VZCZCXRO3361
RR RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHAM #1118/01 1331326
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 131326Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5095
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 001118 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/10/2019 
TAGS: PREL KPAL KDEM KWMN IR IS QT JO
SUBJECT: CODEL PELOSI DISCUSSES PEACE PROCESS, IRAN, REFORM 
WITH KING AND GOJ OFFICIALS 
 
REF: AMMAN 994 
 
Classified By: Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft 
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  During their May 7-8 visit to Amman, 
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Representative 
Rush Holt (R-NJ) met with King Abdullah, Senate President 
Zaid Al-Refai, and Lower House Speaker Abdulhadi Al-Majali. 
They heard optimism about the President's engagement on the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict coupled with skepticism about 
the openness of the Netanyahu government to peace.  Iranian 
influence and leverage in the region was also a topic of 
concern.  While the group delivered helpful messages about 
our concern with the lack of progress on reform, their 
interlocutors soft pedaled their lack of support for change. 
End Summary. 
 
Israel-Palestine 
---------------- 
 
¶2.  (C) Discussions with Senate President Zaid Refai and 
Lower House Speaker Abdulhadi Al-Majali focused primarily on 
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Refai noted a "180 degree 
change" in perceptions about American involvement in the 
peace process following the election of President Obama.  He 
urged the Administration to make use of the strategic 
opportunity for progress on the ground, remarking that the 
"ingredients for peace are well known."  Majali told the 
Speaker that Jordanians were tired of "suggestions and 
initiatives" and were looking for the end game to begin. 
Reflecting on the 1994 Wadi Arabah agreement that normalized 
relations between Jordan and Israel, Majali said that Jordan 
had "tried a warm peace," but was unable to point to any 
concrete benefits of this peace for the Palestinian cause. 
 
¶3.  (C) Refai voiced his displeasure with the tone of the 
Netanyahu government's statements on peace to date, saying 
that it was "against a Palestinian state in principle."  He 
said that Netanyahu's proposals for economic rather than 
political engagement with the Palestinians were unacceptable 
and noted that such a policy would allow settlement activity 
to become "irreversible" and tie the hands of future Israeli 
leaders.  Refai also opined that Netanyahu's use of President 
Shimon Peres as the public face of his foreign policy 
amounted to "sugar coating his policies." 
 
¶4.  (C) Refai and the King both mentioned the planned visit 
of Netanyahu to Jordan on May 13, saying that Jordan would be 
looking for some rhetorical deliverable as an outcome of the 
visit -- preferably a solid commitment to a two-state 
solution.  Both predicted that such a statement would 
probably not be forthcoming at this stage, but said Jordan 
would keep pressing the Israelis. 
 
Iran 
---- 
 
¶5.  (C) Every Jordanian official voiced concern about Iranian 
influence in the region.  The King noted Iranian President 
Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's recent visit to Syria, which he claimed 
was designed to shore up relations and strategize on peace 
process issues.  (Note:  The King also paid a visit to Syria 
on May 11 to talk about the same subjects.  End Note.)  Queen 
Rania stated her belief that the popularity of President 
Obama has resulted in muted Iranian criticism of the United 
States in recent months.  Refai said that sanctions and 
incentives were ultimately worthless when dealing with Iran, 
whose intention was to "revive the Persian Empire."  Majali 
seconded that opinion, adding that Iran "only pretends to 
support the Palestinians" and uses the issue to further its 
own political reach.  Speaking about the recent Arab League 
meeting in Doha in April, Majali worried that Qatar was 
playing with fire by trying to serve as a bridge between Iran 
and the Arab world. 
 
Reform 
------ 
 
¶6.  (C) Responding to the Speaker's questions about the issue 
of honor crimes in Jordan, both Majali and Refai blamed lack 
of education and societal mores for the ongoing problem. 
Deflecting personal responsibility for the issue, Refai noted 
that "social problems have nothing to do with economics, 
politics, or religion."  Even so, Refai admitted that 
loopholes in the penal code resulted in light sentences for 
the perpetrators of honor crimes.  He voiced support for a 
package of amendments to the penal code that, among other 
things, would close those loopholes. 
 
¶7.  (C) Majali, an outspoken opponent of reform, attempted to 
soft pedal his lack of commitment to political change when 
 
AMMAN 00001118  002 OF 002 
 
 
pressed for his views by the Speaker.  He optimistically 
noted that political freedom in Jordan was "comparatively 
better than other countries in the region."  Blatantly 
ignoring his own recent pursuit of legal action against a 
journalist who accused him of corruption, Majali said that 
Jordanians "can say anything" and have the "right to 
criticize" (Ref A). 
 
Afghanistan/Pakistan 
-------------------- 
 
¶8.  (C) The group also discussed the situation in Afghanistan 
and Pakistan during a dinner with the King and Queen.  The 
Speaker outlined the recent visits of Afghan President Hamid 
Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Zardari to Washington and 
spoke about the need to fight corruption in the region.  The 
King expressed support for a strong Afghan government able to 
combat the tide of extremism. 
 
¶9.  (U) Codel Pelosi was unable to clear this cable before 
departing Jordan. 
Beecroft