GUIDANCE FOR ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS FIRST

C O N F I D E N T I A L STATE 004482

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/07/2018
TAGS: UN KISL SP ODIP SCUL
SUBJECT: GUIDANCE FOR ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS FIRST
ANNUAL FORUM IN MADRID, JANUARY 15-16

REF: A. STATE 129134

B. EMAIL REINEMEYER-HIGGINS

C. 01/10/08

Classified By: Assistant Secretary Silverberg, for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

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SUMMARY
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1. (U) The First Alliance of Civilizations (AOC) Annual
Forum will be held in Madrid, January 15-16. According to
organizers, this event will be action-driven and will provide
participants with a unique international platform to develop
joint initiatives and forge partnerships in the area of
intercultural and interreligious engagement. In addition to
high-level debates about emerging trends in relations between
diverse cultures and religions, the Forum will feature
announcements of initiatives and project-specific working
sessions. The meeting is expected to identify next steps in
program development as first described in the AOC
Implementation Plan released in May 2007. The U.S. hopes
that this meeting will provide information about the
direction in which the AOC is heading, allowing the
Department to assess USG involvement with the AOC.


2. (C) The U.S. will be represented by Embassy Madrid. Post
may draw from the language in para 5 and the background in
paras 8-10 during the conference. Department requests that
Post notify the Department immediately in the event that this
conference takes on a dominant anti-U.S. or anti-Israel tone.
All outcome documents should be cleared with Department
before an offer of U.S. support is extended.

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REPRESENTATION AND CONTACT
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3. (SBU) The Ambassador has been designated as the U.S.
representative and will attend the opening ceremony. Post
may use its discretion to determine the level of Embassy
representation, if any, at other specific Forum
events/sessions. The Agenda for the Annual Forum can be
found on the AOC website: http://www.unaoc.org.


4. (SBU) Post should follow the guidelines in reftel/email
on contact with foreign officials at conferences.

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OBJECTIVES
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5. (U) While Madrid-based USG officials will attend the
conference mostly in an observer capacity, there may be
opportunities to raise issues of importance to the USG.
Embassy officials attending these sessions should, as
appropriate, underscore the following points:

-- Note appreciation for the efforts of Spain and Turkey,
the AOC's sponsors, to consider ways to improve understanding
between moderate, civilizing forces within majority Islamic
and Western societies. We agree that there is a need to
strengthen cooperation against extremism, as we advance the
President's agenda of supporting those who strive for
freedom, democracy, and opportunity.

-- Note examples of our work in this field, including:

a) Introducing American Muslims to Muslim communities in
other regions. For example the Citizen Dialogue program is a
U.S. Department of State exchange program that brings
American Muslims to Europe, to reach out and share their
experiences and exchange views;

b) Empowering Muslim advocates of peace and coexistence, by
connecting like-minded Muslims with others who are familiar
with what civil society is doing about day-to-day issues, and
how to build the link between the individual and the larger
society;

-- Underscore need to ensure that the AOC is not
misinterpreted as supporting the assumption that there is a
conflict between Muslims and the West. Millions of Muslims
are part of the West, consider themselves Western and will
continue to be Western. Additionally, urge the AOC to reject
the premise that all things Islamic come from the Middle East
and North Africa region.

-- Emphasize that the U.S. does not want to see the conflict
of the politicized High Level Group report reflected in the
AOC's operations/programs. Note that the High Level Group
report turned a blind eye to Islamic extremism and
consistently suggested that Islamic-Western tensions are the
fault of the West and Israel.

-- Highlight that the United States is a strong supporter of
peace in the Middle East. However, the situation in the
region is complex and multifaceted, with a number of issues
contributing to a lack of peace. The United States
encourages all parties involved to create an environment that
will permit progress toward two democratic states, Israel and
Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. As the
President made clear during his recent trip to the region, we
will continue to work closely toward that end with Prime
Minister Olmert, President Abbas, moderate regional leaders,
and our partners in the Quartet.

