PALESTINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ZAHAR TO CAIRO, NO

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 002435

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/23/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV EFIN KPAL EG IS MEPN
SUBJECT: PALESTINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ZAHAR TO CAIRO, NO
FOREIGN MINISTER MEETING

Classified by DCM Stuart Jones for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) During an April 23 meeting with Senator Dodd (D-CT)
and the Ambassador, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul
Gheit reviewed GOE thinking on regional and bilateral topics
(septel),and acknowledged reports that he did not meet with
visiting Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al Zahar during
the latter's April 22 transit of Egypt. Aboul Gheit urged
the U.S. to focus on maintaining a viable peace process
between Israel and the Palestinians, in order to keep
"spoilers" (Iran) out of the Levant region. Egypt, he said,
hoped to facilitate talks between the Israelis and
Palestinians and would invite Israeli Prime Minister Olmert
and Palestinian President Abbas to Cairo soon ("maybe after a
few months") for talks. Without a viable peace process, he
said, Iran will seek to step in with money and ideology to
"sustain" the Palestinians and spread its influence.


2. (C) Further describing GOE views on Hamas, Aboul Gheit
told the Senator that Egypt was pressing Hamas to change its
stance toward the peace process and the international
community's specific conditions. Should such efforts fail,
leading Abu Mazen to call for new elections, Aboul Gheit
stated that Hamas would simply revert back to its violent,
spoiler role, and we would be back where we started. The
West must be patient, while continuing to aid the Palestinian
people, as the process of bringing Hamas around would take
several months, he said.


3. (C) According to media and Embassy contacts, Palestinian
Foreign Minister Al Zahar spent the night of April 25 in
Cairo, en route to Gaza from a regional tour of Persian Gulf
states. Zahar reportedly met briefly with Egyptian
Intelligence Chief Omar Soliman ("a courtesy call"),Arab
League Secretary General Amre Moussa, and with PLO figure
Faruk Qaddumi ("Abu Lutif"). Despite widely reported public
remarks by Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit suggesting he would
meet with Zahar on his second visit to Cairo in his new
capacity ("if he was in town"),no such meeting occurred,
despite Aboul Gheit's having been in Cairo. Explaining Aboul
Gheit's refusal to meet Zahar on an earlier stop in Cairo,
Ezzedine Shukry, Aboul Gheit's peace process advisor, told
poloff April 20 that the snub had been deliberate and
intended to show Hamas leaders that relations with Cairo
would not be "normal" absent movement toward peace with
Israel.


4. (U) Senator Dodd's party did not have the opportunity to
clear this message.
RICCIARDONE