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courage is contagious

Viewing cable 05TELAVIV4766, Gaza's moderate Islamists muse on "after

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
05TELAVIV4766 2005-08-02 09:23 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Tel Aviv
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 004766 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR ECA 
STATE INFO IIP/G/NEA, NEA/PPD, NEA/IPA 
JERUSALEM PASS ICD DANIELS, PD JLARSON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: GZ PREL KPAO OEXC SCUL GAZA DISENGAGEMENT ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS
SUBJECT: Gaza's moderate Islamists muse on "after 
disengagement" and the US 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
REF:  TEL AVIV 3338, 20 JUNE 05 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  A trio of Islamic scholars from Al 
Azhar University, like many Gazan interlocutors, on 28 
July cited freedom of movement for Gazans and their 
goods as the test of disengagement.  Recently returned 
from an International Visitors program, the leaders 
also spoke favorably of religious and intellectual 
freedom in the US and welcomed possible USG cooperation 
with their new initiatives to promote moderate 
interpretations of Islam and religious tolerance.  Dr. 
Ismail Bolbol, the senior member of the group, 
confirmed that he is now the mufti for Palestinian 
security forces in Gaza.  END SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
IF DISENGAGEMENT MEANS FREEDOM, TERROR LOSES APPEAL 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
2.  (SBU )  "First, we need to see results on the 
ground" from disengagement, said Dr. Mohammed 
Abdulwahed, a frequent mosque speaker and an assistant 
professor of Islamic studies at Al Azhar.  "If we have 
freedom of movement, it will work.  But we can't build 
our country without freedom."  Abdulwahed said that, as 
a religious leader, his focus is on changes in the 
social rather than political sphere.  He sees a 
pressing need to rebuild Gaza's social institutions to 
move away from fanaticism and towards Islamic values 
such as peace and tolerance.  Bolbol likewise linked 
his hopes for disengagement to the key factor of 
freedom of movement, tying easy passage at the border 
crossings, the seaport, and the airport to economic 
revival and the prospects for social change. 
"Palestinian society needs rehabilitation," explained 
Mohammed Mansour, because the Israeli occupation has 
brought "powerful strikes" against it.  Disengagement 
will work according to "the reality on the ground." If 
this reality means freedom of movement, then, Mansour 
argued, he and his colleagues will be able to advance 
their work toward the goals of peace and progress, and 
to counter the terrorism that they reject as 
inconsistent with the Muslim faith. 
 
-------------------------- 
THE US CAN DO MORE TO HELP 
-------------------------- 
 
3.  (SBU)  "Like US coffee, US foreign policy is not 
always good," said Abdulwahed.  "The US is not serious 
about solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," 
because it deals with Palestinians as a humanitarian 
and not a political issue. Bolbol, for his part, said 
he agreed with the US expert who told him that the 
Palestinian struggle for statehood would succeed or 
fail on its humanitarian, not its political, argument. 
The three participants concurred that ordinary 
Americans seem ignorant about international affairs, 
and that an elite appears to dominate the nation's 
foreign policy.  Abdulwahed observed that even the 
experts in US think tanks fail to look for the root 
causes of important problems such as violence in the 
Middle East; Mansour noted that the media play too 
large a role in shaping Americans' view of foreign 
affairs. 
 
4.  (SBU)  Bolbol and Abdulwahed argued that the USG 
should continue and expand its efforts to promote 
interfaith dialog in Gaza.  Drawing on their 
experiences in the US, the three academics offered 
examples of commonality to begin such a dialog. 
"Everyone in the US is free," said Abdulwahed, and 
"this is the substance of Islam."  Bolbol noted that in 
the US "even sinners know their relationship to God, 
and pray for forgiveness.  This is something in common 
between Islam and Christianity."  The two stressed, 
however, that religious experts, not "politicians," 
should lead such activities.  They were mildly critical 
of the credentials of engineer and political activist 
Sheikh Imad Falouji, who in co-operation with the UK- 
based International Centre for Reconciliation and with 
some US funding has recently opened an interfaith 
dialog center in Gaza.  Bolbol and Abdulwahed said they 
prefer to work independently of Falouji, to preserve 
their own "credibility" as religious leaders.  Bolbol, 
who hosts a radio program in addition to his mosque 
sermons, teaching at the university, and ministry to 
the security forces, said he will soon begin work on a 
center for battered women and a project to increase 
women's political participation.  (Note: The Gaza 
Program Office of Embassy Tel Aviv will follow up with 
Bolbol to discuss possible USG support for these 
activities.  End note.) 
 
--------------------------------------- 
OPENNESS, TOLERANCE CHARACTERIZE THE US 
--------------------------------------- 
 
5.  (SBU)  The three leaders said they saw, and 
appreciated, Islam without extremism and religious 
tolerance in their tour of the US.  "Islamic centers in 
the US are not biased," said Bolbol, "not fanatics, not 
terrorists."  Mosques are next to synagogues and 
churches and Buddhist centers, and relations between 
government and Muslim leaders are good.  "This is the 
real Islam," declared Bolbol; Abdulwahed added, "We can 
learn from this example."  Bolbol and Mansour also 
cited with approval other values they deemed Islamic 
that they observed in US society: religious faith, 
equality before the law, freedom for women, respect for 
work, social responsibility, and respect for life. 
Bolbol underscored his points with the example of US no- 
smoking laws: everyone obeys them, unlike in Gaza, and, 
moreover, "smoking is forbidden in Islam!" 
 
6.  (SBU) The group also identified with and admired 
the reasoned, consensus-based decision-making they saw 
during their introduction to the US foreign policy 
process. Important decisions are made "like in Arab 
countries," with consultations, committee discussions, 
and meetings between the President and his advisors, 
said Bolbol.  "Disagreements are based on evidence and 
facts," said Mansour, and all three agreed they would 
like to see Palestinian society give a greater role to 
academics and intellectuals in political debate, on the 
model of US think tanks.  (Note: Gaza's intellectuals, 
like their US counterparts, enjoy high social standing. 
The trio did not distinguish between the policy role US 
experts and academics play, and the more varied game of 
politics.  End note.)  US patriotism also drew envious 
admiration: the United States' history is brief but 
impressive, said Mansour, and this motivates us as 
Palestinians to work for progress in our own country. 
Pride in belonging to a nation, said Bolbol, has helped 
Americans achieve their success and creates a sense of 
progress. 
 
------------------- 
AL AZHAR AND THE US 
------------------- 
 
7. (U) The state-funded Al Azhar, sometimes 
characterized as Gaza's "Fatah" or secular university, 
faces increasing competition for prestige with its 
chief rival, the Islamic University of Gaza.  Its 
administration, by a three-person temporary council, 
remains in some disarray after student protests ousted 
the reform-minded president whom President Abbas tried 
to install in February.  Nonetheless, the university 
has recently proposed to the Gaza Program Office to 
open an American Corner on its premises.  It likewise 
appears to be making progress in its effort to create a 
department of American Studies, which would be Gaza's 
first. 
 
KURTZER