US embassy cable - 03AMMAN8194

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 008194 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR IO, NEA AND PRM; GENEVA FOR RMA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/15/2013 
TAGS: PREF, PREL, KPAL, KWBG, JO, UNRWA 
SUBJECT: CONSENSUS REACHED ON UNRWA GENEVA CONFERENCE; 
ISRAELI PARTICIPATION MAY BE RESOLVED 
 
REF: JERUSALEM 4009 
 
Classified By: DCM David Hale, per 1.5 (b) and (d) 
 
1.  (C) Summary and comment:  UNRWA officials briefed donor 
and host government representatives on preparations for the 
June 2004 UNRWA Geneva conference during a December 11 
steering committee meeting in Amman.  Apparent EC agreement 
to drop its previous insistence on a separate workshop on 
humanitarian access as well as careful UNRWA management of 
the NGO and panel debate issues seem to indicate that the 
conference is taking shape in way that reflects our concerns 
that it remain focused on UNRWA's humanitarian mandate. 
Apparent Israeli acquiescence in allowing the conference to 
proceed without their presence (at least, according to UNRWA) 
preserves this delicate balance.  UNRWA requests written 
comment (if needed) on any outstanding conference issues 
before December 31.  End summary and comment. 
 
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Israeli Participation May Be Resolved 
After UNRWA-Israeli Discussions 
------------------------------------- 
 
2.  (C) Following contentious debate at the December 2 core 
group meeting over UNRWA's surprise proposal to invite Israel 
to the Geneva Conference (ref), UNRWA agreed that it should 
not raise the subject with the broader steering committee 
until it had discussed the conference with Israeli officials. 
 While the issue was therefore not raised in the steering 
committee, Syrian and PLO representatives separately told 
refcoord on the margins of the meeting that they could not 
accept Israeli participation at the Geneva conference.  In a 
December 15 telcon, Deputy ComGen Karen AbuZayd told refcoord 
that she briefed senior Israeli MFA officials on the 
conference on December 14.  She reported that the MFA seemed 
interested in and supportive of the conference, and did not 
express interest in participating in the conference.  When 
questioned by refcoord, AbuZayd admitted that she had not 
invited the Israelis to participate in the meeting.  UNRWA, 
she said, prefers to work under the assumption that the 
Israelis do not want to attend the conference and will only 
address the issue if the Israelis ask to attend.  (AbuZayd 
confided to refcoord on the margins of the December 11 
meeting that UNRWA hoped the Israelis would not be interested 
in participating in the Conference, as Israeli participation 
would be sure to politicize the Conference's debate.)  The 
issue, AbuZayd concluded on December 15, would be closed 
unless the Israelis ask specifically to be invited to the 
Geneva conference. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
Workshop Themes Finalized; 
EC Drops Insistence on Access Workshop 
-------------------------------------- 
 
3.  (U) UNRWA External Relations Director Andrew Whitley told 
the steering committee December 11 that the core group had 
agreed on four workshop themes for the Conference:  children 
and youth; housing, infrastructure and environment needs in 
the camps; empowering Palestinian refugees to participate in 
economic development; and conditions for the successful 
mobilization of resources.  (Revised conference agenda was 
faxed to PRM/ANE.)  The fifth proposed workshop, humanitarian 
access and obstacles to service delivery, would instead be 
addressed by interweaving these questions in a systematic 
fashion in the four remaining workshops. 
 
4.  (SBU) Both the EC and U.S. objected that the core group 
had not agreed to these four themes.  As recorded in the 
minutes of the December 2 meeting, UNRWA core group members 
insisted that management concerns, including program 
budgeting and priorities, be included in the resource 
mobilization workshop.  All core group members had agreed 
that the workshop title should be appropriately retitled. 
AbuZayd responded that the workshop would be retitled as 
requested.  Finally, while the EC told the steering committee 
that it did not yet have instructions on the workshop topics, 
EC representative Philippe Jacques privately told refcoord 
that the compromise of addressing access in the four other 
workshops appeared to address the "spirit" of the EC's 
position as expressed by RELEX Director Leffler to PDAS 
Greene. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
Sweden and Jordan Agree to Lead Workshops 
----------------------------------------- 
 
