US embassy cable - 04TELAVIV6450

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 006450 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/20/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KWBG, ECON, IS, SETTLEMENTS, ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS, GOI INTERNAL 
SUBJECT: TZIPI LIVNI: NO NEW HOUSING TENDERS IN SETTLEMENTS 
WHILE SHE IS HOUSING MINISTER 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer for reasons 1.4 (b,d). 
 
1.  (C) Summary: In her first meeting with the Ambassador as 
acting Minister of Justice December 16, Likud MK Tzipi Livni 
stressed that she will not approve any new housing tenders in 
the settlements while serving as Housing Minister.  Livni 
said she would be ready to discuss problems related to land 
expropriation and illegal housing construction in the 
Israeli-Arab sector.  End Summary. 
 
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Labor has Turned "Greedy" 
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2.  (C) Tzipi Livni told the Ambassador December 16 (before 
Likud and Labor struck a coalition deal) that she wants to 
remain Minister of Justice, a position she has held in an 
acting capacity since Sharon's December 1 dismissal of former 
Justice Minister Tommy Lapid.  Commenting on the ongoing 
portfolio haggling between Likud and Labor in the course of 
their coalition negotiations, Livni confided her view that 
Likud started the talks with Labor from an "unfair" position 
since Likud had "fenced off" from Labor most of the major 
portfolios, including the "big three" -- Defense, Foreign 
Affairs, and Finance.  Livni complained that, after Likud 
conceded several more ministries to Labor, including 
Interior, Labor had become "more greedy."  Livni also 
complained about the influence of Likud operative Uzi Cohen 
on the Likud negotiating team, charging that he is "carping" 
from the sidelines, advising Likud not to give Labor anything. 
 
3.  (C) Livni said that the religious Shas Party concluded a 
day or two earlier that it could not now join a 
pro-disengagement coalition only six weeks after its 
spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, determined that Shas 
could not support disengagement.  If Shas perceives Sharon 
has formed a stable coalition that could last through 
December 2006, however, Shas might join at a later date, 
Livni added. 
 
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No New Housing Tenders 
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4.  (C) Speaking in her capacity as Housing Minister, Livni 
said she had followed a policy of not approving new tenders 
for additional housing units in the territories since 
assuming the portfolio July 4.  She said that, for 
bureaucratic and legal reasons, she was allowing tenders 
approved prior to her assumption of the ministry to go 
forward.  She has also cut NIS 30 million out of the 
Ministry's budget that was programmed for new settlement 
housing construction.  On the issue of the Nof Hasharon 
settlement being built west of Alfei Menashe but connected to 
the infrastructure of Nirit, a town within the Green Line, 
Livni said the issue was purely in the legal realm and was 
being handled by the courts because Nof Hasharon is being 
established entirely by private developers.  She opined, 
however, that the residents of Nirit who have filed a 
petition in the High Court against the construction may have 
filed later than they should have because there is already 
infrastructure on the ground which courts may be loathe to 
take down. 
 
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On Building Demolitions in Israeli-Arab Sector 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
5.  (C) In response to the Ambassador's query, Livni said she 
had not heard about the demolition by Israeli police of 
several buildings under construction in the Israeli-Arab 
northern village of Deir al-Assad December 15, which resulted 
in a skirmish between village residents and police.  Livni 
said that she had been involved in addressing land issues 
affecting the Bedouin when she served as 
Minister-Without-Portfolio in the 15th Knesset.  Although she 
believed that discrimination had been a cause of the 
differential in housing quality between Israeli Jews and 
Arabs, she had come to believe that the problem now was more 
a result of different worldviews.  Whereas Israeli Jews 
would, when confronted with housing code violations, argue 
strenuously against coming into conformity with those 
standards, in the end they would do so.  Israeli Arabs, 
particularly the Bedouin, Livni asserted, simply did not 
accept the concept that the state had any authority over what 
they viewed as Arab land and Arab housing.  This resulted in 
poorer quality dwellings, which were frequently not built to 
code or built illegally. 
 
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On IPR 
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6. (C) Livni said she expected that, should she remain 
Minister of Justice, one of the most difficult issues with 
which she would have to deal would be Intellectual Property 
Rights (IPR).  She admitted that she was not up to speed on 
IPR and would have to invest significant time in 
understanding the complex issues involved. 
 
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Biographical Notes 
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7.  (SBU) Tzipi Livni was born in 1958 in Israel and has a 
law degree from Bar Ilan University.  She was a member of the 
15th and now, the 16th Knesset.  During the 15th Knesset, she 
served as Minister of Regional Cooperation and 
Minister-without-Portfolio, and as a member of the Knesset 
Committees on Constitution, Law and Justice, and the Status 
of Women.  She currently serves as Minister of Immigration 
and Absorption, Minister of Housing and as Acting Minister of 
Justice.  She speaks English and French.  Livni is married 
with two children. 
 
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KURTZER