Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07JAKARTA326
2007-02-07 10:49:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Jakarta
Cable title:  

MUSHARRAF AND YUDHOYONO DISCUSS MIDDLE EAST CRISES

Tags:  PREL PTER KISL KPAL XF ID 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 000326 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/07/2017
TAGS: PREL PTER KISL KPAL XF ID
SUBJECT: MUSHARRAF AND YUDHOYONO DISCUSS MIDDLE EAST CRISES

REF: A. ISLAMABAD 609


B. JAKARTA 253

JAKARTA 00000326 001.2 OF 003


Classified By: Ambassador B. Lynn Pascoe, Reasons 1.4(b,d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 000326

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/07/2017
TAGS: PREL PTER KISL KPAL XF ID
SUBJECT: MUSHARRAF AND YUDHOYONO DISCUSS MIDDLE EAST CRISES

REF: A. ISLAMABAD 609


B. JAKARTA 253

JAKARTA 00000326 001.2 OF 003


Classified By: Ambassador B. Lynn Pascoe, Reasons 1.4(b,d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Official Indonesian and Pakistani sources in
Jakarta provided a detailed readout of the discussion between
Pakistani President Musharraf and Indonesian President
Yudhoyono on January 31 in Jakarta, where Musharraf presented
a plan for a summit, to be held in Saudia Arabia in March,
which would issue a declaration setting a way forward on
Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon. Jordan, Egypt, Malaysia,
Turkey, Indonesia and Pakistan as well as Hamas and Fatah
would participate. Musharraf's initiative responds to the
growing rift between Sunnis and Shi'as in the Middle East and
Iraq and attempts to offer a "moderate voice." Yudhoyono
endorsed Musharraf's proposal and agreed to Indonesia's
participation, and proposed sponsoring a parallel meeting of
Sunni and Shi'a imams in Bogor, Indonesia which would issue a
fatwah. Musharraf is pitching his proposal to other capitals
on his tour of the Middle East and Southeast Asia. End
Summary.

INDONESIAN READOUT OF MUSHARRAF-YUDHOYONO MEETING
-------------- --------------


2. (C) Ambassador met with Dino Patti Djalal, National
Security Adviser to Indonesian President Yudhoyono, on
February 7 to discuss Yudhoyono's meeting with Pakistani
President Musharraf in Jakarta on January 31. Djalal related
the following.


3. (C) The main topic of discussion and the purpose of the
brief visit to Jakarta was Musharraf's proposal to mobilize
Muslim countries to take action in the Middle East to resolve
growing divisions in the Islamic community, most notably
between Sunnis and Shi'as (ref A). Musharraf believed the
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) was too weak and
Arab states were unable to resolve the problem alone, and
other Islamic countries, including Pakistan and Indonesia,
must assist to offer a "moderate voice" of direction.
Musharraf wanted to enlist the support of seven states in
particular (three Arab, four non-Arab): Saudi Arabia,

Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey and Pakistan.


4. (C) Musharraf envisioned a summit conference of the
leaders of these states which would issue a declaration
concerning Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon. The summit would be
held in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in early March and would be
attended by representatives of Hamas and Fatah. Syria and
Iran were deliberately omitted from the list of prospective
participants because were potential spoilers. The seven
would work actively with the United States, the European
Union and the other members of the Middle East Quartet and
would also try to engage Syria and Iran. (Note. Musharraf
is also visiting Tehran and Damascus, presumably to solicit
their cooperation. End note.)


5. (C) Djalal said that Musharraf wanted the summit
declaration to include the following elements:

-- creation of a Palestinian state by 2008 (the headline;
-- explicit endorsement of a two-state solution, i.e.
recognition of the reality of Israel by all participating
states;
-- direct dialogue between Israel and Syria, including on the
Golan Heights;

JAKARTA 00000326 002.2 OF 003


-- direct dialogue between the United States and Iran;
-- international participation in the reconstruction of
Palestine.

Musharraf hoped that the consensus represented by the
statement would lead Hamas to recognize Israel.


6. (C) Djalal said Yudhoyono told Musharraf that Indonesia
supported the proposal and wanted to participate. Yudhoyono
proposed that meetings occur at the foreign minister level
first to set the stage for the summit and agree to the text
of a declaration.


