ISRAELI AND JORDANIAN VIEWS ON DETERIORATING

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 002043 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/03/2018 TAGS: PREL KWBG KPAL KISL JO IS SUBJECT: ISRAELI AND JORDANIAN VIEWS ON DETERIORATING RELATIONS REF: A. AMMAN 2483 ¶B. AMMAN 2453 ¶C. JERUSALEM 1616 ¶D. TEL AVIV 1869 ¶E. TEL AVIV 1834 ¶F. TEL AVIV 1535 Classified By: DCM Luis Moreno for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: PolOff met with Jordanian PolOff Asem Ababneh (please protect) September 2 to discuss the rising tensions between Jordan and Israel. Ababneh complained that Israel is taking Jordan for granted and is no longer acting in good faith on a range of issues, including the peace process and Jerusalem. He said King Abdallah's August 28 interview with L'Express and FM Al-Bashir's August 21 convocation of P-5 Ambassadors over the Mughrabi Gate issue (ref. B) were intended as wake-up calls to Israel. "We are tired of being taken for granted by Israel." In a separate meeting with PolCouns, Israeli MFA DDG for the Middle East Yacov Hadas said he was aware of Jordan's frustrations and sense of being ignored, but stressed that Israel also had complaints about Jordanian behavior. He said the Israelis were particularly irked by Jordan's confiscation of Jewish religious articles from Israeli travelers, as well as several recent comments by senior officials publicly accusing Israel of desecrating the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount. End summary. Jordanian Embassy: They're Taking us for Granted -------------- --- ¶2. (C) Ababneh said that FM Bashir's decision to convoke P-5 Ambassadors over the Mughrabi Gate (ref. B) was taken after years of mounting frustration over the issue. According to Ababneh, Jordan has been asking since 2004, when the original ramp collapsed, for GOI permission to finance and execute a new access ramp for the Mughrabi Gate. Jordan views the ramp as an integral part of the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount itself, he said, and thus subject to Jordan's rights under Article 9 of the 1994 peace treaty. He stressed that every Jordanian request to the Israeli government to allow Jordan to initiate the project was accompanied by an offer to allow GOI experts to participate in the process. He said Israel either rejected or ignored every Jordanian approach on the issue and yet failed to provide any suggestions of its own. Ababneh said Jordan was aware of but unable to accept the GOI position that the access ramp was not subject to the 1994 treaty because it fell outside the mount's outer walls. The �00A;access ramp belongs to the Haram, he said, much like the front steps of a house belong to that house. ¶3. (C) Asked about the new GOI plans for the site, which reportedly take a number of Jordanian concerns into account, Ababneh agreed that the revised Israeli plans were better than past iterations, but stressed that the issue was political, not technical, and that no GOI-led effort would ever be acceptable to Jordan. He said the Jordanians would be happy to let the GOI participate in a Jordanian-led project, but could not acquiesce to Israel having the lead. He added that even the decision to participate in the UNESCO process was difficult for Jordan, and was taken only after a long and heated debate over the relative merits of ceding Jordan's "prerogative" over the site to an outside party, even UNESCO. In the end, he said, Jordan chose the UNESCO track out of necessity, to break the impasse with Israel and to ensure the preservation of the status quo, which Jordan fears Israel is trying to uproot. At the same time, Jordan expects to have the lead in implementing any UNESCO-developed plan. Ababneh said Jordan thought it was making progress after Israel agreed to participate in the UNESCO track. However, the Jerusalem District Planning Committee's recent decision to approve the revised Israeli plans, rather than deferring to UNESCO, left Jordan feeling betrayed. He said Jordan suspects Israel is using the UNESCO track as cover to fend off international criticism, all the while proceeding with its own unilateral plans. ¶4. (C) According to Ababneh, the Mughrabi Gate is only one of several Jerusalem issues driving a wedge between Israel and Jordan. Israel's ongoing excavations and the increasing pace of settlement activity in and around the Old City are driving Jordanian suspicions that Israel is rushing to strengthen its hold on Jerusalem ahead of any talks with the Palestinians over the city's status. He said Israel's traditional cooperation with Jordan on Jerusalem issues was also declining, and that Jordanian attempts at coordination were being met by increasingly hostile Israeli responses. "We coordinated