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