UNSC MINISTERIAL ON SETTLEMENTS: JORDAN WILL TRY

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 002754 SIPDIS SENSITIVE FOR NEA/ELA - SACHAR AND IO/UNP - MORRISON E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/25/2018 TAGS: KWBG KPAL UNSC JO SUBJECT: UNSC MINISTERIAL ON SETTLEMENTS: JORDAN WILL TRY TO BE HELPFUL REF: SECSTATE 102414 Classified By: Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft for reasons 1.4(b) and (d ) ¶1. (C) Ambassador delivered reftel demarche September 25 to Royal Court Chief Bassem Awadallah. Awadallah said that he is in daily contact with FM Salah Al-Bashir, currently in New York for UNGA, and would relay the points. Awadallah said that Jordan will try to be helpful to the extent it can. ¶2. (SBU) Separately, DCM delivered points to Ambassador Mohammad Al-Khalidi, MFA Secretary General. Khalidi, noting that he had been dealing with this issue in his previous position as Director of the MFA's Arab and Middle East Affairs Bureau, countered that continuing Israeli settlement construction damages the peace process just as much as any meeting on the subject might. He asserted, however, that the Arab League was merely seeking an open discussion, not confrontation, and said that he would also relay the points to the FM. Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman Beecroft