7. (C) Yudhoyono also told Musharraf, Djalal said, of
Indonesia's plans to hold a conference of Sunni and Shi'a
imams in Bogor (south of Jakarta) on February 14-15, hosted
by the chairman of the Indonesian Islamic organization
Nadlatul Ulama (NU). Upon hearing Musharraf's proposal,
Yudhoyono agreed to postpone the conference until March, to
synchronize it with the Mecca summit, and in view of the fact
that Qatar recently had tried unsuccessfully to orchestrate a
similar conference. The Bogor conference would issue a fatwa
as a counterpart to the declaration of state leaders in
Mecca. To reduce the possibility that the Bogor conference
might issue a radical statement, Yudhoyono proposed the
formation of a steering committee which would select the
imams to be invited to the conference.


8. (C) Djalal also related that, in view of the meeting Saudi
leaders had just held with leaders of Hamas and Fatah in
Saudia Arabia, Indonesia was shelving a plan of its own to
invite Hamas to Jakarta for discussions in a similar vein
(ref B).


9. (C) Ambassador observed that the second of the "three
principles" on Iraq that Yudhoyono had announced during
President Bush's visit to Indonesia in November 2006 involved
the recognition of the state of Israel, and inquired whether
Indonesia intended to take this step in the scenario
Musharraf was now proposing. Djalal affirmed Indonesia would
do this, as one of the states issuing the declaration.
"Indonesia will recognize Israel," he clarified, "as soon as
a state of Palestine exists." He added that he was not sure
about the other states involved.


10. (C) On the margins of Ambassador's meeting with Djalal,
one of Djalal's staffers told DCM that Musharraf had seemed
extremely edgy throughout the 90-minute meeting with
Yudhoyono. Part of this the staffer attributed to the
bombings in Islamabad during Musharraf's absence, but much of
it was due, he asserted, to the cool reception Musharraf had
received from Arab states. Egypt and Syria in particular had
raised a host of objections, essentially rejecting the
proposal.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY FROM PAKISTANI EMBASSY


11. (C) Poloffs also called on Shujjat Ali Rathore, the
Embassy of Pakistan's Political Counselor, on February 7.
Although Rathore said he had no specifics on the meeting
itself, he confirmed that President Musharraf's visit was
intended to help resolve the Palestinian crisis and bridge an
emerging Sunni-Shi'a divide in the Muslim world. Musharraf
believed it was time for Muslims to act in concert on these
issues. Musharraf was beginning with a broad agenda during
this initial round of consultations, which would be narrowed
down depending on other states' reactions.

JAKARTA 00000326 003.2 OF 003




12. (C) Rathore spoke at some length about the negative
impact Pakistan believed the Iraq war was having on the
Muslim world and its corrosive effect on Sunni-Shi'a
relations in particular. Musharraf was concerned about the
consequences of a U.S. departure from Iraq before a degree of
stability was established. If this happened, he warned, the
Middle East map would be redrawn. Rathore lamented the
increasing involvement of "state actors" in the Sunni-Shi'a
conflict, citing Saudi Arabia and Egypt as the primary
supporters of the Sunnis and Iran as the Shi'as' chief
patron. This had worsened, he contended, after Secretary
Rice's most recent visit to the Middle East, with the Saudis
and Egyptians now turning up the level of anti-Iran rhetoric.



13. (C) Rathore took issue with Pakistani media reports
criticizing Musharraf for undertaking this mission and
suggesting Pakistan lacked sufficient weight to tackle these
issues. Of all countries in the region, Pakistan would be
the most negatively affected if the Sunni-Shi'a conflict
worsened. Pakistan's security services were not strong
enough to keep sectarian violence from spinning out of
control, unlike the situation in countries like Syria.
Groups affiliated with Saudi Arabia and Iran were already
operating in Pakistan and could be "stoked up" at a moment's
notice. Pakistan would also be a direct casualty of any U.S.
military attack on Iran, given Pakistan's significant Shi'a
minority, especially along the border with Iran.


14. (C) Asked if Indonesia had credibility with Arab leaders,
Rathore asserted it did not. "Arabs are introverts; they
listen to themselves," he explained. "They are Arabs first,
and then Muslims." As part of a "coalition of the willing,"
however, as Musharraf was seeking to build, Indonesia could
help resolve these festering issues from within the Muslim
community.
PASCOE