STRIDENT GOJ LANGUAGE WITH U.S. ON MUGHRABI GATE,

S E C R E T AMMAN 000669

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/IPA, AND NEA/FO
ALSO PASS TO NSC FOR SHAPIRO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/15/2029
TAGS: PREL UNESCO IS JO
SUBJECT: STRIDENT GOJ LANGUAGE WITH U.S. ON MUGHRABI GATE,
BUT IS ISRAEL HEARING IT?

REF: A. 08 AMMAN 3389

B. 08 AMMAN 2965

Classified By: Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: While Jordanian fears that Israel will
unilaterally rebuild the Mughrabi Gate ascent to the Temple
Mount/Haram Al-Sharif have cropped up periodically since the
original ramp was damaged by heavy rains in 2004, over the
past year the matter has been raised in increasingly strident
ways by ever more senior Jordanian officials with
progressively higher-level U.S. officials. Mughrabi Gate has
intruded on Special Envoy George Mitchell's discussions about
the peace process, Acting Assistant Secretary of State
Jeffrey Feltman's consultations with the GOJ over Syria
engagement, and has seen Ambassador and other members of the
P5 convoked by the Foreign Ministry. There is reason to
believe that Jordan may use less sharp language when
broaching the subject directly with Israeli officials. End
Summary.

Israel Seen Violating Precedent and Treaties
--------------


2. (C) GOJ officials repeatedly have told us that Jordan
will reject any Israeli design for a new ascent and
complained that Israel is not allowing Jordanian technical
experts unfettered access to the site to take measurements to
finalize their own design. Jordan considers the Mughrabi
Gate and its ramp access integral to Muslim Waqf land and
therefore part of Jordan's historical patrimony. They
believe the historical status quo has been officially
recognized by Israel in Article 9 of the 1994 Wadi Araba
peace treaty that says: "Each Party will provide freedom of
access to places of religious and historical significance.
In this regard, in accordance with the Washington
Declaration, Israel respects the present special role of the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in
Jerusalem." (Note: The Washington Declaration, the
non-belligerency agreement signed on July 25, 1994, used the
same language in calling on Israel to respect Jordan's
special role in protecting the Muslim shrines. End Note)

Hashemite Legitimacy Tied to Role As Custodian of Holy Sites
-------------- --------------


3. (S) King Abdullah, the last two Foreign Ministers,
Religious and Cultural Affairs Advisor Prince Ghazi, and
senior Royal Court figures all insist that His Majesty cannot
be seen to abdicate his custodial role over the Holy Sites.
This role is taken on behalf of the entire Muslim community,
and thus the King and his advisors fear regional and domestic
questions about his legitimacy were he to back down. In all
of the following, Jordanian language is quite blunt:

- The King told Senator Mitchell on February 28 that the
Hashemites had very clear and serious historical
responsibilities to protect and care for the holy places in
Jerusalem, which was reinforced in the 1994 Jordan-Israel
peace agreement. Israel had long recognized and respected
Jordan's role but was now trying to bypass it. If Israel
persisted, Jordan would fully defend its role and be vocal
while doing so. The King stressed that he could not and
would not back down from carrying out his obligations and
would be "more Catholic than the Pope" on the matter to fend
off extremists who hope Jordan would fail to protect the holy
places. If he did not, extremists would be able to accuse
the King of abdicating his role and argue for his ouster.
The King asserted that "We don't want Israel and the U.S. to
be surprised when it blows up in their faces."

- During Assistant Secretary Feltman's visit on March 5, the
King's Media Advisor Ayman Al-Safadi doubted a potentially
isolated right-wing Israeli government would be so desperate
for friends that it would avoid rupturing Jordan ties,
saying, "We simply cannot budge on this, and if we have a
confrontation on this it will spill over to other issues
where we could have a constructive role."

- In a February 21 conversation with a visiting Senate staff
member, Royal Court Director for International Affairs Jafar
Al-Hassan said Mughrabi Gate would put Jordan's relationship
with Israel "on the line," adding that Jordan would never
allow the Israelis to go ahead with their design. At any
moment, a rightist Israeli government could put armored
personnel vehicles on the ascent, Hassan said. "People will
blame Jordan. We will not let Israel put us on the line."


- Prince Ghazi - who in his role as Religious and Cultural
Affairs Advisor to the King is particularly engaged on the
Mughrabi Gate issue - has often proved quite emotional, at
one point warning Ambassador that "this is not only
destabilizing, it is delegitimizing."

GOJ Wants U.S. To Carry The Water With Israel
--------------


4. (S) Ambassador and visiting Washington officials
repeatedly have urged top-level GOJ interlocutors to seek a
bilateral solution with Israel and to make as clear to Israel
as to the U.S. the gravity of their concerns. Ambassador
passed to Israel's Ambassador in Amman the latest Jordanian
views, particularly as articulated by the King to Senator
Mitchell that "we will fully defend our rights and
responsibilities and will be vocal about it. We don't want
Israel and the U.S. to be surprised when it blows up in their
faces." On March 12 PolOff broached the subject with MFA
Policy Planner Omar Nahar who has been a GOJ pointman on the
issue, asking whether Jordan had been as sharp in its
language with Israel.


5. (C) According to Nahar, Jordan has made clear to Israel
that it seeks unfettered access the future site to take
precise measurements and that Jordan believes precedent and
treaty grant it the right to design, build, and pay for the
project. However, to his knowledge, the more blunt language
about consequences has been largely reserved for discussions
with U.S. officials. Nahar said he thought it inappropriate
and possibly counterproductive to "use that kind of language
with (Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi) Livni" - or Israeli
figures in general - "because where I come from, my school of
diplomacy is that you need to respect the other's
sensitivities, to see the limitations and what kind of
language to use." And he added that this was the advice he
conveyed to his superiors.


6. (C) By contrast, Nahar explained that Jordan is "more
comfortable... using that kind of language" with the U.S.,
"as a friend of Jordan who can have influence with Israel."
He left it up to the U.S. to choose how it represented the
gravity of Jordanian concerns to Israel. (Note: While it is
not fully apparent how plugged in Nahar remains on the
Mughrabi Gate issue - particularly as the Royal Court has
been weighing in with greater frequency with U.S. visitors -
he has generally proved cautious about speaking beyond his
knowledge brief in the past. Nahar served in Jordan's
Embassy in Tel Aviv during the 1990s. End Note.)

Comment: Context Matters
--------------


7. (S) Jordan sees its status as keeper of the Waqf as a key
deliverable in the peace treaty with Israel, particularly
after King Hussein abandoned any claim to the West Bank in

1988. Israel's perceived disregard for Jordanian equities on
Mughrabi Gate is seen here as disrespect for the Wadi Araba
treaty itself. While senior GOJ officials and the political
elite value the accord and maintain a strong, if quiet,
security and intelligence relationship, Mughrabi Gate has
been just one of several developments this past year that
have negatively impacted the Jordan-Israel relationship -
including a lack of visible progress on the Annapolis
process; a widespread view that Israel continues to assert
itself in Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories by
building the separation barrier, expanding settlements, and
restricting Palestinian movement; and the recent Gaza crisis
that roiled the Jordanian street. Moreover, the GOJ is
concerned that the Mughrabi Gate and other irritants to
relations with Israel will worsen when Binyamin Netanyahu -
hardly a Jordanian favorite and a man with a history of
engaging in provocative activity in Jerusalem - becomes Prime
Minister. End Comment.


Visit Amman's Classified Website at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman
Beecroft