very well in the past," he said, "but now it is very difficult." By way of examples, he cited the increasing difficulty of getting the Israeli police and Shin Bet to allow any renovation work on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount, and the increasing harassment during the past year of Jordanian officials and Muslim worshipers seeking to enter the site for work or prayer. Ababneh said that even the Jordanian Ambassador and other diplomats, including himself, were harassed every time they tried to enter the site. The police "yell at us and tell us the Haram is Israeli property and we have no right to be there," he said. Asked whether they approached the MFA for help with such issues, Ababneh said yes, but that it had done little good since MFA officials tell them to talk to the police. He added that the Ambassador had tried on numerous occasions to meet with Minister of Internal Security Avi Dichter to discuss these problems, but that Dichter's office had refused every request. ¶5. (C) Beyond the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount and Mughrabi Gate issues, Jordan is also frustrated with Israel over the lack of progress in the peace process. According to Ababneh, Israel's failure to halt settlement expansion or make serious efforts to ease restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank had left Jordan questioning Israel's commitment to peace with the Palestinians. He cited King Abdallah's August 28 interview with L'Express as an important development, since the King's decision to publicly air Jordan's mounting frustrations is a major new development, and should send a signal to Israel that Jordan is not going to continue watching quietly as its interests get trampled by Israel's refusal to move forward with the Palestinians. MFA: We Have Complaints Too -------------- ¶6. (C) Pol Couns discussed Israel's view of relations with Jordan with MFA Deputy Director General for the Middle East Yacov Hadas September 4. Regarding the Mughrabi Gate ramp, Hadas complained that Jordan was inflaming the situation, with Jordanian officials making public comments that Israel was desecrating the Haram Al-Sharif. Hadas said that the Israelis had assured the Jordanians that Jordan could supervise the ramp construction and confirm that there were no secret tunnels to undermine the holy mosques. Hadas insisted that the revised ramp construction plans were in accordance with UNESCO guidelines for protecting world heritage sites and incorporated a number of features of the alternative plan proposed by Jordan. In any event, Hadas said that the approval process for the ramp was not yet complete and no construction could take place due to an appeal by an Arab member of Knesset. Hadas insisted, however, that Israel would not agree to allow Jordan to build the ramp. Because the ramp will not touch the walls of the Haram, Hadas said the Jordanian claim that it would violate Article 9 of the peace treaty was baseless. ¶7. (C) Hadas noted a number of other irritants in the relationship with Jordan, including Jordanian authorities barring entry to religious Jews wanting to visit Aaron's tomb and Jordanian confiscations of Jewish prayer articles from Israeli tourists, who in turn complain to members of the Knesset. In addition, Jordanian authorities were not acting to block anti-normalization forces from preparing to publish lists of names of Jordanians who do business or maintain contacts with Israelis. Hadas warned that if the lists were published, Jewish organizations around the world would likely challenge Jordan's WTO membership application. ¶8. (C) Regarding King Abdallah's recent interview with the French magazine L'Express, Hadas said he thought there was some truth to Abdallah's complaint that Israeli leaders lack a long-run strategy for achieving peace and stability, but he said Abdallah was in no position to make such a complaint given the incompetence and greed of the Jordanian governing elite. Hadas added that Israel did not know any longer what the King wants due to a lack of serious dialogue. (Note: We understand that the GOI's dialogue with the Palace in Amman is conducted either by PM Olmert directly or through Mossad chief Dagan, with the MFA deliberately cut out by Olmert.) Hadas did praise the ongoing cooperation of Jordan's security services, including diligent protection of Israeli tourists, but said it was an inadequate basis for a real bilateral relationship. ********************************************* ******************** Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv You can also access this site through the State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. ********************************************* ******************** CUNNINGHAM