JORDANIAN AMBASSADOR PROMOTES ARAB LEAGUE

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 002632 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/25/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV KPAL KWBG JO IS SUBJECT: JORDANIAN AMBASSADOR PROMOTES ARAB LEAGUE INITIATIVE IN ISRAEL Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Luis G. Moreno, reason 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Jordanian Ambassador Ali Al-Ayed told the Ambassador November 19 that in response to the growing expression of interest by some Israeli leaders -- including President Peres and Defense Minister Barak -- in the 2002 Beirut Arab Summit peace initiative, he has undertaken to publicize the initiative by translating it into Hebrew and posting it on the Jordanian Embassy's website. Al-Ayed also said the text of the Arab peace initiative would shortly appear in Hebrew as an advertisement in the Israeli press. ¶2. (U) The November 20 edition of Ha'aretz newspaper included a full-page advertisement in Hebrew headlined "The Arab Peace Initiative" and including the full text of the Beirut summit declaration. The advertisement also describes the initiative briefly in Arabic at the bottom of the page, features the seals of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Council of the Arab League, and is framed by almost all the flags of the OIC, but notably not Iran. The ad was also carried in several other Hebrew-language papers, and an English version appeared in the November 21 Jerusalem Post. ¶3. (C) The advertisement in Ha'aretz says in small print at the bottom of the page that it was "presented by the PLO Negotiations Department." There are some differences in the Hebrew text of the advertisement and the version printed on the Embassy of Jordan website. Jordanian Political officer Esam al-Bdour told PolOff on November 24 that the Embassy of Jordan was not directly involved in placing the advertisement, but was aware of it in advance. He also noted that the original advertisement was to include all the flags of the OIC, as well as a statement that the peace initiative was accepted by the Arab League in Beirut in 2002 and the OIC in Tehran in 2003. In the final ad, six OIC flags were not included (Iran, Oman, Yemen, Nigeria, Uganda, and Uzbekistan),and the reference to the Tehran OIC approval was dropped. Al-Bdour did not know who made those changes. ********************************************* ******************** 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. ********************************************* ******************** MORENO