ALLEGATION OF QATARI PERFIDY AT GCC SUMMIT, UN

C O N F I D E N T I A L MUSCAT 000016 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/07/2019 TAGS: PREL MU SUBJECT: ALLEGATION OF QATARI PERFIDY AT GCC SUMMIT, UN REF: MUSCAT 0012 (NOTAL) Classified By: Ambassador Gary A. Grappo per 1.4 (B and D). ¶1. (C) Egyptian Ambassador to Oman, Ezz El Din al Fahmy, informed the Ambassador January 6 that he had worked feverishly during the GCC summit (reftel) to defeat a determined Qatari effort to get the GCC to formally endorse an emergency Arab League Summit to address the Gaza crisis. On instructions of his government, al Fahmy sent several messages to Oman's Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs Yusef bin Alawi and spoke repeatedly with bin Alawi's political advisor in the course of the GCC foreign ministers meeting that preceded the summit, asserting Egypt's firm opposition to an Arab League summit. Senior Egyptian officials in Cairo worked by telephone to forestall the Qatari efforts as well. ¶2. (C) The Egyptian ambassador accused Qatar of lobbying heavily for the Arab League summit idea and of encouraging non-GCC Arab governments, including Syria, Sudan and others, to do the same. The Qataris reportedly wanted the summit in either Doha or Damascus. The Egyptian further alleged that Qatar had the strong backing of and even guidance from Iran. The effort was defeated largely due to the strong opposition of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who had also been approached by the Egyptians, as well as to Omani hesitation to include such a controversial call in the summit communique. ¶3. (C) Aware that Arab leaders would be unable to reach agreement on a position on the Gaza crisis at an AL summit, Iran backed the urgent summit idea to show Arab inability and incompetence in leading Muslim opposition to the crisis. The AL having surrendered the role, Tehran would then step in to assume it. The Arab failure, the Egyptian ambassador further reasoned, would also presumably open the door for a more prominent Qatari role and active intervention in the crisis. ¶4. (C) Al Fahmy also suggested that Libya's clumsy attempt to table a UNSC resolution on the crisis over the weekend was also driven by Qatar, again with quiet Iranian support. ¶5. (C) Comment: Al Fahmy is Muscat's most pro-active and respected Arab diplomat, with extensive contacts in the Omani government and a 35,000-strong network of Arabic-speaking expatriates entrenched in the Omani bureaucracy. He is very well informed and generally not given to conspiracy theories. GRAPPO