US embassy cable - 04TELAVIV1970

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 001970 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/01/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, IS, GOI INTERNAL, PEACE PROCESS, GAZA DISENGAGEMENT 
SUBJECT: BEILIN BINDS NEW YAHAD PARTY TO GENEVA ACCORD 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Norman Olsen for reason 1.4 (b) and 
(d). 
 
1.  (C) Summary: New Yahad Party leader Yossi Beilin left no 
doubt that Yahad and the Geneva Accord are joined at the hip 
when accord co-author Yasser Ahmed Rabbo sat center stage 
with Beilin at the party's founding ceremonies on March 31. 
Copies of the accord and Yahad's basic covenant were both 
distributed to attendees.  Beilin used the party's founding 
reception to attack PM Sharon's unilateral disengagement 
plan, and veteran MK Yossi Sarid used it to lambaste what he 
described as Sharon's bribery-tainted tenure and to  stress 
his concern for the financially-strapped among Israel's 
population.  Beilin is clearly clutching at his 
internationally renowned peace plan prototype to breathe life 
into the new party.  End summary. 
 
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What's Abed Rabbo Got to Do With It? 
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2. (C) Attendees at the March 31 "Socialist Democratic 
Israel" ("Yahad") Party founding ceremony for the diplomatic 
community entered the auditorium to find newly-elected Yahad 
leader Yossi Beilin seated center stage next to his Geneva 
Accord Palestinian partner Yasser Ahmed Rabbo.  Both Yahad's 
"Basic Covenant" and the Geneva Accord were distributed to 
guests, flagging that with Beilin at the helm, the Geneva 
Accord is now part of Yahad's platform. 
 
3.  (C) Considering his diplomatic audience, it was not 
surprising that in his remarks, Beilin focused on condemning 
PM Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan while promoting the 
Geneva Accord, and all but ignoring Yahad's economic and 
social agenda except for one reference linking Yahad to the 
greater international socialist movement.  Beilin asserted 
that unilateral actions, such as Sharon's proposed withdrawal 
from Gaza, would further isolate Israel from its neighbors, 
creating a "Jewish ghetto."  Israel can not "go it alone," he 
stressed, nor can it negotiate with the Palestinians "through 
the United States."  Beilin opined that there is a partner -- 
symbolized in the person of Abed Rabbo -- and that the Geneva 
Accord is the peace-process solution. 
 
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Left-Wing Love-Fest at Founding Ceremony 
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4. (C)  The ceremony for Yahad rank-and-file was held in a 
converted Tel Aviv port hanger with a crowd totaling some 300 
Meretz-now-Yahad members who appeared to be mainly 
Yahad-tee-shirt-clad youth, hippie holdovers, and pensioners. 
 Yariv Oppenheimer, Peace Now Director and Labor Party 
activist, manned a distribution table that offered bumper 
stickers stating "Leave the territories for Israel's Sake." 
When veteran Meretz MK Yossi Sarid appeared on stage, his 
modest, bespectacled image was tripled on the two enormous 
video screens sandwiching the stage giving the event the aura 
of a rock concert. 
 
5.  (C) Sarid began his speech almost mumbling, appearing 
tired and uninspired, thanking Beilin for taking on the 
challenge of leading Yahad in difficult times, and praising 
defeated leadership candidate Meretz MK Ran Cohen.  Sarid's 
voice gained volume, his posture straightened and his whole 
persona puffed up when he laid into his attack against 
Sharon.  He sarcastically noted how strange it is that Sharon 
boasts about knowing many facts and figures, big and small, 
but when it comes to knowing how millions of dollars appeared 
outside the window of his own home (referring to the Greek 
Island and Cyril Kern bribery scandals), Sharon pleads 
ignorance.  Sarid cast Sharon's money scandals against the 
backdrop of cash-strapped society where many are struggling 
to pay for the food and wine they will need for the upcoming 
Passover holiday. 
 
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