US embassy cable - 04TELAVIV2354

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 002354 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/23/2014 
TAGS: PREL, IS, GAZA DISENGAGEMENT, ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS 
SUBJECT: NATIONAL UNION MK TELLS CODEL DAVIS THAT 
DISENGAGEMENT REWARDS TERROR 
 
REF: TEL AVIV 2335 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1.  (C)  Knesset member Yuri Shtern of the right-wing 
coalition National Union party told visiting Congressmen Tom 
Davis and Jim Moran during their April 15 meeting that Prime 
Minister Sharon's disengagement plan is one-sided and rewards 
terror.  Palestinian leadership is corrupt, he continued, and 
this only serves to reward them for choosing the path of 
terror over negotiations.  According to Shtern, the current 
intifada is not about settlements or pre-1967 borders but 
about Palestinian acceptance of the state of Israel.  If 
settlements were the issue, he reasoned, then Palestinian 
terror attacks should be concentrated directly at them rather 
than in Israel proper, where most attacks continue to take 
place. 
 
2.  (C)  Shtern reaffirmed the commitment of the National 
Union party to pull out of the governing coalition if the 
disengagement plan is adopted by the Cabinet.  (Note: 
National Union Chairman and Transportation Minister Avigdor 
Lieberman told the Ambassador on April 20 that his party 
would not stay in the coalition if the Cabinet approved 
Sharon's disengagement plan (reftel). End Note.) Speaking the 
day after Sharon's meeting with POTUS, Shtern called the plan 
a risk to Israel's survival and stated that it was a mistake 
for President Bush to have given his support.  In response to 
Congressman Davis' query whether in Shtern's view there was 
anything the President could do to rectify the situation, 
Shtern responded that he must support the unity of Jerusalem 
under Israeli control and declare unequivocally that there 
should be no return to pre-1967 borders. 
 
3.  (U)  Bio Note.  Shtern is one of 7 National Union MK's, 
and is Chairman of the Internal Affairs and Environment 
Committee.  He has a Ph.D. in Economics from Moscow 
University, where he was a lecturer in Economics from 1971 
until his emigration to Israel in 1981. 
 
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