SCENESETTER FOR MUSLIM OUTREACH COORDINATOR FARAH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 MADRID 000382

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

EUR/FO FOR FARAH PANDITH
EUR/PGI FOR IVAN WEINSTEIN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/02/2017
TAGS: KISL PGOV SCUL OVIP OPRC SP
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR MUSLIM OUTREACH COORDINATOR FARAH
PANDITH

REF: 2006 MADRID 2982

MADRID 00000382 001.2 OF 005


Classified By: DCM Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Your visit to Madrid is a welcome
opportunity to broaden our knowledge of and relations with
the Islamic community in Spain. In your meetings with
community leaders, private citizens, and government
officials, we believe you will take away an impression that
the large and growing Spanish Islamic community is quite
distinct from those in other European nations, as is the
Spanish approach to managing this intersection of cultures
and religions. The legacy of Al-Andalus permeates both
Spanish and Arab appreciation for Iberia's multicultural
heritage in almost completely Roman Catholic Spain. However,
recent years of immigration from North Africa and more
recently from sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the March 11,
2004 terrorist attacks, have spurred some xenophobia and
prejudice against Islamic immigrants. The Spanish economic
and social system does not promote upward mobility and
cultural assimilation to the same extent as the United
States, and polling data provide a mixed picture of Muslims'
opinions of their lot in Spain. Immigration is one of the
most important themes in Spanish politics today, although
Islamic immigrants are merely a part of the debate, not the
sole focus. The trial of 29 individuals for the March 11,
2004 Madrid train bombings will be ongoing during your visit.
END SUMMARY.

//LARGE MUSLIM COMMUNITY, VAGUE STRUCTURE//


2. (C) Unscientific estimates place the Muslim population in
Spain at somewhere between 700,000 and 1.5 million. The
Islamic Junta, a national Muslim association headed
principally by Spanish converts to Islam, claims that the
population is approaching one million (or 2.5 percent of the
general population). However, the Muslim population in Spain
is unquestionably growing. The largest group of Muslims in
Spain are Moroccan immigrants, comprising perhaps as much as
half of the total Muslim population. Populations are present
from every Arab nation, as well as from Southern and Central
Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The Ministry of Justice's
"Registry of Religious Entities" contains approximately 384
Muslim organizations nationwide.


3. (C) While Spain boasts a large Muslim community, it lacks
a coherent organizational structure and hierarchy. Several
organizations, including the Islamic Junta, are vying for
preeminence as the national representatives of the Islamic
community. Two organizations - the Spanish Federation of
Islamic Religious Entities (FEERI) and the Union of Islamic
Communities in Spain (UCIDE) together form the Spanish
Islamic Commission (CIE),which the government has worked
with as a legitimate representative of Islam in Spain. The
CIE is affiliated with the Muslim Council on Cooperation in
Europe (CMCE). However, the leadership of both FEERI and CIE
is not representative of the largely North African/Moroccan
Muslim population in Spain. Perhaps the most representative
group is the Association of Moroccan Workers and Immigrants
in Spain (ATIME),although it is not a religious
organization. The largest Islamic community center in
Madrid, known colloquially as the "M-30 mosque" is funded by
Saudi Arabia and is decorated throughout with pictures of
Mecca provided by the Bin Laden Group.

//HISTORIC LEGACY OF AL-ANDALUS//


4. (U) Spain is not new to the clash between west and east.
From approximately 800 C.E. to 1200 C.E., the Islamic
Caliphate of Al-Andalus dominated much of the Iberian
peninsula. The kingdom of Al-Andalus has a historical
reputation in both the Islamic and the Christian world for
having been a groundbreaking example of religious tolerance
and cultural interaction - including a substantial Sephardic
Jewish community. The Muslim and Jewish presence in Spain
held on until 1492, when Spain united under Queen Isabel and
King Fernando, who set in motion the persecution and
expulsion non-Catholic populations from Spain. In the 21st
century, Spanish appreciation of its multicultural heritage
has grown considerably, notably under the current government,
which has supported the opening of "Casa Sefarad/Israel" and
"Casa Arabe", two international/cultural centers dedicated to
these two once prominent communities in Spain.


5. (C) Indeed, Spain has almost mythologized its

MADRID 00000382 002.2 OF 005


multicultural past, even though it took place under the
Muslim domination of the country and has not existed in Spain
since 1492. It is trying to use this myth positively,
however, to promote Spain as a crossroads of cultures and to
foster tolerance. Jewish organizations have sought to
increase public awareness of and financial support for Jewish
historical landmarks throughout Spain's oldest cities. Many
of Spain's most impressive buildings and tourist sites were
originally constructed by Muslims in Al-Andalus, including
the Alhambra in Granada and the Great Mosque in Cordoba. The
Cordoba Mosque (still known as "la mezquita", the Spanish
word for Mosque) was converted into a cathedral soon after
the reign of Isabel and Fernando (the "Catholic Kings") and
is now the subject of controversy over Muslim desire to pray
there once more.

//POLLING DATA ON MUSLIM ATTITUDES//


6. (C) During 2006 at least three major polls were conducted
on Islam in Spain, and they revealed an apparent gap in
mutual understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims. The
first, a poll of 1500 Muslims by Metroscopia for the Ministry
of Interior, found that 31 percent of Muslims felt
well-integrated in Spain, 49 percent felt fairly
well-integrated, and 19 percent were not well-integrated.
Eighty-three percent of respondents said they had encountered
no obstacles to practicing their religion, while 13 percent
had difficulty. Fifty-seven percent of respondents believed
Spanish society was tolerant of their religion while 37
percent said they faced some prejudice.


7. (C) A poll conducted by Christian magazine 21RS in
October 2006 found that two-thirds of Muslims had problems
integrating in Spain and 70 percent were having difficulties
reconciling their faith with life in a western democracy.


8. (C) However, the Pew Global Attitudes Project conducted a
poll of Spaniards during the summer of 2006 which found that
only 29 percent of respondents held a good opinion of Islam.
In response to a separate question, 83 percent of respondents
associated "Muslim" with "fanaticism." 58 percent of
respondents felt that being a devout Muslim was incompatible
with modern society, and 41 percent of respondents believed
that at least some of the country's Muslims were supporting
Islamic extremism. Eighty percent of respondents felt that
Islam did not respect women. (COMMENT: This last result may
reflect a degree of Spanish hypocrisy, as Spain has a very
serious gender violence problem which is completely unrelated
to Islam. END COMMENT.)

//IMMIGRATION//


9. (C) Immigration to Spain is a new phenomenon, and its
fast growth is one of Spain,s most challenging social
problems. In Spain, roughly one person in ten is an
immigrant at present; the estimated legal immigrant
population in 2006 was 3.9 million, with perhaps one to two
million more clandestine immigrants. Moroccans are the
largest immigrant group in Spain, though they are followed
closely by populations from Ecuador, Romania, the UK,
Bulgaria, Bolivia and the United Kingdom. Polling has shown
that immigration has been the most or the second most
important issue for Spaniards over the past two years.
Spaniards perceive immigrants to be a risk for either taking
jobs from Spaniards or taking social services without working
and sticking Spanish taxpayers with the bill. The practice
of different religions, not just among Arabs but also
Sub-Saharan African migrants, only serves exacerbate this
xenophobia. However, polling data and embassy experience do
not show a direct relationship between Islamophobia and
immigration. A February 2007 poll by Eurobarometer found
that one in three Spaniards viewed immigration as the biggest
challenge facing Spain, while only five percent were
concerned with the need to integrate foreign populations.

//INTEGRATION EFFORTS//


10. (C) It would be a stretch to say that the Spanish
government is succeeding where other European governments
have failed in their integration efforts. Nevertheless, the
need for Muslim integration is a fairly recent phenomenon in
Spain, and to the government's credit it has recognized the
problem and has begun to take steps to address it. For
example, in 2006 the Islamic Commission joined with the
government in producing a standard textbook on Islam, the

MADRID 00000382 003.2 OF 005


first of its kind in Spain, to be used in religion classes on
Islam nationwide. The government funds religion teachers who
teach Islam in Spanish public schools, although the Islamic
community has complained that the number of students seeking
classes in Islam far outstrips the number of teachers
available. More controversially, the government has allowed
Morocco to send teachers to Spain to provide classes in Islam
for Moroccan immigrant students. The government has also
worked to increase access for Muslim prisoners to imams.
Muslim leaders complain that they face bureaucratic hurdles
from the government in creating places of worship or gaining
permits to construct new mosques; however, government
officials have suggested that the community's problems are
more due to lack of funds than government obstruction.

//EXTERNAL INFLUENCE: MOSQUES AND COMMUNITY CENTERS//


11. (C) Foreign nations have stepped up to fill funding gaps
for the Islamic community in Spain. The M-30 mosque is
funded by the Saudis and Sheiks from several Arabian nations
have provided or are providing support for Islamic
institutions and/or new mosques in Spain. However, the
Moroccan population has made do largely by creating many
neighborhood "garage mosques" and community centers of
necessity wherever they have found space. Community leaders
in many of Spain's larger cities, including Barcelona,
Malaga, Sevilla, and Cordoba, are working diligently to
secure land and approval to create larger and more public
places of worship. They have generally faced bureaucratic
hurdles, funding shortfalls, and not-in-my-backyard
resentment from Spaniards. However, these disputes have for
the most part played out in government institutions and the
media. Incidents of overtly racist or xenophobic actions
against the Islamic population have been uncommon. In 2006
vandals defaced a mosque/community center in Cordoba with
graffiti including swastikas.


12. (C) The Muslim community in Spain is not organized
politically and lacks many identifiable leaders. Muslim
organizations tend to be small and populated largely by
Spanish converts to the religion. There is little Muslim
media to speak of, outside of small papers and "Web Islam", a
website run by the Islamic Junta.

//ISLAMIST EXTREMISM - MARCH 11 TRIAL//


13. (C) The trial of the 29 suspects in the March 11 Madrid
train bombings will coincide with your visit. The trial has
captured the attention of the Spanish media outlets, which
alternately have criticized the government's handling of the
case or propagated conspiracy theories about the true authors
of the attacks. The trial could run into the summer, and it
is not entirely certain how many suspects will be convicted
and for how long. The total potential jail sentence for the
suspects totals in the hundreds of thousands of years.


14. (C) Spain has become increasingly aware of and concerned
by the growth of Islamist extremism in North Africa. Ceuta
and Melilla, Spain's two enclaves on the North African coast,
have a significant Muslim population and have come under
considerable scrutiny amid reports that Moroccan and Algerian
extremists are infiltrating and operating in Spain. Spanish
authorities continue to make fairly regular arrests of
persons suspected of participating in or supporting terrorist
plots. Embassy will provide a more thorough brief upon your
arrival in Madrid.

//ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS PROJECT//


15. (C) Along with Turkey, the Zapatero government proposed
the creation of an international forum, the "Alliance of
Civilizations" to serve as a venue for cultural, social and
political interchange among western and eastern governments.
This proposal has received mild praise from Arab and some
Asian governments (and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela)
but a lukewarm reception in Europe and the U.S., in part due
to its cross-cutting with the G-8's BMENA initiative. Former
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan declined Zapatero's offer to
head the Alliance, and it remains unclear what the future of
this initiative will be. Secretary Rice sent a letter to FM
Moratinos last year expressing support for the Alliance and
we have pledged to provide 100,000 dollars for a specific
project once specific projects are identified. We agreed to
this effort after Moratinos gave one million dollars to
BMENA.

MADRID 00000382 004.2 OF 005



//EMBASSY EFFORTS//


16. (C) In 2005, Embassy Madrid launched its Muslim outreach
program, and we have continued it through 2006 and 2007.
Highlights have included a visit by Abdul al Kepsi of the
National Endowment for Democracy and later by Imam Bashir
Arafat as part of the Citizen Diplomat program, Ambassadorial
visits to the M-30 Mosque, a widely praised Iftar hosted by
the Ambassador, dinners with Arab/Muslim Ambassadors and
promotion of Muslim IV program participants. Our current
strategy, outlined in ref A, continues these efforts under
the executive direction of the DCM and the coordination of
the Public Affairs and Political Section. We have also
created an inter-agency Mission Working Group to review our
outreach efforts. The Mission,s strategy prioritizes the
inclusion of prominent Muslim representatives in a wider
variety of Embassy functions and events, not just those
focused on Muslim outreach. Mission efforts are currently
focused on developing contacts in Madrid and other regions,
building institutional memory and gathering relevant
information from government sources and Islamic
organizations. We are exploring opportunities to send
officers into schools with Muslim populations to both work
with students in English and give talks on the U.S.
integration model. This effort will also be extended to the
Embassy's youth webpage. Public Diplomacy will organize
quarterly dialogue events to bring together diverse members
of the Spanish community. Opportunities for Political
reporting on Muslim attitudes in Spain dovetail with the
publication of both the International Religious Freedoms
report and the Human Rights Report. The Political section
reports extensively on Islamist extremism in Spain,
immigration, counter-terrorism and other Muslim-outreach
related issues. Spain will also host a conference in Cordoba
on Islamophobia in the second half of 2007 as part of its
chairmanship of the OSCE, and we hope to have Department
participation at that conference.

//GENERAL BACKGROUND ON SPAIN//


17. (C) Spain's population is approximately 44 million. It
is the world's eighth largest economy and a major world
player in construction, fishing, manufacturing and tourism.
The Spanish monarchy was restored in the 1970's after the
death of dictator Francisco Franco, whose 40 year rule was
preceded by an extremely bloody civil war in the 1930's.
King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia are the heads of state,
while President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is the head of
government and of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE),
which swept into power in 2004 in the aftermath of the Madrid
train bombings. The main opposition party is the
conservative Popular Party (PP),whose current head is
Mariano Rajoy. However, the moral and spiritual compass for
the PP remains former President Jose Maria Aznar, who left
office in 2004. The PP is much closer to the influential
Catholic Church in Spain and has sternly criticized the PSOE
government for its "accommodation" of immigrants. The PSOE
has preached a line of tolerance and integration but has
stumbled somewhat in both implementation and underestimation
of the challenge of immigration. The next major political
event in Spain is the regional and municipal elections, which
will take place in May 2007. The nationwide general election
is scheduled for March 2008. The key battleground political
issues in Spain are terrorism (both Islamist and from
domestic terrorist group ETA),immigration, the
trans-Atlantic relationship, Spain's place in Europe, the
economy, and corruption.


18. (C) Bilateral relations with Spain were greatly strained
in 2004 when the Zapatero government hastily withdrew Spanish
forces from Iraq. However, over the past two and a half
years the relationship has recovered to normalcy, but not
warmth. Spain is a leading participant in UNIFIL and also
heads a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan. It
provides training for Iraqi security forces (in Spain),and
has contributed peacekeepers in Congo, Kosovo, and Haiti.
Spain hosts two vital U.S. military bases in Rota and Moron.
It is a leading contributor in international aid and
multilateral institutions and is a particularly strong
supporter of the UN.

--------------
Visit Embassy Madrid's Classified Website;
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/madrid/

MADRID 00000382 005.2 OF 005


--------------
AGUIRRE