MGLE01: HARIRI DEFENDS MEETING WITH PFLP-GC CHIEF

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIRUT 001029 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/SINGH/WERNER E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/03/2026 TAGS: PREL PTER KDEM LE SY KPAL SUBJECT: MGLE01: HARIRI DEFENDS MEETING WITH PFLP-GC CHIEF AHMAD JIBRIL Classified By: Jeffrey Feltman, Ambassador, per 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) On 4/2, MP Saad Hariri defended his meeting on 3/31 with Damascus-based PFLP-GC leader Ahmad Jibril. Responding to the Ambassador's objections, Hariri said that his meeting was connected directly to the ongoing national dialogue. Participants in the national dialogue asked Hariri, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Hizballah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to come up with ways to implement the decision to solve the issue of Palestinian arms outside the refugee camps in six months. Hariri insisted that he, like the others, met Jibril strictly in that context. Especially given last week's stormy political debates both in Beirut and in Khartoum, Hariri argued that it was important to have something to report to the national dialogue set to resume today (4/3),in order to lower tensions. Hariri said that the national dialogue participants can now focus on briefing each other about Jibril's visit and not dwell on last week's rhetorical fireworks, which threatened to derail the national dialogue altogether. ¶2. (C) Asked by the Ambassador whether he got anything specific from Jibril that would help mitigate the unappealing image of the Hariri-Jibril meeting, Hariri said that Jibril stated a willingness to have the Palestinians lay down their arms but only in exchange for tangible improvement of Palestinian lives in Lebanon, in terms of humanitarian conditions, job permits, etc. Hariri did not argue with the Ambassador's skepticism and said that he, too, did not know whether he could trust Jibril. But "we have to test him," Hariri said, arguing that he was committed to fostering improvement in the living and working conditions of Palestinians in Lebanon. Hariri noted that he would meet with Palestinian leaders in Lebanon to show his good faith in these matters and to demonstrate his awareness that Jibril cannot speak for all of them. ¶3. (C) The Ambassador expressed strong concern that Jibril used his Beirut trip to increase his prestige and influence at a time when it is in everyone's interest to promote Palestinian moderation. Jibril should be marginalized, not embraced. Particularly damaging, the Ambassador noted, was Jibril's public statements suggesting that he was shuttling messages between Damascus and Beirut, giving the impression that he was an accepted mediator between the Lebanese and Syrians. The Ambassador reminded Hariri that Detlev Mehlis mentioned the need for further exploration of whether the PFLP-GC and Jibril were linked to the murder of Saad's father Rafiq Hariri. Hariri said that he was aware of the problems associated with Jibril, but he repeated that the national dialogue asked him to follow up the issue of Palestinian arms. His meeting with Jibril, he insisted, focused exclusively on that issue. (Septel will cover other aspects of the Jibril trip to Beirut.) FELTMAN