Cablegate: Bahrain: Message to the Arab League

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 000397

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARPI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2015
TAGS: PREL BA
SUBJECT: BAHRAIN: MESSAGE TO THE ARAB LEAGUE

REF: A. STATE 45505
B. MANAMA 341
C. MANAMA 319

Classified by DCM Susan L. Ziadeh for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

1. (C) The Ambassador March 15 delivered Ref A demarche
concerning U.S. views in advance of the Arab League summit to
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs/Information Minister
Mohammed Abdul Ghaffar. Abdul Ghaffar took note of the
demarche but had to depart the meeting before he had a chance
to respond.

2. (C) The DCM March 16 delivered demarche to MFA Assistant
Under Secretary for Coordination and Follow Up Shaikh Abdul
Aziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa. Regarding Syria/Lebanon, Shaikh
Abdul Aziz said that Bahrain has spoken publicly and
privately to encourage Syria to leave Lebanon (Refs B and C).
Syria should "cut its losses." There is too much
international pressure and it is in Syria's best interest to
leave, he stated.

3. (C) Turning to Israeli-Palestinian affairs, Shaikh Abdul
Aziz said that the focus of the March 1 London conference was
on building Palestinian institutions. Bahrain offered to
assist by sharing its experience in developing civil society
and national institutions. Bahrain proposed to train
Palestinian bankers, as it had done earlier with Iraqis.
Bahrain had not made any additional financial commitments in
London but had offered in-kind assistance to the Palestinians.

4. (C) Addressing directly the point on diplomatic ties with
Israel, Shaikh Abdul Aziz said that Crown Prince Salman had
met with Shimon Peres during the most recent Davos meeting
and had appeared with him on a CNN program. The CP had also
met with Peres at an earlier Davos meeting before the
outbreak of violence between Israelis and Palestinians in
2000. The CP told Peres that for every step Israel took with
the Palestinians, Bahrain would take two steps with Israel.
Bahraini officials occasionally meet with Israelis on the
margins of international meetings, and Shaikh Abdul Aziz
promised to look into what Bahrain could do in the future.
He commented that the U.S. should ensure that Arabs who
establish relations with Israel "are rewarded."

5. (C) Regarding Iraq, Shaikh Abdul Aziz said that he hopes
Iraqis come to agreement soon on forming a government.
Bahrain fully supports the Iraqi Transitional National
Assembly and future government, and Bahrain will declare its
support publicly upon formation of a government. Both Jafari
and Talabani had visited Bahrain immediately after the Iraq
war and the GOB had good discussions with them. He promised
to speak with Foreign Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al
Khalifa about all these points before the Arab League summit
and to request that Shaikh Mohammed encourage other Arab
leaders to support the U.S. positions.

6. (C) Shaikh Abdul Aziz said he had heard that Saudi Crown
Prince Abdulla, Jordan's King Abdulla, and UAE President
Shaikh Khalifa were not going to the summit. He did not know
why they had decided not to go, but wondered if they were
concerned about security in Algiers. He confirmed that
Bahrain's King Hamad was going to the summit.

MONROE

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