Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09RABAT170
2009-02-25 18:37:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Rabat
Cable title:  

GAZA, GUANTANAMO, AND A LEFTIST THAW: MEETING WITH

Tags:  PHUM PGOV PREL KDEM KPAO TS MO 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0074
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRB #0170/01 0561837
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 251837Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY RABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9734
INFO RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE
RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA 4518
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1119
UNCLAS RABAT 000170 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/MAG, DRL FOR NEA/SA AND INR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KDEM KPAO TS MO
SUBJECT: GAZA, GUANTANAMO, AND A LEFTIST THAW: MEETING WITH
ACTIVISTS

REF: A. TUNIS 0061

B. 2007 MOROCCO HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT

C. INR ASSESSMENT: GAZA CONFLICT TAKES TOLL ON U.S.
IMAGE 02/18/2009

Sensitive but Unclassified. Please Protect Accordingly.

--------
Summary:
--------

UNCLAS RABAT 000170

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/MAG, DRL FOR NEA/SA AND INR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KDEM KPAO TS MO
SUBJECT: GAZA, GUANTANAMO, AND A LEFTIST THAW: MEETING WITH
ACTIVISTS

REF: A. TUNIS 0061

B. 2007 MOROCCO HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT

C. INR ASSESSMENT: GAZA CONFLICT TAKES TOLL ON U.S.
IMAGE 02/18/2009

Sensitive but Unclassified. Please Protect Accordingly.

--------------
Summary:
--------------


1. (SBU) A leftist human rights activist broke a
long-standing boycott to meet with us on February 17, after
he was barred from entering Tunis for a human rights
conference in late January. The fact of the meeting was a
sign of a nascent but broad thaw beginning to take place due
to the change in U.S. administrations. Although he and a
colleague strongly criticized the USG's role in recent Gaza
events, he left the door open to further communication.
Reflecting what we hear in other contexts, it appears that
leftist Moroccans' perceptions of the U.S. and its policies
are beginning to drift towards the positive, but are still
subject to hardening as a result of external factors such as
incidents in Israel/Palestine. End summary.

--------------
Background
--------------


2. (SBU) On February 17, PolFsn and PolOff met with the head
of the Maghreb Coordination Office for Human Rights
Organizations (CMODH) Abdelhamid Amin, who, on January 23,
was barred from entering Tunisia to attend a human rights
conference (Ref A). Amin is also a board member and past
president of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH),
which, with 20,000 members, is Morocco's largest human rights
group (akin to Amnesty International). AMDH is influential
and has not been afraid to challenge the monarchy and
existing order, leading to the long-term imprisonment of some
members (Ref B). The organization has vocally criticized and
boycotted all contact with the USG for five years out of
anger over U.S. Middle East policies. Amin agreed to see
EmbOffs only in his CMODH hat. However, the meeting was held
at AMDH headquarters, in a room emblazoned with posters and
containing a papier mache face with padlocked lips, where the
CMODH is temporarily based.

--------------
Welcome to Tunisia...Now Go Away
--------------


3. (SBU) Amin told EmbOffs that a diplomat (whose name he

did not know) from the Tunisian Embassy called him a week
before he was scheduled to depart for a Tunisian Human Rights
League (LTDH) convention and suggested that he ¬
attend.8 A day later, the same officer called back and
informed Amin that he would not be granted entry if he went.
On debarking from his airplane on January 23, Amin said he
was met by a group of plainclothes officers who asked him to
re-board the aircraft. He refused, and they ushered him and
a traveling companion into a room at the airport. He called
LTDH members and informed them of his situation. After a
period of fruitless discussions, he agreed to return to
Morocco. He wrote a letter to Moroccan Prime Minister El
Fassi, and AMDH held some protests outside the Tunisian
Embassy, but El Fassi's office said there was nothing more it
could (or would) do.


