US embassy cable - 04TELAVIV6374

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TEL AVIV 006374 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/11/2013 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, KWBG, IS, SETTLEMENTS, ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS, GAZA DISENGAGEMENT 
SUBJECT: SPIEGEL ON ELECTION OBSERVERS, FENCE, JAYYUS, AND 
DISENGAGEMENT 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) 
. 
 
1.  SUMMARY:  GOI coordinator for separation barrier issues 
BG (res) Baruch Spiegel (protect) spoke to POL/C December 14 
about the apparent lack of GOI preparations to handle 
international election monitors, his team's efforts to 
document outpost and settlement activity, the apparent new 
responsiveness within the bureaucracy and IDF to PM Sharon's 
initiatives on disengagement and on easing restrictions on 
Palestinians, and the land dispute in Jayyus.  END SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------- 
ELECTIONS MONITORING 
--------------------- 
 
2.  (C) GOI coordinator for the separation barrier and 
outpost/settlement issues BG (res) Baruch Spiegel (protect) 
told POL/C December 14 that he has been urging GOI officials 
to establish immediately a coordinated, centralized mechanism 
to assist international observers coming to the Palestinian 
areas for the January 9 Palestinian Authority presidential 
election.  Spiegel said that while the issue is outside his 
current purview, his experience as Israel's elections 
coordinator in 1996 demonstrates that handling several 
hundred international monitors is a massive undertaking 
requiring the collaboration of the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, IDF, MOD and many other agencies.  Issues of 
security, travel, checkpoints, communications and logistics 
require thorough planning, he said, and if "two presidents" 
show up, the task will be huge. 
 
3.  (C) Spiegel said that for the 1996 elections, the GOI 
established a central headquarters to coordinate activities 
by both Israeli and non-governmental players.  The GOI issued 
special rose-colored documents for observers, trained Israeli 
civilians and IDF personnel, provided briefings on 
checkpoints and Israeli procedures, set up specialized 
communications to ensure rapid contact and dissemination of 
information, and engaged in major contingency planning. 
Imagine, he said, what would happen now if Hamas kidnapped an 
election observer in Khan Yunis.  With only three-plus weeks 
until the elections, he added, no such entity has yet been 
established, and these elections are "more complex" than the 
1996 process.  Spiegel said he had suggested that Amir 
Maimon, whom he said is the MFA coordinator for foreign 
observers, quickly talk to all those who handled the 1996 
elections and review the voluminous files.  Spiegel suggested 
that in light of a probable American contingent participating 
in the election monitoring, the Embassy should initiate 
contacts as soon as possible with Maimon, followed by talks 
with MOD official Amos Gilad and COGAT chief MG Mishlev in 
order to avoid problems. 
 
4.  (C) Note: NDI resident representative Shannon O'Connell 
told AIDoff December 15 that MFA officials held an initial 
meeting last week with observer representatives and will hold 
another late December 15.  The first meeting included 
personnel from NDI, the European observation team, and UNDP, 
which is coordinating international observer efforts for the 
Palestinian Central Elections Commission.  The GOI team was 
led by MFA director for Palestinian affairs Oded Ben Haim and 
included personnel from the MFA legal counsel's office and 
the emergency operations directorate.  O'Connell said the GOI 
is mandating a laborious credentialing process that O'Connell 
termed burdensome but not insurmountable, and plans to issue 
accreditation documents for observers at ports of entry.  The 
GOI will issue special stickers and permits for observer 
vehicles, but local staff will all need to go through the 
current process to secure travel permits.  GOI officials 
reportedly told the observer reps that the safety of Israelis 
would come first in all cases, and made no commitments to 
freedom of movement for observers.  A planned meeting this 
week between PA Minister Saeb Erakat and PM advisor Dov 
Weissglas to discuss elections was postponed as a result of 
the Rafah bombing.  END NOTE. 
 
