JORDAN'S PM ASKS FOR PROPOSAL TO ASSIST IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 000073 SIPDIS FOR PRM/A LARRY BARLETT AND NEA/ELA E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/08/2019 TAGS: PREF PHUM KPAL JO SUBJECT: JORDAN'S PM ASKS FOR PROPOSAL TO ASSIST IN RESETTLEMENT OF WALID PALESTINIANS Classified By: Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft for reasons 1.4 (b) and ( d) ¶1. (C) Jordan's PM Nader Al-Dahabi called Ambassador on January 8 to ask about the status of a UNHCR proposal to assist in the resettlement of Palestinian Iraqis stranded on the Iraq-side of the Syria-Iraq border. Dahabi, who learned of U.S. interest in resettling many of these Palestinians in a December conversation with the Ambassador, said he had recently discussed the issue with the new head of Jordan's General INTELLIGENCE Department, Major General Muhammad Rath'an Al-Raqqad. Jordan would be willing to consider a proposal to assist in the resettlement of the Palestinians to the United States, with the caveat that Jordan would prefer that the Palestinians only enter Jordan one time, versus multiple entries. ¶2. (C) The conversation with Dahabi came a day after a meeting between the Ambassador and head of Jordan's UNHCR office Imran Riza in which options for processing the Walid population for resettlement to the U.S. were discussed. Riza indicated that UNHCR and PRM were still trying to determine the best way to handle processing of the Walid population. Working at Walid, UNHCR officers had started preparing case files for refugees, Riza said. ¶3. (C) Comment: The GOJ is under enormous pressure because of its muted stance over ongoing events in Gaza. Although the actually processing of the Walid refugees would likely occur after events in Gaza have come to an end, the Jordanians may perceive an added political advantage to be seen as assisting Palestinian refugees. Post would encourage rapid action on a proposal that could be submitted by UNHCR to the GOJ, which entails doing as much processing as possible of the refugees in Walid followed by a single trip to Jordan en route to resettlement in the United States. Visit Amman's Classified Website at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman Beecroft