-- If raised: The United States vigorously opposes efforts
to exclude Israel from membership or participation in the
United Nations. We believe it is inappropriate to inject
political issues into the work of the United Nations,
numerous specialized and technical agencies.

-- Note that we hope that the AOC will become an energetic
and creative organization within the UN system that we can
fully embrace. However, the U.S. needs to know more about
how the AOC will administer/oversee/manage programs before we
can affiliate the USG with the AOC.

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REPORTING DEADLINE AND POINT OF CONTACT
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6. (U) Post should report by cable on atmospherics and
specific outcomes by January 26. Please info USUN.


7. (C) While we do not expect this conference to devolve
into an anti-Israel event, Post should immediately contact
Anneliese Reinemeyer in IO/UNP (202 647-0046 or in the GAL)
if the conference takes on a significantly anti-U.S. or
anti-Israel tone (i.e., repeated comments denying Israel's
right to exist, Holocaust denial, or overt anti-Semitic
remarks).

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BACKGROUND
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8. (C) Spain and Turkey developed the Alliance of
Civilizations initiative in the wake of the 2003 Madrid
bombings, the rioting over the Dutch Mohamed cartoons, and in
response to the perception of a growing divide between the
West and Islam. The secretariat of the AOC sees the AOC as
having the potential to educate the media and prevent media
from being used as a tool to fuel similar misunderstandings
in the future. (Note: in other venues, this type of media
programming has been used by opponents of media freedom to
disguise censorship and media intimidation in the language of
religious tolerance. End note). The AOC hopes to become a
clearing house for ideas and catalyst for partnerships
between government agencies, international organizations and
civil society bodies working in areas of intercultural and
interreligious engagement. The AOC is a new and unique UN
body, and the U.S. is still evaluating its effectiveness,
efficiency, and compatibility of its objectives with ours.


9. (C) While we hope that the AOC will become an
organization the U.S. can fully embrace, we have concerns
that the AOC may be overtaken by anti-Israel/U.S. elements.
This concern was heightened with the release of the High
Level Group Report in December 2006. According to the report
"politics, not religion, is at the heart of growing
Muslim-West divide," and it says that the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict is the central driver in global tensions. The U.S.
fundamentally rejects the High Level Group report's premise.
The report strongly criticizes U.S. involvement in Iraq and
Afghanistan, and its main conclusion blames Israel for things
beyond its control, namely being a symbolic rallying point
for extremists. Additionally, the U.S. objects to the
politicization of the non-political UN bodies like the
Alliance of Civilizations and to the proposal that foreign
policy - specifically the resolution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict - should be outsourced to groups
like the Alliance of Civilizations. Finally, the U.S. does
not agree that there is an inherent Muslim-West divide,
noting that Muslims are a part of the West and that Muslim
issues are not limited to the Middle East and North Africa.
We hope that these biases are limited to the High Level Group
and will not taint the AOC's work, but until we are sure, the
U.S. has taken a wait and see attitude toward the AOC.


10. (C) In a letter to the Embassy of Spain on February 14,
2006, Secretary of State Rice noted that we expect to support
an AOC initiative in areas such as:

-- Furthering understanding between cultures;
-- Promoting understanding of different cultures in schools;
-- Developing links among universities, individual scholars,
media, and civil society groups interested in promoting
intercultural understanding;
-- Enhancing the ability to reach out to youth and
marginalized groups using the internet and other means; and
-- Developing regional conferences and workshops to promote
interactions between experts from diverse backgrounds and
culture.

The letter also says that we look forward to "implementation
of the work plan so that we can identify specific projects,"
which the U.S. could support. We fully intend to fulfill our
commitment to the Spanish, but we would like to first learn
more about the AOC's terms of reference and potential biases
to allow us to meet the commitment in a way that minimizes
the chance of our engagement subsequently becoming an
embarrassment.
RICE