VZCZCXRO3405
OO RUEHDE
DE RUEHAD #0779/01 0601358
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 011358Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3724
INFO RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV PRIORITY 0458
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 0113
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 5851

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 000779 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS TO NEA/FO, NEA/RA, NEA/IPA, AND NEA/ARPI 
NSC PASS TO ABRAMS AND RAMCHAND 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/28/2016 
TAGS: PREL KPAL WE GZ IS QA AE
SUBJECT: UAE TO AID PALESTINIANS, NOT HAMAS 
 
ABU DHABI 00000779  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR MICHELE J. SISON, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
 ¶1. (C) Summary: During a visit to Abu Dhabi February 27-28, 
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with UAE President 
Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed, and 
Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed.  The UAE leaders 
assured Abbas that they would not stop sending humanitarian 
assistance to the Palestinians.  According to the Palestinian 
Ambassador-designate, Khairi Aloridi, they also promised him 
that they would come to the aid of the Palestinian Authority 
(PA) in April on condition that UAE direct assistance went 
through the Palestinian president's office and did not end up 
in Hamas' hands.  The Palestinian ambassador-designate told 
us the amount of direct aid to the PA could be between $50 
million and $100 million.  The leadership made clear to Abbas 
that they did not care for Hamas.  The possibility of a Hamas 
delegation visiting the UAE is not likely, DPM Sheikh 
Hamdan's senior aide and the Palestinian ambassador-designate 
said.  End Summary. 
 
UAE Financial Support for the Palestinian Authority 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶2. (C) Palestinian President Abbas met February 27 with UAE 
Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Hamdan and Foreign Minister 
Sheikh Abdullah.  Abbas briefed them on the current situation 
in the Palestinian territories and Hamas' election victory. 
The Emiratis pledged to keep up their humanitarian assistance 
to the Palestinians.  Sheikh Hamdan's office director, Sultan 
al-Rumeithy, told Ambassador the two sides discussed the 
formation of a new government and Hamas' future participation 
in the government.  Al-Rumaithy said that Abbas told the UAE 
leadership that Hamas did not appear to be as hard-line 
behind closed doors as they appeared to be on television. 
The UAE took this as a positive sign of Hamas' intention to 
move forward.  Abbas met separately with UAE President 
Khalifa February 28.  According to participants, Khalifa 
renewed the UAE's support to the Palestinian people and Abbas 
thanked his hosts for their support. 
 
¶3. (C) Although al-Rumeithy said he was not aware of any UAEG 
commitment regarding financing the interim Palestinian 
government, Palestinian Ambassador-designate Aloridi told 
PolChief March 1 that Abbas and Sheikh Hamdan had discussed 
the PA's financial situation and that the UAE promised direct 
aid to help pay salaries for the month of April.  Aloridi 
said the amount would be between $50 million and $100 
million, but both sides agreed that any funds would be 
channeled through President Abbas' office.  Neither side 
wanted UAE contributions to end up in Hamas' hands, Aloridi 
said.  The PA has funds to pay salaries in March, he added, 
but it will require further outside assistance to cover April 
salaries.  He said it was imperative that the PA be able to 
pay salaries of the Palestinian security forces.  The UAE 
told Abbas that they prefer their money to go toward health 
and social causes.  Aloridi expressed concern about Iranian 
assistance for salaries, an amount he put at $200 million. 
Aloridi confirmed that Sheikh Hamdan pledged to continue 
sending humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian 
territories via the UAE Red Crescent Society, which Sheikh 
Hamdan chairs.  We will follow up on the UAE financial 
contribution issue with FonMin Sheikh Abdullah when he 
returns from Riyadh where he is meeting with his GCC 
counterparts today. 
 
Hamas Coming to the UAE? 
------------------------ 
 
¶4. (C) Neither the Palestinian ambassador-designate nor our 
UAEG contacts could confirm rumors of a possible Hamas 
delegation visit to the UAE.  Aloridi said the UAE leadership 
made clear their dislike for Hamas during their meeting with 
Abbas.  "They would not invite Hamas to the UAE, that is 
certain," he said. 
 
¶5. (C) Hamas will almost certainly visit Qatar, Aloridi said. 
 "They have special ties," he noted.  President Abbas' 
two-day visit in the UAE apparently was a last-minute 
arrangement.  Abbas had planned to visit Yemen then Qatar, 
and decided that while he was in the region, he would seek 
meetings with the UAE leadership.  Aloridi said the Emiratis 
appreciate Abbas, leadership and have long regarded him as a 
friend who shares their own moderate political viewpoints. 
In contrast, the Emiratis have no desire to meet with Hamas 
and they disagree with their ideology. 
 
 
ABU DHABI 00000779  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
Palestinian Ambassador-designate Anti-Hamas 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) Aloridi, a Fatah member who arrived in the UAE one 
month ago, opined that the UAEG could never dialogue with 
either of the Hamas factions )- the "outsiders" such as 
Hamas leader Khaled Mashal who has lived in Damascus, and the 
"insiders" who have lived in the Palestinian territories. 
While the "insiders" are more "pragmatic" than the 
"outsiders" in their political approach, all are 
"mutashaddideen" (extremists) and all answer to the Muslim 
Brotherhood.  He added that Hamas received funding and 
"policy direction" from Iran, and "policy direction" from 
Syria.  "We can't work with them," Aloridi said of Hamas.  If 
Hamas cannot make a difference in the lives of the average 
Palestinian within six months, the Palestinian people will 
clamor for new elections, he predicted.  Most Palestinians 
don't want female school teachers to be required to wear the 
"hijab" (head covering) and they don't want to see the 
Palestinian territories fall under the influence of Islamist 
forces the way Algerians did in the 1990s, he said.  Under 
the current political system in the territories, Abbas still 
retains ultimate control over the government, which will 
become more apparent if he is unable to get Hamas to 
cooperate with him, Aloridi told PolChief.  Aloridi said that 
Abbas expressed to the Emiratis his doubts that Hamas would 
agree to hold talks with Israel. 
 
¶7. (C) The Bethlehem-born Aloridi previously served in Moscow 
as ambassador and also spent 12 years in Tunis with the PLO. 
The Embassy he oversees in Abu Dhabi consists of a cluster of 
older buildings badly in need of renovation.  His office 
walls are adorned with portraits of Abbas and Arafat, as well 
as portraits of the late UAE President Sheikh Zayed and 
current President Khalifa.  He would never take down the 
Arafat portrait, he told PolChief, because Arafat is too 
important historically. 
SISON