SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RABAT 000585

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

STATE FOR NEA/PPD, NEA/MAG, AND NEA/PI
LONDON, PARIS AND DUBAI FOR MEDIA HUBS

E.0.12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM KDEM KPAO EAID KMPI MO
SUBJECT: SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S
LETTER TO KING MOHAMED VI

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Summary and Comment
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1. (SBU) President Obama's July 1 letter to
Moroccan King Mohamed VI, which focused on Middle
East peace and Western Sahara, generated massive
press coverage following release in its entirety by
the Government of Morocco (GOM). The government and
pro-palace press has been effusive in its praise of
the letter. Much of the independent press has been
critical, perceiving the letter as demonstrating
that the Obama administration has walked back from
the previous administration's overt support for
Morocco's autonomy proposal, and believing that the
letter draws a linkage between Moroccan
normalization with Israel, and U.S. support on
Western Sahara. For its part, the Government of
Morocco (GOM) has studiously avoided making any
public comments about the letter. But the fact that
the Palace chose to have the letter published,
coupled with the extremely favorable coverage the
letter received in the official and pro-palace
press, suggests official satisfaction with the
letter. End Summary and Comment.


2. (SBU) At direction of the highest levels of the
GOM, President Obama's letter was immediately
translated into French and published in its entirety
on the website of the government news agency, the
Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP),and in pro-palace daily
"Le Matin." Its key points have been widely quoted
in the Moroccan press. 2M television conducted an
interview with CDA Jackson on the main points of the
letter, portions of which were aired twice (during
the French- and Arabic-language news) on July 6.


3. (U) MAP has produced several articles praising
the letter, featuring interviews with prominent
Moroccan intellectuals stating that it reconfirmed
Morocco's central role in promoting Middle East
peace. These were reprinted in "Le Matin" and its
Arabic-language sister, "Assahara." "Le Matin,"
whose editorial page is usually assumed to reflect
the views of the Palace, also carried an editorial
on July 6 entitled "Obama and Mohammed VI: The
Convergence," which stated that the letter
underscored the closeness of the American and
Moroccan visions for Middle East peace and Western
Sahara (see block quotes below).


4. (U) Several independent and Islamist newspapers,
including "Al-Massae," the largest circulation daily
in Morocco, have been promoting a very different,
far more critical narrative. They have opined that
the letter demonstrates a linkage between what the
USG would like Morocco to do for Middle East peace,
and U.S. policy on Western Sahara. The commentaries
maintain that: a) the USG is offering very little
by way of support for Morocco on Western Sahara, and
indeed the "new" USG policy represents a step
backwards from the Bush administration's support for
the Moroccan autonomy plan; and b) Morocco has
already done enough for its bilateral relationship
with the U.S. and for Middle East peace to warrant
U.S. support.


5. (U) Block Quotes:

"Obama and Mohammed VI: The Convergence," editorial
in "Le Matin:"

"U.S. President Barack Obama has just sent a message
to King Mohammed VI that was written with a rare
scope. On the political, spiritual, and human
levels ... this message, by the richness of its
content and its human dimension and the president's
will, emphasizes the intellectual convergence
between President Obama and King Mohammed VI. ...
two components, among others, were essential ... the
situation in the Middle East, including the city of
Al Quds (Jerusalem),and the evolution of the Sahara
issue. ... The letter from Barack Obama is a
profession of faith, nourished by a conviction:
shared values of justice, peace and tolerance. It
is also a sign that America will be working at the

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side of the Kingdom of Morocco."


"All that Israel wants," by commentary director
Rashid Niny in independent daily "Al Massae" on July
7:

"The letter by Hussein Obama in response to a
previous letter by King Mohammed VI, in which he
raised the Judaization of Jerusalem, contains many
coded words that require interpretation. ...
Morocco has committed itself to America at the level
of the FTA (Free Trade Agreement),despite the fact
that the agreement favors America alone. Morocco
has committed itself to the project of inter-faith
dialogue, and during the time of General Laanigri,
committed itself to the fight against terrorism, to
the point of turning Morocco into the biggest
factory of terrorists. Morocco has accepted reform
of the religious realm, to the extent that the
Minister of Endowment and Islamic Affairs hired an
American to bring order to Dar Al Hadith Al
Hassaniya [the main religious school], and has
dispatched murshidat [female preachers] to America
for training, and severed relationships with both
Iran and Venezuela, and has accepted the involvement
of USAID in funding an awareness program about
offering quotas to women in elections. After all
this, Obama comes to tell us that the utmost thing
he could do on the Sahara issue is to wish good luck
to his envoy, sorry, the U.N. envoy, Christopher
Ross, in strengthening dialogue between the parties
... The letter is thus clear, and there is no need
to ask Obama for more explanation. There are some
people who want the Sahara issue to remain
permanently pending, to use it as a scarecrow to
provoke Morocco and get all that Israel wants from
this exhausted Arab world."


"Fourth Estate," commentary in independent daily
"Akhbar Al Youm" on July 8:

"The Moroccan Foreign Ministry has not responded to
U.S. President Barak Obama's letter to King Mohammed
VI, in which he has offered Morocco the initiative
to lead a new campaign of normalization with Israel,
to contribute to bringing the Jewish state out of
its isolation, [but] for what? For a promise by
Obama that his administration 'would make efforts
with other parties in the region to reach a solution
that responds to the needs of populations concerning
transparent governance and confidence in a country
of rule of the law and a fair and organized
administration.' Obama thus has announced a change
in the position that was taken by the former Bush
administration, which was to support the autonomy
project as framework for negotiations and find a
solution to the conflict in the Sahara. Obama's
letter did refer to that project, for which Morocco
has made major concessions ... Why hasn't Foreign
Minister Taeib Fassi Fihri responded to that letter?
The question remains pending, unanswered."


"Cheap Bargain," editorial in Islamist daily
"Attajdid" on July 6:

"It is not too difficult to smell the bargain
between normalization with the Zionist Entity and
the Moroccan Sahara issue, especially given that
U.S. President Barack Obama's long-awaited letter
did not deal directly with the Moroccan proposal of
broad autonomy for the Southern Sahraoui provinces.
... What is new in this letter is its frank intent
to place Morocco in a specific position within the
U.S. agenda in the region following the Cairo
speech, and this through calling on Morocco to 'be a
leader in reconciliation between Arabs and Israel
...? The content of Obama's letter has left us with
only one option, which is to announce our rejection
of the letter's proposal and stand against it."

JACKSON