VZCZCXRO1945
PP RUEHDE
DE RUEHJI #0329/01 1201437
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 301437Z APR 06 ZDK PER NUMEROUS REQ
FM AMCONSUL JEDDAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9112
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 JEDDAH 000329 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
RIYADH, PLEASE PASS TO DHAHRAN; DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP; 
PARIS FOR ZEYA; LONDON FOR TSOU 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/29/2016 
TAGS: ELAB KISL KWMN PREL PTER SA SCUL
SUBJECT: JEDDAH JOURNAL 11: JEDDAH BUSINESSMAN HONORS 
CONTROVERSIAL CLERIC, MECCA CULTURAL CLUB ADMITS WOMEN, 
WOMEN'S JOB FAIR, BRIDGING THE GENDER DIVIDE, IRAQI AND 
YEMENI BORDER ISSUES, A NEW APPROACH TO CHALLENGED CHILDREN 
 
REF: A. JEDDAH 106 
     ¶B. JEDDAH 300 
 
JEDDAH 00000329  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
Classified By: Consul General Tatiana Gfoeller for reasons 
1.4(b) and (d) 
 
SAUDI ISLAMIST, OUT OF PRISON, MODERATES HIS MESSAGE 
 
¶1. (U) Saudi Islamist Salman al-Ouda was the guest of honor 
at the April 24 "Ithnayniyya" (Monday lecture series) of 
Jeddah construction magnate Abdelmaksoud Khoja. The 
Ithnayniyya was attended by a number of mutawwa'in (members 
of the religious police, conspicuous with their long beards, 
short thobes, and igal-less ghutras), who appeared distinctly 
out of place among the two hundred or so businessmen, civil 
servants, and intellectuals who came to Khoja's rococo palace 
to hear the controversial cleric speak. (Note: Both men and 
women attend the Ithnayniyyas, though they sit in separate 
areas. End note.) Any extremists in the audience were surely 
disappointed. Al-Ouda, who was identified in the 1993 World 
Trade Center bombing trial as Osama bin Laden's "spiritual 
advisor" and who reportedly issued a 2001 fatwa justifying 
and advocating suicide bombings, is a recent convert to 
moderate Islam. The speakers at the Ithnayniyya praised 
al-Ouda mainly for the success of his website, Islam Today, 
which was said to have attracted more than 230 million 
visitors. 
 
¶2. (U) Some say al-Ouda, who was imprisoned in the 1990s for 
criticizing the Saudi regime, has become a mouthpiece for 
that regime. In his speech, al-Ouda said the concept of "the 
Other" is meaningless and urged the audience to be open to 
all traditions, including the West. He noted that he himself 
has made use of Western innovations, first by using cassette 
tapes (tapes of his sermons were reportedly found in one of 
Osama bin Laden's Afghanistan residences) and now the 
internet to spread his message. The usefulness of the West is 
not limited to information technology, though. Al-Ouda 
criticized the closed-minded--"those who will believe 
something because one man wrote it"--and praised those who 
read widely and come to their own conclusions. 
 
MECCA CULTURAL CLUB ADMITS WOMEN TO THE HALL, THOUGH NOT THE 
SAME HALL AS MEN 
 
¶3. (U) The Jeddah-based newspaper Okaz reported on April 11 
that the Mecca Cultural Club has decided to permit women to 
participate in its events. Twenty women will be able to 
attend the meetings of the 33-year-old club. Moreover, the 
club is constructing a new hall on its premises so that up to 
150 women will eventually be able to participate in events, 
via closed circuit television. 
 
COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION HOLDS FIRST WOMEN'S 
EMPLOYMENT FAIR 
 
¶4. (U) The women's campus of Jeddah's College of Business 
Administration (CBA) held its first-ever employment fair on 
April 17. More than 25 companies, both local and 
international, set up booths to recruit female CBA students. 
The day's events featured workshops on such topics as writing 
a successful resume and preparing for a job interview, and a 
presentation on "The Dynamics of Change," by Nashwa Taher, 
who made history by being among the first two women to win a 
seat on the board of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and 
Industry in November 2005 elections. 
 
SOMETIMES MEN NEED MAHRAMS, TOO! 
 
¶5. (U) PAO met a leading Saudi journalist for dinner at a 
popular Jeddah restaurant on April 23. The male journalist 
arrived early only to discover he could not enter the 
restaurant without a female companion because the entire 
restaurant was reserved for "families." (Note: Many 
restaurants go "families-only" on Fridays, leaving Saudi 
shabab (as well as single male Consulate officers) with no 
place to hang out. End note.) He phoned PAO and joked that he 
needed her to be his mahram (guardian, a term normally 
reserved for the male family member required to accompany a 
Saudi woman in public). 
 
¶6. (U) Upon PAO's arrival at the restaurant, she and the 
journalist were seated without any problem. The journalist 
said it is becoming increasingly common for women--sometimes 
 
JEDDAH 00000329  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
even foreign maids--to accompany men to popular 
"families-only" restaurants for a fee. Moreover, the 
journalist noted that only through women such as PAO, who had 
arranged a speaking engagement for him at a women's college, 
could he pursue interviews and other professional contacts 
with Saudi women. Gender segregation in Saudi Arabia seems to 
hinder networking and professional development for both men 
and women. This is an area where female FSOs are unique; 
official American women are able to bridge the gender divide 
and introduce Saudi men and women on a professional level. 
 
