US embassy cable - 04TELAVIV6614

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 006614 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CMGT, SOCI, PINS, IS, ISRAELI SOCIETY 
SUBJECT: Consular Field Trip to Haifa 
 
1.  Begin summary: On 13 December 2004, the American 
officers of the Consular Section traveled to Israel's 
northern port city of Haifa for meetings with community 
leaders, including the mayor, the chief of police, and 
others, as well as from a tour of the Haifa Consular 
Agency.  Officers benefited from exposure to Israel's most 
culturally diverse and progressive city.  End summary. 
 
2.   On 13 December 2004, a group of 10 Embassy consular 
officers traveled to Haifa to meet with city and community 
leaders and visit the Consular Agency.  Haifa is Israel's 
third most populous city, after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, 
with a population of just over 300,000.  Its population is 
diverse by Israeli standards, with some 82% Jewish- 
Israelis, 10% Arab-Israelis (split evenly between 
Christians and Muslims), and 8% classified as "other." 
Haifa is also home, for the time being, to Israel's largest 
seaport (though according to Mayor Yona Yohav, Haifa's port 
will be soon be exceeded in size by the newer port in 
Ashdod).  Though the city's local economy has suffered from 
the economic stagnation throughout Israel of recent years, 
it benefits from the presence of Intel, Microsoft, and 
other high-tech facilities. Haifa is also home to two of 
Israel's most prestigious universities, Haifa University 
and the Technion. 
 
Mayor Yahav 
----------- 
 
3.  The first meeting of the day was with Haifa's Mayor, 
Yona Yahav.  Mayor Yahav, a Labor-party veteran who served 
after graduation from Hebrew University law school as an 
aide to legendary Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek, was elected 
in 2003 as the candidate of the Green, Neighborhood, and 
Shinui Parties.  He has a daughter in law school at Yale. 
The mayor discussed at length a theme that was repeated 
throughout the day:  the historical tolerance and ethnic 
diversity that characterizes Haifa and gives residents of 
the city an optimistic outlook elsewhere in short supply 
among Israelis.  The Mayor hopes to raise Haifa's profile 
worldwide as a unique model of a positive, culturally 
inclusive future not just for the Israel but for the entire 
Middle East.  He showed conoffs a short film building on 
the above themes, which he had been proud to present at the 
August 2004 AIPAC meeting in the US. He noted that AIPAC 
groups are now adding Haifa to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as 
necessary stops on their visits to Israel. 
 
Police Chief Meriesh 
-------------------- 
 
4.  (SBU) Haifa District Police Chief Nir Meriesh Col. 
Meriesh graduated with a BA in business administration from 
Haifa University, as well as a master's in government from 
the JFK School of Government at Harvard, where he went on 
scholarship.  A former IDF Major, he served in the past as 
commandant of the Police Academy in Israel, as commander of 
the northern division of the local highway patrol, and as 
commandant of the police officers academy. Mariesh 
described for conoffs not just the success of the police in 
maintaining civic order among closely knit Arab and Jewish 
Israeli communities, but also the challenges of dealing 
with and encouraging assimilation of recent immigrants from 
the Former Soviet Union (FSU). 
 
5.  (SBU) According to Mariesh, many of these immigrants 
had forced Haifa to confront largely unknown problems,, 
including organized crime families, drug trafficking, 
prostitution and homelessness.  He spoke graphically of 
alcoholic immigrants emerging from passenger vessels in the 
port to disappear into the streets with their meager 
belongings, turning up later in hospitals or dead.  To cope 
with the problems, Mariesh said he actively recruits FSU 
immigrants to serve on the police force and in social 
welfare jobs, hoping thereby to improve ties with and 
intelligence on groups comprising the community. 
 
6.  (SBU) Meriesh also described the police staffing strain 
imposed by the need to prioritize response to/anticipation 
of terrorist attacks and/or political disturbances.  When a 
major incident occurs or is feared likely to occur in Tel 
Aviv or Jerusalem, the Haifa police force, like those 
elsewhere, are called on to supply officers.  Col. Meriesh 
says Haifa can ill-afford to lend its officers and that the 
city invariably suffers a spike in crime when the force is 
depleted. 
 
Haifa University 
---------------- 
 
7.  After a visit to the harmoniously multi-ethnic Rubin 
Conservatory of Music, one of Israel's leading music 
schools, and the Bahai Centre and Gardens, the world 
headquarters of the faith, the trip concluded with a visit 
to Haifa University to meet with Professor of History and 
outgoing Dean of Students, Ron Robin.  Professor Robin 
highlighted the unequalled ethnic diversity of the students 
at Haifa University:  20% of the total student body are 
Arab Israelis as well as 7% of the social science faculty. 
Robin was careful, though, to characterize HU as 
"pluralistic" rather than "multicultural." He said that the 
dominant culture on campus is Jewish-Israeli, and the 
language in the classroom is Hebrew.  Nevertheless, he 
stressed that within this framework, all viewpoints and 
cultures are given space for expression. 
 
8.  During his term as Dean, the Professor noted, he had 
prioritized establishing links with the city of Haifa.  He 
is particularly proud of a program he initiated whereby 
students are housed in depressed neighborhoods in exchange 
for grant money.  The goal of the program is to provide the 
children of these neighborhoods with positive role models 
and promote university education as an avenue of social 
advancement.  Some 100 students are expected to participate 
during the next school year. 
 
9.  Comment:  Conoffs benefited from a first-hand look at 
and discussion of economic and other conditions in Israel's 
third-largest city, as well as a tour of the Consular 
Agency.  Junior Officers, especially, enjoyed an 
opportunity, for many of them the first, to participate in 
meetings with host-government officials and others. 
 
10.  The tone of the trip was refreshingly upbeat. 
Optimism mixed with communal pride in the presentations by 
each of the three principal hosts.  All stressed that the 
success of the Muslim and Jewish inhabitants of Haifa in 
living harmoniously together should be considered a model 
for peace throughout the Middle East.  End comment. 
 
Kurtzer