5.  (SBU) Only two countries have agreed to lead workshops at 
the Geneva conference.  UNRWA confirmed that Sweden, as 
previously announced, would lead the workshop on children and 
youth while Jordan has agreed to lead the workshop on camp 
infrastructure.  UNRWA announced at the steering committee 
meeting that it was in discussions with Canada over the 
economic development workshop and with Norway over the 
resources management workshop.  CIDA representative Wayne 
Primeau later told refcoord that Canada still had many 
reservations about the conference and had opened discussions 
with UNRWA only over the provision of technical support 
(e.g., funding the participation of Palestinian refugee 
expert Rex Brynen) for a workshop.  However, given Canada's 
role as gavel holder of the (defunct) Refugee Working Group, 
it was likely that Ottawa would eventually accept a more 
high-profile role.  The EC, according to Jacques, has not yet 
decided what leadership role it will play in the conference 
and was unaware that UNRWA was touting it as a prospective 
vice-chair to other core group members. 
------------ 
Panel Debate 
------------ 
 
6.  (U) UNRWA still hopes to include in the conference a 
panel debate among senior officials from host governments, 
major donors, UN agencies and research institutions. 
Building on suggestions made at the December 2 core group 
meeting, UNRWA proposed that the panel debate focus on: 
"Human Security and Economic Progress:  Improving the Lives 
of Palestinian Refugees."  External Relations Director 
Whitley told refcoord UNRWA hoped this subject would prove 
broad enough to capture the protection concerns favored by 
the Europeans, while steering the discourse closer to the 
socio-economic concerns preferred by the U.S. and host 
governments. 
 
---------------------- 
Conference Declaration 
---------------------- 
 
7.  (U) UNRWA still hopes to issue a short declaration at the 
end of the conference, expressing support for Palestinian 
refugees, UNRWA and its mandate and the peace process.  UNRWA 
plans to take the lead in the drafting process, circulating a 
proposed text to core group members in early January. 
Acknowledging that the drafting process could prove 
contentious, Whitley told the steering committee that UNRWA 
would be prepared not to issue a declaration if stakeholders 
were unable to reach consensus before the conference.  UNRWA 
does not want the conference to devolve into negotiations 
over a politicized text. 
 
--------------------------- 
NGO Consortia Participation 
--------------------------- 
 
8.  (U) UNRWA announced that the three Geneva-based NGO 
consortia (Interaction, SCHR and ICVA) would be invited to 
participate in the Conference.  Deputy ComGen AbuZayd 
clarified that representatives from the three consortia will 
be free to participate in all aspects of the conference but 
that only Swiss Government and UNRWA officials would have 
speaking roles during the plenary session.  The Netherlands 
pushed for participation of individual NGOs in the workshops, 
if those NGOs have particular expertise in the workshop 
topic.  AbuZayd responded that such NGO participation could 
be appropriate but would be at the discretion of individual 
chairs to decide. 
 
---------- 
Next Steps 
---------- 
 
9.  (U) UNRWA asked steering committee members to provide 
written comment (if needed) on any problematic conference 
issues before December 31.  The next core group meeting will 
be held during the week of January 12, with a steering 
committee meeting scheduled in February.  Both the core group 
and the steering committee will be eligible to comment on the 
draft declaration.  Working groups for the four workshops are 
due to commence in January and will hold monthly meetings 
until late April, when they will produce policy papers for 
discussion at the Geneva Conference.  Given apparent 
consensus on the overall direction for the conference and the 
timeline for planning the conference, UNRWA announced that it 
would issue "pre-invitations" to 65 donors, prospective 
donors and host governments before December 31. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
10.  (C) The Geneva Conference is finally taking shape in a 
way that reflects our concern that the conference remain 
focused on UNRWA's core humanitarian mandate and avoid 
politicized debate.  Israel's apparent readiness to let the 
conference proceed without its participation, while being 
kept fully informed of preparations and the conference's 
findings would preserve everyone's (including Israel's) 
equities in the conference.  This approach enables UNRWA to 
generate positive publicity for its mandate and give donors a 
voice in establishing medium-term program priorities for the 
agency. 
GNEHM