------------------------ 
OUTPOSTS AND SETTLEMENTS 
------------------------ 
 
5.  (C) Spiegel said his team is pressing ahead on efforts to 
update and compile information on outposts and settlements, 
and is generating a "one-button" database from which they can 
call up comprehensive data on every site.  He acknowledged 
that, since much of the data has not been updated since 1967, 
the task is large and likely to require several more months 
to complete.  He added, however, that the database will be 
useful even before completion, and that legal advisor Talia 
Sasson is making significant progress on the full range of 
legal issues surrounding outposts and settlements.  Asked 
about outpost numbers and removals, Spiegel said that the USG 
and the GOI differ in their definitions of outposts, then 
acknowledged offering without specifics that while several 
uninhabited outposts have been dismantled, little has been 
done to any inhabited outposts. 
------------------------------------- 
DISENGAGEMENT, CHECKPOINTS AND ATTACKS 
------------------------------------- 
 
6.  (C) Spiegel voiced confidence that the bureaucracy is 
getting on board to implement PM Sharon's disengagement plan 
and relaxation of restrictions on Palestinians.  He asserted 
that COS Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon has issued clear orders all 
the way down through the ranks and has ensured that all the 
commanders are personally involved in the process.  That 
clarity of orders has improved the bureaucracy's response to 
his own taskings, Spiegel said, noting that he was at the 
moment awaiting the imminent arrival of a comprehensive list 
of West Bank checkpoints from which to identify points for 
possible relaxations.  Other personnel are working on 
measures to, for instance, ease access to Bethlehem for 
Christmas, he said.  Spiegel voiced real concern, however, 
that new Palestinian attacks, such as the recent Rafah 
checkpoint bombing, are apt to cripple the efforts to ease 
restrictions on Palestinians.  He expressed dismay that 
militant factions are targeting Gaza crossing points that are 
so critical to Palestinian well-being. 
 
------------------ 
SEPARATION BARRIER 
------------------ 
 
7.  (C) Referring to a wall map of the West Bank, Spiegel 
said that he had sent to PM Sharon three options for 
re-routing the separation barrier to ease the hardship on 
Palestinians in compliance with the High Court's decision. 
He hoped for a decision on the final route soon, but noted 
that the Prime Minister is heavily engaged in coalition 
negotiations right now.  He added that, with the completion 
of the barrier and the crossing points, the IDF will be able 
to remove several major checkpoints throughout the northern 
part of the northern West Bank, leaving a full contiguous 
area that he claimed will be bigger than the Gaza Strip. 
 
------------------- 
JAYYUS LAND DISPUTE 
------------------- 
 
8.  (C) Spiegel told POL/C that he currently had a team in 
the field to investigate the land and access dispute 
surrounding Israeli land clearance and construction 
activities on land claimed by Palestinians west of the 
separation barrier at Jayyus.  Spiegel said that so-far 
incomplete reports from the team indicate that the dispute 
involves the implications for Palestinian landowners of 
Israeli construction on a plot of land west of the barrier 
that allegedly had been purchased from a separate 
Palestinian.  Among perhaps other issues, the Israeli 
construction would apparently block remaining Palestinian 
landowners in that area from accessing their plots west of 
the separation barrier.  Spiegel said he had ordered a halt 
to all clearance and construction activities until resolution 
of all the issues, and that the case is now to go before the 
High Court (apparently at the request of the Palestinian 
landowners). 
 
--------------------- 
EU ELECTION OBSERVERS 
--------------------- 
 
9.  (C) In a separate meeting December 13, Jan Thesleff, an 
aide to EU Envoy Marc Otte, told POL/C that he anticipated a 
combined "European" observer delegation, headquartered in 
Ramallah, consisting of the groups noted below.  Thesleff 
said the European contribution to the Presidential elections 
process would be 4.8 million Euros. 
 
-- 32 "long-term" observers who would deploy to the region 
around December 14, with two personnel covering each of the 
PA's election districts. 
 
-- 120 short-term observers who would arrive around January 4. 
 
-- 30 to 40 European parliamentarians. 
 
-- 20 Canadians. 
 
-- 20 Swiss. 
 
-- 15 to 20 Norwegians. 
 
-- plus an unspecified number of logistical, media, security 
and other support staff. 
 
Thesleff said he also anticipated a 100-person observer group 
from the United States that would include personnel from NDI 
and the Carter Center, including former President Carter. 
 
********************************************* ******************** 
Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv 
 
You can also access this site through the State Department's 
Classified SIPRNET website. 
********************************************* ******************** 
KURTZER