MUSLIM ENGAGEMENT: OPPORTUNITIES FOR COOPERATION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RABAT 000667 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR S/P, R, NEA, OES, NEA/PI AND NEA/MAG NSC FOR PRADEEP RAMAMURTHY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL OEXC SOCI KISL PINR MO SUBJECT: MUSLIM ENGAGEMENT: OPPORTUNITIES FOR COOPERATION WITH ISESCO REF: RABAT 0638 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Islamic Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) could facilitate linkages between U.S. and Islamic world universities, ISESCO Director General Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri told the Charge on July ¶24. Altwaijri, an admirer of the U.S., proposed that such linkages could then be expanded into the areas of interfaith dialogue and scientific research. Altwaijri hoped for an official invitation to Washington to meet with U.S. policy makers and other officials to further discuss and inaugurate a new era of cooperation between ISESCO and the U.S. The Embassy views this opening with ISESCO as a prime opportunity for the U.S. to advance enhanced engagement with the Muslim World, as called for in President Obama's June 4 speech in Cairo. We recommend the Department's timely consideration for inviting ISESCO Director General Altwaijri to Washington to advance this potential opening, possibly focusing on exchanges of faculty and students, joint research, and cross cultural lectures. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) On July 24, Charge, Acting DCM and Public Affairs Counselor, PolCouns, A/EconCouns, and D/PolCouns paid a courtesy call on ISESCO Director General Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri and Chief of Staff Ahmed Said Ould Bah at ISESCO Headquarters in Rabat to discuss engagement between the U.S. and ISESCO. Altwaijri opened the meeting by expressing his admiration for the U.S., where he studied at the University of Oregon from 1975-1982. He called the U.S. the most important (and powerful) country in the world and a role model for all nations in advancing freedom, diversity, and progress. He said ISESCO was a natural partner with the U.S. because it was working to advance the same ideals. -------------- Obama Has Changed the Tone in the Middle East -------------- ¶3. (SBU) He described the Obama Administration, especially in the context of President Obama's speeches in Cairo and Istanbul, where Altwaijri spoke to the President about ISESCO, as an opportunity to advance cooperation in education, interfaith dialog, and science. Although he had traveled to the U.S. in his role as Secretary General since 1991, Altwaijri said he had not traveled to the U.S. since the 9/11 attacks, which he described as &criminal and inhuman.8 He said that he would welcome an opportunity to travel to the U.S. to engage with U.S. policy makers on greater U.S.-ISESCO cooperation, adding that the previous administration's policies had produced a &spirit of antagonism8 toward Islam and that he had felt uncomfortable traveling to the U.S. up until now. -------------- Potential Areas for U.S.-ISESCO Cooperation -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Altwaijri proposed that ISESCO and the USG work to establish linkages between universities in the U.S. and Muslim countries, i.e., exchanges of faculty and students, joint research, and cross cultural lecturing, which he described as low cost and a good start. ISESCO chairs the Federation of Islamic World Universities, a consortium of approximately 250 universities in the Muslim world. Altwaijri said that such efforts could be followed by cross-cultural and interfaith dialogue facilitated through conferences, seminars, and lectures of religious leaders, which ISESCO could support financially. He said that in the area of science and technology, ISESCO and the U.S. could identify scientific research centers that could conduct joint programs and projects in fields of common interest. ¶5. (SBU) Altwaijri reiterated the content of an ISESCO letter sent to the Embassy on July 21 which welcomed an official USG invitation for Secretary General Altwaijri to visit the U.S. to establish a cooperative &framework of action.8 (Note: The letter had been precipitated by an introductory, July 20 meeting between the ISESCO Chief of Staff and PolCouns. ISESCO proposed that the visit contain the following elements: Official meetings (White House, State Department, Congress, Special Envoy to the Islamic World); media interviews with al-Hurra and other press institutions; a speech at one of the universities in the Washington, D.C., area for an audience of academics, members of civil society, and ambassadors; and a signature ceremony of a partnership protocol between ISESCO and the USG (and/or important American institutions) in one of the RABAT 00000667 002 OF 002 above-mentioned areas of cooperation. -------------- ISESCO's Other Activities -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Underscoring ISESCO's successful track record of partnering with other institutions, Altwaijri noted that ISESCO will hold a conference with the World Bank on the &knowledge economy8 in Tunis in December; a conference among Ministers of Education from various countries in Kuala Lumpur next year; and a meeting of the Federation of Islamic World Universities in Baku in March 2010. He said that ISESCO already has an agreement with the Texas consortium of colleges, which Altwaijri said could serve as a model for other U.S. university partnering arrangements. -------------- -------------- Middle East Unrest Threatens ISESCO-U.S. Cooperation -------------- -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Although ISESCO remains optimistic about the prospects of ISESCO-U.S. cooperation, Altwaijri cautioned that anything that ISESCO and the U.S. accomplish together will largely be eclipsed if a durable Israeli-Palestinian peace is not found, with security for the Israelis and a state for the Palestinians. He opined that there was little confidence in the Muslim world that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu truly intends to permit the formation of a Palestinian state. He called Israel's defiance of U.S. pressure to stop expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank troubling. He asserted his belief that without continued pressure from the U.S. and the European Union, Israel would not make a peace deal. -------------- Good Prospects for the Future -------------- ¶8. (SBU) The meeting concluded with the understanding that Embassy and ISESCO staffs would follow up at the working level to advance the discussed areas of cooperation. Altwaijri agreed with the concept of using the Embassy as a conduit of communication to the USG. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶9. (SBU) The Embassy's ground breaking contact with ISESCO presents a prime avenue for the USG to advance outreach to Muslims as called for in President Obama's Cairo and Istanbul speeches as ISESCO already coordinates and promulgates exchanges, outreach, and partnership among Muslim populations in many of the areas the President identified. We recommend the Department's timely consideration for inviting ISESCO Secretary General Altwaijri to Washington to advance this potential opening. End Comment. ***************************************** Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website; http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Moro cco ***************************************** Jackson