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### Viewing cable 08REYKJAVIK71, ABBAS STOPOVER IN ICELAND: SPECIAL ENVOY APPOINTED,

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
08REYKJAVIK71 | 2008-04-23 19:17 | 2011-01-13 05:37 | UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY | Embassy Reykjavik

`

    VZCZCXRO6166
    OO RUEHROV
    DE RUEHRK #0071/01 1141917
    ZNR UUUUU ZZH
    O 231917Z APR 08
    FM AMEMBASSY REYKJAVIK
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3633
    INFO RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 0013
    RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 0003
    RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE

` `

    UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 REYKJAVIK 000071

    SIPDIS

    SENSITIVE

    SIPDIS

    DEPT FOR EUR/NB, NEA[BRE2]/PA, NEA/IPA

    E.O. 12958: N/A
    TAGS: PREL PINR KPAL KWBG IS XF IC
    SUBJECT: ABBAS STOPOVER IN ICELAND: SPECIAL ENVOY APPOINTED,
    REYKJAVIK SUMMIT IDEA FLOATED

    ¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  In a short-notice visit, Palestinian Authority
    President Mahmoud Abbas overnighted in Iceland April 21-22, meeting
    with Icelandic President Grimsson and Foreign Minister Gisladottir.
    At the ceremonial lunch with Grimsson, Abbas lauded the
    contributions of small states like Iceland in the Middle East Peace
    Process, a theme he reiterated at a press conference after meeting
    with Foreign Minister Gisladottir.  For her part, Gisladottir named
    Iceland's first Special Envoy to the Palestinian Authority, as part
    of the Government's increased humanitarian and development
    assistance efforts announced last year.  Abbas cited the 1986
    "Reykjavik Summit" as a specific example of how Iceland as a small
    state could be involved in the peace process, which generated
    considerable press interest and speculation.  After a readout from
    the Ministry's Political Director, details of Iceland's new policy
    moves remain somewhat sketchy, but they are clearly in line with
    this Government's push to increase its presence on the international
    stage.  End Summary.

    ¶2.  (U) On April 21, Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson's
    office announced that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
    would arrive in Iceland that evening for a visit en route to his
    Washington meetings with President Bush.  Grimsson hosted Abbas for
    lunch on April 22, after which Abbas met with Icelandic Foreign
    Minister Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir.

    ¶3.  (SBU) The Grimsson-Abbas lunch was largely ceremonial in nature,
    in keeping with Grimsson's minimal policy role in the Icelandic
    system.  However, both leaders used the occasion as an opportunity
    for declarations of mutual Icelandic-Palestinian support and desires
    for peace in the Middle East.

    ¶4.  (SBU) FM Gisladottir, in contrast, used her meeting with Abbas
    as a platform to unveil several new policy initiatives, building
    upon her trip to the region last fall and the MFA's announcement at
    the December Paris Donors' Conference of a four-fold increase in aid
    to the Palestinian people.  Gisladottir notified Abbas (and
    subsequently the media) that she has appointed Iceland's first
    special envoy, Thordur Aegir Oskarsson, to the Palestinian
    Authority. In a readout meeting with Charge on April 23, MFA
    Political Director Greta Gunnarsdottir noted that the special envoy,
    a career diplomat who is now Iceland's Ambassador to Japan, would
    travel frequently to the region to oversee Iceland's increased
    assistance to the Palestinian Authority.  He would work closely with
    international organizations and NGOs already administering
    humanitarian and development programs in the Palestinian area.  The
    envoy will be accredited to the Palestinian Authority and will not
    liaise with the Israelis.  She said, "There will be a distinct
    division of labor" and that Icelandic-Israeli relations will
    continue to be managed by Iceland's Ambassador resident in
    Copenhagen.

    ¶5.  (SBU) Additionally, Abbas cited the 1986 "Reykjavik Summit" as a
    specific example of how Iceland as a small state could be involved
    in the peace process.  Foreign Minister Gisladottir said Iceland
    would, of course, support such an idea.  The Political Director
    emphasized, however, that Abbas' remark was meant only as an
    example, and not as an explicit suggestion.  She added that the
    media had reported the comment with liberty, and had perhaps made
    more of it than was actually intended.

    ¶6.  (U) Media Coverage:  All media covered yesterday's visit by
    President Abbas in straight forward terms.  Media widely reported FM
    Gisladottir's appointment of veteran diplomat Thordur Aegir
    Oskarsson (presently Iceland's Ambassador to Japan -- see bio note
    para. 7) as a special envoy to the Palestinian Authority.  The
    Foreign Minister said Oskarsson would visit the area frequently and
    would effectively be Iceland's ambassador to Palestine.  The press
    picked up on President Abbas' comment that "Iceland can play a big
    role in the peace process, as it did by hosting the Reykjavik
    summit."  Foreign Minister Gisladottir responded that "we are going
    to concentrate on that."  At a press conference, President Abbas
    told the media that "the time when only super powers governed the
    world was over."  He said, "Icelanders and Palestinians have their
    fight for independence in common and the role of Iceland really
    matters in the Middle East."  Comment:  Post anticipates that
    editorial comment on the visit and Iceland's policy initiatives will
    begin appearing in the print media on April 24.  End comment.

    ¶7.  (SBU) Bio Note:  Thordur Aegir Oskarsson is currently Iceland's
    Ambassador to Japan and the Philippines, a post he has held since
    ¶2004.  Oskarsson will take up his duties as Special Envoy to the
    Palestinian Authority later this spring.  He has a BA in Political
    Science from the University of Iceland (1979) and an MA in
    International Politics from the University of Wisconsin (1980), and
    was a Ph.D. student at Wisconsin from 1980-83.  Oskarsson returned
    to Iceland in 1983, and worked as a researcher for a short-lived

    REYKJAVIK 00000071  002 OF 002

    think tank on national security, an urban planner and a reporter for
    a newspaper aligned with Iceland's Progressive Party.  He joined the
    Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1988.  In 1999 Oskarsson was
    appointed Iceland's OSCE PermRep in Vienna, and subsequently was
    accredited to Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovinia, Slovakia, and Hungary as
    well as the UN Agencies in Vienna.  He is married with two
    children.

    KLOPFENSTEIN

`