JEDDAH JOURNAL 11: JEDDAH BUSINESSMAN HONORS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 JEDDAH 000329

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

RIYADH, PLEASE PASS TO DHAHRAN; DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP;
PARIS FOR ZEYA; LONDON FOR TSOU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/29/2016
TAGS: ELAB KISL KWMN PREL PTER SA SCUL
SUBJECT: JEDDAH JOURNAL 11: JEDDAH BUSINESSMAN HONORS
CONTROVERSIAL CLERIC, MECCA CULTURAL CLUB ADMITS WOMEN,
WOMEN'S JOB FAIR, BRIDGING THE GENDER DIVIDE, IRAQI AND
YEMENI BORDER ISSUES, A NEW APPROACH TO CHALLENGED CHILDREN

REF: A. JEDDAH 106

B. JEDDAH 300

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Classified By: Consul General Tatiana Gfoeller for reasons
1.4(b) and (d)

SAUDI ISLAMIST, OUT OF PRISON, MODERATES HIS MESSAGE


1. (U) Saudi Islamist Salman al-Ouda was the guest of honor
at the April 24 "Ithnayniyya" (Monday lecture series) of
Jeddah construction magnate Abdelmaksoud Khoja. The
Ithnayniyya was attended by a number of mutawwa'in (members
of the religious police, conspicuous with their long beards,
short thobes, and igal-less ghutras),who appeared distinctly
out of place among the two hundred or so businessmen, civil
servants, and intellectuals who came to Khoja's rococo palace
to hear the controversial cleric speak. (Note: Both men and
women attend the Ithnayniyyas, though they sit in separate
areas. End note.) Any extremists in the audience were surely
disappointed. Al-Ouda, who was identified in the 1993 World
Trade Center bombing trial as Osama bin Laden's "spiritual
advisor" and who reportedly issued a 2001 fatwa justifying
and advocating suicide bombings, is a recent convert to
moderate Islam. The speakers at the Ithnayniyya praised
al-Ouda mainly for the success of his website, Islam Today,
which was said to have attracted more than 230 million
visitors.


2. (U) Some say al-Ouda, who was imprisoned in the 1990s for
criticizing the Saudi regime, has become a mouthpiece for
that regime. In his speech, al-Ouda said the concept of "the
Other" is meaningless and urged the audience to be open to
all traditions, including the West. He noted that he himself
has made use of Western innovations, first by using cassette
tapes (tapes of his sermons were reportedly found in one of
Osama bin Laden's Afghanistan residences) and now the
internet to spread his message. The usefulness of the West is
not limited to information technology, though. Al-Ouda
criticized the closed-minded--"those who will believe
something because one man wrote it"--and praised those who
read widely and come to their own conclusions.

MECCA CULTURAL CLUB ADMITS WOMEN TO THE HALL, THOUGH NOT THE
SAME HALL AS MEN


3. (U) The Jeddah-based newspaper Okaz reported on April 11
that the Mecca Cultural Club has decided to permit women to
participate in its events. Twenty women will be able to
attend the meetings of the 33-year-old club. Moreover, the
club is constructing a new hall on its premises so that up to
150 women will eventually be able to participate in events,
via closed circuit television.

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION HOLDS FIRST WOMEN'S
EMPLOYMENT FAIR


4. (U) The women's campus of Jeddah's College of Business
Administration (CBA) held its first-ever employment fair on
April 17. More than 25 companies, both local and
international, set up booths to recruit female CBA students.
The day's events featured workshops on such topics as writing
a successful resume and preparing for a job interview, and a
presentation on "The Dynamics of Change," by Nashwa Taher,
who made history by being among the first two women to win a
seat on the board of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and
Industry in November 2005 elections.

SOMETIMES MEN NEED MAHRAMS, TOO!


5. (U) PAO met a leading Saudi journalist for dinner at a
popular Jeddah restaurant on April 23. The male journalist
arrived early only to discover he could not enter the
restaurant without a female companion because the entire
restaurant was reserved for "families." (Note: Many
restaurants go "families-only" on Fridays, leaving Saudi
shabab (as well as single male Consulate officers) with no
place to hang out. End note.) He phoned PAO and joked that he
needed her to be his mahram (guardian, a term normally
reserved for the male family member required to accompany a
Saudi woman in public).


6. (U) Upon PAO's arrival at the restaurant, she and the
journalist were seated without any problem. The journalist
said it is becoming increasingly common for women--sometimes

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even foreign maids--to accompany men to popular
"families-only" restaurants for a fee. Moreover, the
journalist noted that only through women such as PAO, who had
arranged a speaking engagement for him at a women's college,
could he pursue interviews and other professional contacts
with Saudi women. Gender segregation in Saudi Arabia seems to
hinder networking and professional development for both men
and women. This is an area where female FSOs are unique;
official American women are able to bridge the gender divide
and introduce Saudi men and women on a professional level.

