US embassy cable - 04ROME2875

C O N F I D E N T I A L  ROME 002875 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR NEA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/22/2014 
TAGS: PREL, KPAL, IS, IT, EU, UNGA 
SUBJECT: ITALY WARNS AGAINST MARGINALIZATION OF THE EU IN 
THE QUARTET 
 
REF: A. USUN 1677 
 
     B. ROME 2763 
 
Classified By: DCM Emil Skodon for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) Summary.  The Italian MFA warned that US 
"acquiescence" in Israel's efforts to exclude the European 
Union from engagement in the peace process is undermining the 
EU's credibility in the region, which will impede progress on 
the Roadmap and serve to further the divide between the 
Israelis and Palestinians.  Our MFA contacts argued that 
Italy has striven to bridge the gap both between the 
conflicting parties and within the EU, and they urged 
Washington to include the EU in its initiatives from the 
beginning or risk condemning the Quartet to irrelevance.  End 
summary. 
 
2. (C) At a July 21 luncheon hosted by DCM Skodon for key 
players in the MFA's Middle East Bureau, Director General 
(NEA A/S-equivalent) Riccardo Sessa said that the US is 
allowing Israel to exclude the European Union from any 
discussion of security and political issues in the Peace 
Process.  He charged that Israel seems to want the EU 
involved only when it comes time to open its wallet.  This 
approach not only undermines the EU's credibility with the 
Palestinians and the Quartet's efforts to implement the 
Roadmap, but also increases skepticism among EU states that 
the Quartet is more than a cloak for a process determined 
only by Israel and the US. 
 
3. (C) Sessa and Eastern Med Office Director Luca Ferrari 
cited three specific cases: 
-- Israel's refusal to engage with EU interlocutors; 
-- Recent security-related meetings involving the US, Russia, 
Israel and Palestinians, but not the EU; 
-- The July 21 AP report of a planned meeting in October 
among the US, Egypt, Israel and the Palestinians.  (Note: 
Embassy subsequently informed Ferrari, per Department press 
guidance, that the AP report is without foundation). 
 
4. (C) Sessa said the US could not continue to take 
initiatives, or simply to endorse Israeli initiatives, and 
then expect the EU to follow up ("clean the dishes") with the 
necessary financial resources.  Washington, he stressed, must 
involve the EU in its efforts to move the Roadmap forward, 
otherwise the Palestinians, with whom EU countries have 
traditionally enjoyed more confidence, will begin to view the 
EU as an impotent player and thus lose faith in the peace 
process. 
 
5. (C) Sessa and Ferrari described how this dynamic had 
affected the EU position on the UNGA resolution, approved the 
previous day, on the ICJ advisory opinion.  Germany, normally 
sensitive to Israeli positions, had been unusually silent and 
virtually ready to accept the Palestinian text first tabled. 
As a result, the UK, Netherlands and Italy had been lonelier 
in their determination to insist on amendments to the text. 
Israel recognized that Italy had made an effort: an Israeli 
radio broadcast the same day had reportedly singled out Italy 
and the UK for their efforts to amend the draft.  The new 
Italian Ambassador to Israel, Sandro de Bernadin, on 
presenting his credentials July 21, got an earful of 
criticism directed at the EU, but also appreciation for 
Italy's attempt to re-balance the EU approach.  However, 
Sessa continued, the US needed to recognize the limits to the 
ability of any EU member to stand up for Israel's legitimate 
concerns.  As more EU members came to doubt whether Israel 
took the EU's Quartet membership seriously, the usual 
pressure to come to EU consensus would inevitably overwhelm 
the ability of the UK, Italy or any other state to insist on 
a balanced position. 
 
6. (C) Sessa said the Italians recognize that Israel's 
escalating demonization of the European Union has much to do 
with Israeli domestic politics.  It is the US, he argued, 
that should realize that this trend will inevitably cause EU 
political opinion to turn against continued involvement in 
the Quartet.  This would undo what Italy regards as its own 
successful efforts (during its EU Presidency last year), and 
the Dutch intention currently, to make the EU a more balanced 
and impartial player between Israel and the Palestinians. 
 
 
Sessa emphasized that the US could take steps right now to 
improve the image of the EU as a serious member of the 
Quartet. 
 
7. (C) In reply to the Italian arguments, DCM and poloffs 
explained that it remained USG policy to implement the 
Roadmap under the auspices of all members of the Quartet, 
including the EU.  If EU members felt they were losing 
credibility with Israel, they should ask themselves what 
concrete steps they could take to prove to the Israelis that 
Europe continued to make vital contributions to advancing the 
peace process.  We urged the Italians to help convince the 
Palestinians not to divert energy toward maneuvering for 
empty victories in the UN when it could be better spent on 
working toward practical measures to smooth the proposed Gaza 
transition. 
 
8. (C) Comment. The Berlusconi government prides itself on 
having developed a closer relationship with Israel and on 
having led the EU to adopt a more balanced approach to the 
conflict.  In addition to securing EU support for designating 
Hamas as a terrorist organization during the Italian EU 
presidency, Italy has consistently been, along with the UK, 
one of the stalwarts in seeking more balance in the repeated 
UNGA resolutions against Israel. Our MFA interlocutors 
clearly are frustrated that their efforts are being 
undermined by what they perceive as US acceptance in Israel's 
exclusion of the EU in key negotiations.  End comment. 
 
9. (C) On other issues: Sessa said he had spoken that morning 
with Nimmer Hammad, the long-time Palestinian representative 
to Italy, about the situation in Gaza.  He said Hammad had 
never seemed so discouraged at the internal Palestinian 
situation, and had no clue as to how Arafat could resolve it. 
 Sessa said that all of the EU recognizes the need to give 
Arafat a tough message on ceding real authorities to others; 
even French FM Barnier had done so during last week's call on 
Arafat. It remains difficult to deliver this message 
effectively because of the US (and Italian) position 
discouraging direct contact with him.  Ferrari added his 
judgment that the Palestinians' post-Arafat scenario would 
not only be bloody between Hamas and Arafat, but also among 
the various Fatah-related factions.  Sessa noted Italy still 
views Sharon's Gaza plan as viable and something that "needs 
to be done in any case." 
 
10. (U) Postscript: In a July 23 front-page editorial in 
leading daily Corriere della Sera, Foreign Minister Frattini 
explains Italy's vote in favor of the ICJ resolution.  He 
defends construction of the "wall" as a reasonable measure 
against a vicious terrorist threat, but says Italy and the EU 
cannot accept that it is built on Palestinian territory. 
Court opinions and UNGA resolutions, he says, cannot resolve 
issues that must be addressed through politics and dialogue. 
If the EU wants to have a serious role in the peace process, 
it must be "equidistant" between Israel and Palestine; 
"otherwise, Europe will condemn itself to a marginal role and 
the destiny of peace will be entrusted solely to the US." 
 
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 2004ROME02875 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL