MOROCCO, THE QUDS COMMITTEE, AND THE AQSA MOSQUE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RABAT 000375

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2017
TAGS: KISL PREL MO
SUBJECT: MOROCCO, THE QUDS COMMITTEE, AND THE AQSA MOSQUE
DISPUTE

Classified by Polcouns Craig Karp, for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d).



1. (C) Summary: King Mohammed VI has recently become more
visibly active as Chairman of the OIC's Al-Quds (Jerusalem)
Committee. In letters to President Bush, P-5 heads of state,
the UN SYG, and the EU, he protested Israeli excavations on
the disputed Temple Mount. The King also publicly suggested
that the Quds Committee could undertake responsibility for
the restoration of the crumbling Maghrebi Gate at the Aqsa
complex. This proposal appears aimed at assuaging Muslim
sensitivities while satisfying the Israelis' stated practical
concerns. The King has often seemed ambivalent about using
his father's valued perch as chairman of the Quds Committee,
which groups 16 OIC member states into a body charged with
coordinating pan-Islamic policy and assistance to Jerusalem.
The King's recent efforts are likely motivated by the
perceived need to outflank Islamists at home. End summary.


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Flurry of Correspondence
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2. (C) In the past two weeks, King Mohammed VI, in his
capacity as chairman of the Al-Quds Committee (one of five
standing committees of the Organization of Islamic
Conference),has written to President Bush and the heads of
state of the U.K., France, Russia, Germany, China, and UN SYG
Ban-ki Moon. In the past week, letters were sent to the
President and External Affairs Commissioner of the European
Commission, as well as the Speaker of the European
Parliament. All of the letters have expressed concern about
the Israeli excavations near the Aqsa Mosque. The letters
follow a February 6 communique issued in the King's name
condemning the excavations and calling on Israel to respect
international law and the sanctity of the site.

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A Potential Compromise Formula?
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3. (SBU) Maghreb Arabe Presse, the state news agency,
reported on February 12 King Mohammed's proposal that the
Bayt Al-Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif, the Quds Committee's finance
arm, underwrite restoration of the reportedly crumbling
Maghrebi Gate on the Temple Mount. This proposal may have
been a trial ballon and has not been further fleshed out to
date.


4. (C) Comment: We are not in a position to judge the
viability of the Moroccan offer, but we recall that an
analogous and generally satisfactory formula was found for
external Arab funding and management of major maintainance of
the Dome of the Rock in the early 1990s. At face value, the
King's proposal seems aimed at reconciling the Israelis'
stated practical concerns about the Maghrabi Gate's
structural integrity with the international Muslim
community's sensitivities about altering the site. We would
not be surprised if the Moroccans had made use of their
various channels with the Israelis to consult on the proposal
in advance. End comment.

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Mohammed VI and the Al-Quds Committee
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5. (C) Since assuming the throne, King Mohammed VI has
exercised only erratically his prerogatives as Chairman of
the Quds Committee. He inherited the role from his father,
Hassan II, who energetically presided over the committee from
its creation at an OIC Ministerial in Jeddah in 1975, until
his death in 1999. Long-term observers recall Mohammed VI's
enthusiasm in the initial meetings he presided over as chair.



6. (C) This enthusiasm waned markedly after the emergence of
the "Aqsa Intifada" in late 2000 and the concomitant decline
of the Arab-Israeli peace process. Mohammed VI declined an
invitation to participate in the June 2003 "Red Sea Summit"
with President Bush, President Mubarak, the King of Bahrain,
and (then) Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. When the King
appointed Abdelkebir Mdaghri secretary of the Bayt Al-Mal, he
instructed him to focus on technical and development issues,
rather than political ones, and to make the fund more

RABAT 00000375 002 OF 002


accountable. Observers speculate that had Hassan II been
alive during the past five years, he would have used more
actively the Quds Committee chairmanship as a "bully pulpit"
from which to project himself as a relevant Islamic leader,
as he did through the 1970s and 1980s, even as he kept open
channels to the Israeli leadership.

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An Evolving Calculation?
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7. (C) Comment: King Mohammed VI's recent activities as Quds
Committee Chair suggest that his own calculations may be
changing. Apparently reluctant to engage in the "no-win"
Arab-Israeli dispute, the King has instead focused
principally on internal issues and on Western Sahara. The
recent round of international Muslim anger over the Israeli
works near the Aqsa mosque appears to have forced the King
into action, mainly to shore up his credentials at home as a
Muslim leader and defender of Islamic causes, and, perhaps
most importantly, to outflank domestic Islamists, who have
been maintaining a steady drumbeat of outrage in public fora
about events in the Israel-Palestine arena. End comment.


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Riley