head the Foreign Ministry's Human Rights Directorate. ¶5. (C) Majali is married with four children - two daughters and two sons. He speaks English fluently. Post has found Majali to be personable, well informed and talkative. He recalls his time in Washington fondly, and has been both candid and helpful in discussing human rights issues with emboffs. Majali very recently participated in two PA-sponsored digital video conferences at post, one on the UN Human Rights Council and the other on trafficking in persons. While somewhat defensive of the GOJ's record on both subjects, he was nevertheless open-minded and willing to listen to critical views. Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/ Rubinstein