NO SAUDI SEPARATION WALL, JUST THERMAL SENSORS 
 
¶7. (U) Saudi authorities on April 11 denied a report that had 
appeared the previous day on the Arabic-language website 
al-Sahat stating that the Saudi government is considering 
building a "Security Separation Wall" on its Iraqi border. 
The al-Sahat report went on to state that British 
construction firms are very interested in the 900-kilometer 
project. The Saudis flatly denied that they are considering 
constructing a separation wall, and stated that they are 
merely investigating ways to improve border security, such as 
by adding thermal sensors along the border. 
 
FARASAN ISLANDS: VACATION PARADISE, SMUGGLING WAYSTATION 
 
¶8. (U) As Post has previously reported, Abdulrahman Abdulhag, 
the Governor of the Farasan Islands, an archipelago in the 
southern Red Sea twenty-five miles offshore of the mainland 
port of Jizan, has ambitious plans to modernize the islands' 
infrastructure and promote tourism (reftel A). On a recent 
diving trip to the reefs of the Farasan Bank--noted by no 
less than Jacques Cousteau for their underwater 
life--ConGenOff came to the unavoidable conclusion that 
achievement of the Governor's first goal must necessarily 
precede pursuit of the second. ConGenOff was nearly stranded 
on the desert island of Farasan, and the journey of two 
colleagues stalled in Jizan, as a merely moderate wind 
rendered the sound between Jizan and Farasan impassable to 
the motorized feluccas which ply the waters. All commerce 
with the mainland ceased. Asked if this was a common 
occurrence, the manager of the Farasan Hotel said simply, 
"You should come back in July. The seas are very calm then." 
 
¶9. (C) The car ferry remained docked as well, though accounts 
differed as to why. Saudi coast guard officials assured 
ConGenOff that the ferry could not make the voyage from 
Farasan to Jizan because of the windy conditions, while a 
hotel employee informed ConGenOff that one of the officials 
had told him they had held the ferry at port because they had 
caught passengers attempting to smuggle guns and qat (a plant 
whose leaves, when chewed, are said to produce a mild 
euphoric or stimulating effect) from Yemen into Saudi Arabia. 
Certainly Farasan is not immune from contraband trade. On the 
main commercial street of Farasan, ConGenOff saw an Indian 
worker purchasing a bottle of whiskey in plain sight. He 
noticed ConGenOff and laughed. "It's okay," he said, "I'm 
Hindu." 
 
CHALLENGED CHILDREN OF JEDDAH JOYFUL AT THE HORSE RANCH 
 
¶10. (U) On April 19, 2006, the CG and PAO visited a private 
horse ranch northeast of Jeddah.  After touring the stables 
with the facilitator, a senior Western woman, several Saudi 
families arrived with mentally and physically challenged 
children to enjoy and hour of supervised horse riding and 
unique, fun activities like playing catch on horseback. 
These children, at times with hands raised in the air, were 
obviously thrilled to be parading on horseback with their 
fathers at their side to hold them on the saddle. 
 
¶11. (C) The ranch has historically been run by volunteers 
who, for one reason or another, have not been able to come to 
the weekly riding sessions for the past month.  The Western 
facilitator told the children's mothers that riding lessons 
would have to be shut down for a month until the volunteers 
returned unless, of course, the children's fathers could come 
help.  At first, the mothers proclaimed that their husbands 
would never come, but slowly over the last few weeks, the 
ranch has seen more and more fathers coming to volunteer. 
The CG noted that these men dressed in their traditional 
thobes and gutras seemed awkward at first, but became 
surprisingly enthusiastic when they realized that they could 
do it. 
 
JEDDAH 00000329  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶12. (C) One mother told the CG that the hour-long session on 
the horse was the longest amount of time that her husband had 
ever spent with their disabled child.  The experience was 
about more than the developmental benefits that the child 
received from riding the horse; it was also about his rare 
connection with his distant father.  While the Western woman 
anticipates the return of her volunteers in the coming weeks, 
she wants to keep the fathers involved in their children's 
activities at the ranch. 
 
¶13. (C)  The Western facilitator, fearful of being shut down, 
requested that no official press or attention be raised 
regarding the CG's visit. The CG offered to help the ranch by 
providing positive publicity, similar to the publicity 
afforded the Hope Center (reftel B), another non-profit 
organization with which the ranch is affiliated.  The 
facilitator said "no" and explained that she has been working 
on creating such a facility for twelve years and only last 
year was able to pull it all together.  She has faced several 
obstacles in her endeavor to provide a "center" for helping 
disabled children grow emotionally, physically, and mentally. 
 First, there is the utter Saudi indifference towards 
disabled persons and the general feeling that children with 
disabilities are worthless and doomed to a lifetime of 
hardship.  Second, as a society, Saudis do not understand or 
recognize the fact that with scientific advances, progress 
can be made towards helping disabled children grow and 
develop into functioning adults.  Finally, the Western 
facilitator explained, it would be impossible to separate the 
boys and girls during the horseback riding sessions because 
the children are so developmentally challenged.  If the 
mutawwa ever learned that she was conducting these unisex 
sessions, even for boys and girls as young as three, the 
ranch would be shut down. 
Gfoeller