ARAB LEAGUE FOREIGN MINISTERS DISCUSS IRAQ,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 000582

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV ARABL KPAL EG IS IZ
SUBJECT: ARAB LEAGUE FOREIGN MINISTERS DISCUSS IRAQ,
PALESTINE AND OTHER REGIONAL HOT-SPOTS


Classified by Minister Counselor for Economic and Political
Affairs, William R. Stewart, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

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Summary
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1. (SBU) In anticipation of an upcoming annual Arab Summit,
scheduled for late March in Saudi Arabia, foreign ministers
of the Arab League (AL) met in Cairo on March 3-4 to prepare
the summit agenda and discuss a variety of pressing regional
issues. Among those issues were the Arab-Israeli conflict,
Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, Somalia, and nuclear
proliferation. Despite speculation that the 2002 Arab peace
initiative might be amended to make it more palatable for
Israel, it appears that any such decision will be left for
Arab leaders to decide in the run-up to the March 28-29
Summit. Nevertheless, AL Secretary General Moussa
emphatically rejected any amendments to the Beirut 2002
initiative during his opening remarks. End summary.

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Iraq Issues
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2. (C) Foreign ministers from the Arab League met in Cairo
on March 4, in preparation for a March 28-29 Arab summit in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari
attended for Iraq, seeking AL endorsement of a March 10
sub-ministerial meeting of Iraq's neighbors and others in
Baghdad (ref C). The ministers welcomed the March 10
meeting, where a decision is expected to emerge regarding a
vetted follow-on regional ministerial on Iraq. Egyptian MFA
Assistant Minister for Arab Affairs Hani Khallaf and MFA
Spokesman Alaa Hadidi are expected to attend the March 10
meeting on behalf of Egypt. According to MFA Cabinet staff
member Nazih El Negeiry, none of the Arab ministers in
attendance objected to Egypt's offer to host a follow-on
ministerial. In addition to the neighbors meeting, SYG
Moussa and ministers repeated the AL's previous calls for a
timetable for MNF-I withdrawal, formalized within a new UNSC
resolution. Media reports that the AL appointed Ambassador
Tareq Abdel-Salam to replace the previous League envoy in
Baghdad, Moroccan diplomat Mokhtar Lamani, appear incorrect.
AL Press Secretary Alaa Rushdy told poloff on March 5 that
Abdel Salam, the current Deputy of the AL's Baghdad mission,
will remain in place while the League seeks a permanent
replacement for Lamani.

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Arab-Israel Peace Initiative
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3. (C) Despite press speculation, and public remarks by
Israeli Foreign Minister Livni on the subject, there are no
indications that ministers agreed to any fundamental
alterations of the 2002 Beirut Arab peace initiative toward
Israel. In fact, SYG Moussa in his opening speech said "the
Arab peace initiative expresses an Arab consensus and will
not be re-drafted as demanded by some foreign powers.
Maneouvering and watering down (the initiative) will be a
strategic mistake, and perhaps would lead to new bloodshed."
Asked about the issue, Jordanian DCM Waleed Obeidat, shared
his view that the issue would be handled by Arab leaders in
the run-up to the March 28-29 summit, as the regional peace
process was in flux, and "too important a topic to be left to
foreign ministers."

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Palestinian Issues
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4. (SBU) In addition to the Beirut Initiative issue,
ministers agreed to a number of predictable resolutions on
Palestine, including calls for support for a national unity
government, budgetary support for the Palestinian Authority,
support for protection of the Al Aqsa Mosque and other
Islamic sites in Jerusalem, and various condemnations of
Israeli policies in the occupied territories.

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Lebanon, Hariri Tribunal
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5. (C) After a lengthy back-and-forth between the Syrian and
Lebanese delegations, brokered by the League Secretariat
Chief of Staff, the two sides agreed to resolution language
on establishment of an international tribunal to investigate
the assassination of former PM Hariri and other Lebanese
political figures. According to Egyptian MFA cabinet staffer
Nazih El Negeiry, the two sides ironed out language on the
court, agreeing to a "national dialogue" (i.e., "tawafuq") to

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determine the court's establishment -- something slightly
less than a national consensus, as proposed by Syria. The
Syrians, he said, wanted Arab ministers to endorse language
that would essentially enshrine a veto over the court's
creation by March 8 opposition forces -- "a non-starter for
Egypt and others." Negeiry was pleased that the ministers
formally endorsed creation of the tribunal, but recognized
that the diplomatic wrangling had no real impact on the tense
situation on the ground in Lebanon.

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Sudan/Somalia
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6. (SBU) Ministers agreed to resolutions presented by the
Governments of Sudan and Somalia, respectively, with little
substantive contribution to peace-keeping operations in
either country. There was no mention of Algeria's reversal
of its pledge to assist with air-lift for African Union
troops to Somalia, nor any substantive financial
contributions announced for either Darfur or the African
Union's peace-keeping operations. Privately, Arab League
staff have told us that they are willing to look at early
April dates for hosting the next meeting of the International
Contact Group on Somalia at League headquarters in Cairo.
The AL ministers did not formally address this subject on
March 4.

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Nuke-Free Middle East
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7. (SBU) Arab ministers also agreed to an Egyptian draft
resolution dealing with the NPT and a nuclear weapons free
Middle East. The AL resolution, according to League
Spokesman Alaa Rushdy, questions a recent UK invitation
letter dealing with the 2010 NPT Revcon which leaves out any
mention of a 1995 Revcon resolution dealing with a nuclear
weapons-free Middle East. The AL resolution demands the UK
re-send its letter including the Middle East zone language,
and insists upon implementation of the 1995 resolution.
Ministers also repeated previous AL calls for increased Arab
attention toward, and access to, technology and training in
the fields of peaceful uses of nuclear energy. (Note: This
issue was first introduced by Sudan at the 2006 March summit
in Khartoum. End note)

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Libya Backs Out of Summit
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8. (SBU) Providing perhaps the only drama to a gathering
that one Arab diplomat contact called the "most boring
meeting he had ever attended," Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel
Rahman Shalgam asserted that Libyan leader Qadhafi would not
attend the late March summit in Riyadh. In his
closed-session remarks to ministers, Shalgam reportedly
questioned the AL's parliamentary procedures by which Riyadh
last year in Khartoum declined to host this year's summit,
but later recanted its decision. To reporters after the
session, he also questioned the League's growing hostility
toward Iran, instead of toward Israel.
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