NO SAUDI SEPARATION WALL, JUST THERMAL SENSORS


7. (U) Saudi authorities on April 11 denied a report that had
appeared the previous day on the Arabic-language website
al-Sahat stating that the Saudi government is considering
building a "Security Separation Wall" on its Iraqi border.
The al-Sahat report went on to state that British
construction firms are very interested in the 900-kilometer
project. The Saudis flatly denied that they are considering
constructing a separation wall, and stated that they are
merely investigating ways to improve border security, such as
by adding thermal sensors along the border.

FARASAN ISLANDS: VACATION PARADISE, SMUGGLING WAYSTATION


8. (U) As Post has previously reported, Abdulrahman Abdulhag,
the Governor of the Farasan Islands, an archipelago in the
southern Red Sea twenty-five miles offshore of the mainland
port of Jizan, has ambitious plans to modernize the islands'
infrastructure and promote tourism (reftel A). On a recent
diving trip to the reefs of the Farasan Bank--noted by no
less than Jacques Cousteau for their underwater
life--ConGenOff came to the unavoidable conclusion that
achievement of the Governor's first goal must necessarily
precede pursuit of the second. ConGenOff was nearly stranded
on the desert island of Farasan, and the journey of two
colleagues stalled in Jizan, as a merely moderate wind
rendered the sound between Jizan and Farasan impassable to
the motorized feluccas which ply the waters. All commerce
with the mainland ceased. Asked if this was a common
occurrence, the manager of the Farasan Hotel said simply,
"You should come back in July. The seas are very calm then."


9. (C) The car ferry remained docked as well, though accounts
differed as to why. Saudi coast guard officials assured
ConGenOff that the ferry could not make the voyage from
Farasan to Jizan because of the windy conditions, while a
hotel employee informed ConGenOff that one of the officials
had told him they had held the ferry at port because they had
caught passengers attempting to smuggle guns and qat (a plant
whose leaves, when chewed, are said to produce a mild
euphoric or stimulating effect) from Yemen into Saudi Arabia.
Certainly Farasan is not immune from contraband trade. On the
main commercial street of Farasan, ConGenOff saw an Indian
worker purchasing a bottle of whiskey in plain sight. He
noticed ConGenOff and laughed. "It's okay," he said, "I'm
Hindu."

CHALLENGED CHILDREN OF JEDDAH JOYFUL AT THE HORSE RANCH


10. (U) On April 19, 2006, the CG and PAO visited a private
horse ranch northeast of Jeddah. After touring the stables
with the facilitator, a senior Western woman, several Saudi
families arrived with mentally and physically challenged
children to enjoy and hour of supervised horse riding and
unique, fun activities like playing catch on horseback.
These children, at times with hands raised in the air, were
obviously thrilled to be parading on horseback with their
fathers at their side to hold them on the saddle.


11. (C) The ranch has historically been run by volunteers
who, for one reason or another, have not been able to come to
the weekly riding sessions for the past month. The Western
facilitator told the children's mothers that riding lessons
would have to be shut down for a month until the volunteers
returned unless, of course, the children's fathers could come
help. At first, the mothers proclaimed that their husbands
would never come, but slowly over the last few weeks, the
ranch has seen more and more fathers coming to volunteer.
The CG noted that these men dressed in their traditional
thobes and gutras seemed awkward at first, but became
surprisingly enthusiastic when they realized that they could
do it.

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12. (C) One mother told the CG that the hour-long session on
the horse was the longest amount of time that her husband had
ever spent with their disabled child. The experience was
about more than the developmental benefits that the child
received from riding the horse; it was also about his rare
connection with his distant father. While the Western woman
anticipates the return of her volunteers in the coming weeks,
she wants to keep the fathers involved in their children's
activities at the ranch.


13. (C) The Western facilitator, fearful of being shut down,
requested that no official press or attention be raised
regarding the CG's visit. The CG offered to help the ranch by
providing positive publicity, similar to the publicity
afforded the Hope Center (reftel B),another non-profit
organization with which the ranch is affiliated. The
facilitator said "no" and explained that she has been working
on creating such a facility for twelve years and only last
year was able to pull it all together. She has faced several
obstacles in her endeavor to provide a "center" for helping
disabled children grow emotionally, physically, and mentally.
First, there is the utter Saudi indifference towards
disabled persons and the general feeling that children with
disabilities are worthless and doomed to a lifetime of
hardship. Second, as a society, Saudis do not understand or
recognize the fact that with scientific advances, progress
can be made towards helping disabled children grow and
develop into functioning adults. Finally, the Western
facilitator explained, it would be impossible to separate the
boys and girls during the horseback riding sessions because
the children are so developmentally challenged. If the
mutawwa ever learned that she was conducting these unisex
sessions, even for boys and girls as young as three, the
ranch would be shut down.
Gfoeller