4. (SBU) Amin explained that the CMODH is composed of
fourteen human rights groups from the five Maghreb countries
and two organizations in Paris. It was founded in Rabat in
2006 to coordinate support for victims of human rights abuses
and to increase communication and skills among human rights
activists working in the Maghreb region. In a surprising
statement, given his and the AMDH's history, he said he was
quite open to the idea of CMODH partnering with the USG on
projects or funding, &as long as it did not compromise our
independence.8

--------------
Viva Guevara!
--------------


5. (SBU) A cell phone playing Hasta Siempre (the &Che
Guevara song8) interrupted Amin's explanation. The phone's
owner, who had been sitting at the other end of the
conference table reading newspapers, turned it off, flung a

corner of her keffiyeh angrily over her shoulder, introduced
herself as Samira Kinani, and said AMDH should not be meeting
with the U.S. Embassy. PolFsn assured her that the meeting
was with Amin in his capacity as CMODH President, but Kinani
reiterated the need for the boycott, highlighting Iraq,
Afghanistan, and Palestine as key areas of disagreement. "We
are revolutionaries, and we must stand up for principles,"
she emphasized.

--------------
(And Why Are You Here Anyway?
--------------


6. (SBU) Kinani interrupted the meeting again to ask PolOff
why he was meeting with NGOs and why she kept reading news
reports of American officers roaming the country "questioning
people." "Would you accept such interference if Moroccan
officials acted similarly in the U.S.," she asked. Kinani
added that U.S. diplomats should limit their discussions to
governmental channels. Kinani appeared surprised and
mollified when she was told that the USG thought it crucial
for its representatives to hear more than just official
government perspectives, and placed great importance in
hearing criticisms of U.S. policies from average Moroccans
like herself.

--------------
Gaza Supersedes All
--------------


7. (SBU) Amin respectfully but insistently questioned why
the USG persisted in violating international law through "its
actions Palestine." He dismissed recent Executive Orders
related to Guantanamo and torture as "small responses to
recent events" that pale in comparison to the "decades-long
crime" of U.S. Israeli policy. Kinani once again intervened
asking why the USG refuses to apply the UN charter in
relation to Israel, supports war criminals because they are
Israeli, refuses the right of Palestinians to a state, and
considers Palestinians terrorists.


8. (SBU) Amin interjected that he, and most Moroccans, do
not support HAMAS's religion-based vision of governance, but
he respects the fact that they won the popular vote in Gaza.
He added that USG actions vis a vis Israel have helped
recruit terrorists and made it difficult for moderate regimes
like Morocco's to counter extremists. Kinani dismissed any
comparison between Israel/Palestine and Arab states' policies
toward Sudan.

--------------
The Beginnings of the Thaw
--------------


9. (SBU) Towards the end of the meeting, Amin said he was
hopeful about the new Obama Administration, but that he was
taking a "wait and see" approach until it had a chance to
prove itself. No friend of the Moroccan power structure,
Amin, nonetheless, said that Morocco was the most advanced
country in the region in terms of reform and human rights.
However, he encouraged the USG to hold the Moroccan
Government and other allies accountable for violations and
backsliding regardless of counterterror imperatives and
strategies. He asked the Embassy to continue contact with
him and the CMODH and said he appreciated the opportunity to
speak, and appreciated the USG's willingness to listen. A
more pleasant and relaxed Kinani asked for EmbOffs, contact
information and shared the address of her blog.

--------------
Comment:
--------------


10. (SBU) The very fact that this meeting took place, after
several weeks of telephone and email negotiations, is a sign
of how the change in U.S. administrations is beginning to
alter dynamics on the ground in Morocco. It also provided a
window into evolving leftist Moroccan perceptions and
attitudes towards the USG. Despite the sometimes strident
and doctrinaire statements made during the discussion, Amin
seemed to treat the event as a test case for restoring
"relations" with the USG.


11. (SBU) Comment continued: Kinani's surprise and eventual
warming as a result of personal contact with EmbOffs
reinforces the importance of enhanced and broad Embassy
outreach in all MENA countries during this transition period

to "rehumanize" the USG to skeptical but grudgingly hopeful
populations. Both Amin's and Kinani's comments made clear,
however, that the current thaw is fragile and subject to
disruption by events in Israel/Palestine and beyond (Ref C).
End Comment.


*****************************************
Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website;
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/rabat
*****************************************

Jackson