US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV45

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 000045 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/04/2014 
TAGS: ECON, PREL, MASS, PL, IS, GOI EXTERNAL 
SUBJECT: (C)  PM'S ADVISOR ON RENEWED REPARATIONS CLAIMS 
AGAINST GERMANY, RESTITUTION CLAIMS AGAINST POLAND 
 
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Gene A. Cretz for reasons 1.4 (b 
) and (d). 
 
OutGoing Cable Acknowledgement 
 
 
1. (C) Summary: A GOI working group charged with developing a 
five-year plan on Holocaust-era reparations, pensions and 
restitution is considering a recommendation that the GOI ask 
Germany for about $500 million -- possibly in the form of new 
German-made submarines -- in compensation for what the GOI 
says is that portion of the 1953 German-Israeli reparations 
agreement that had been attributed to East Germany, but never 
paid.  A working group member from the PM's office, Aharon 
Mor (strictly protect), contended that such a GOI claim would 
not violate any "closure" agreements about Holocaust-era 
claims because it would be based on the unfulfilled portion 
of a preexisting agreement.  The working group also expects 
to call for renewed GOI efforts to resolve Holocaust-era 
pension issues within five years and to settle all unresolved 
property and asset issues.   End summary. 
 
2. (C) Mor, who is senior advisor in the Prime Minister,s 
Office on Restitution of Rights and Jewish Property, 
informally previewed elements of the GOI,s not-yet-adopted 
&five-year action plan8 on Holocaust-era reparations, 
pensions and restitution, in a December 8 meeting with 
emboff.  (Strictly protect Mor, per his request.)  He 
emphasized that the action plan, which includes renewed 
claims against Germany and Poland, is still in draft, and is 
being vetted with major Holocaust survivor organizations.  It 
has not yet, therefore, gone forward to the GOI,s newly 
created Ministerial Commission on Restitution for Jewish 
Rights and Property, nor to the full GOI, for review and 
adoption as official policy. 
 
3.  (U)  The text of the GOI Cabinet decision that 
established the Commission is at: 
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/government/communiq ues/2003 
/cabinet communique - 28-dec-2003.htm 
 
------------------------------ 
Draft GOI Approach/Action Plan 
------------------------------ 
 
4. (C) Mor said that a working group including himself and 
Nimrod Barkan, head of the MFA's World Jewish Affairs Bureau, 
was tasked in late 2003 with drafting and submitting to the 
Ministerial Commission a &five-year plan of action8 on 
Holocaust restitution and related issues.  The draft, which 
is nearing completion, could be put forward to the 
Ministerial Commission as early as January/February 2005, Mor 
said.  The report is likely to recommend that the GOI: 
 
-- Work to close all outstanding Holocaust-era reparations 
issues within the next five years, including, in particular, 
what Mor said is a still-unpaid sum from the 1953 West 
Germany)Israel agreement. 
 
-- Work to complete all issues related to Holocaust-era 
pensions within the next five years, while survivors are 
still living. 
 
-- Continue the strongest possible diplomatic action on all 
fronts to secure full restitution of property and assets, 
including heirless property and assets.  Mor said that no 
time limit would apply to this effort, and that the GOI would 
continue work on the issue until it accounts for every asset. 
 (Note: In previous discussions and e-mails, Mor indicated to 
Emboff and EUR/OHI that his draft paper would also include a 
recommendation for the GOI to press for restitution for 
Jewish property and assets in Arab lands from which Jews 
fled.) 
 
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Likely Israel Bilateral Approach to Germany 
------------------------------------------- 
 
5. (C) Regarding Germany, Mor noted that, according to the 
working group,s research, Israel is still due money from its 
1953 Holocaust reparations agreement with West Germany.  He 
said that the amount is one-third of the $845 million agreed 
to in the deal, and represents an amount that West Germany 
reportedly said East Germany would be responsible for paying, 
but that East Germany never paid.  Most of the amount paid to 
Israel under the 1953 agreement was in the form of goods 
transferred from West Germany to Israel.  In this case, 
Israel is considering a request for military goods, probably 
two submarines, worth about $500 million, he said.  (Note: 
Mor was undoubtedly referring to Dolphin-class submarines, 
three of which the GOI received in the early 1990s from 
Germany.  The model now sought by the Israeli Navy costs 
about $350-500 million per submarine.) 
 
6. (C) &This does not constitute a new claim,8 Mor took 
pains to point out.  Rather, he argued, it stems from 
incomplete implementation of an existing agreement, and, as 
such, should not come under the terms of any agreement with 
the United States not to raise new reparations claims against 
Germany.  He noted that he reviewed his analysis with Amb. 
Stuart Eizenstat, the former U.S. special envoy for 
Holocaust-era property claims, when Eizenstat visited Israel 
in November.  According to Mor, Eizenstat concurred that 
nothing in the U.S. closure agreement with Germany in 2000 
would preclude Israel from independently seeking redress of 
an issue stemming from a preexisting agreement.  Mor said he 
hoped that the U.S. would not do anything that could be seen 
as opposing or undermining Israel,s bilateral approach to 
Germany.  Mor agreed to emboff's request to keep the embassy 
and U.S. Special Envoy O'Donnell apprised of working group 
deliberations and other matters of potential U.S. interest, 
and to brief the Ambassador on the restitution plan as it 
nears completion. 
----------------------------------- 
Future Work: Poland and Arab States 
----------------------------------- 
 
7. (C) Finally, Mor noted that Poland would likely be the 
next area of focus of the GOI restitution efforts, and that 
the GOI would work in close coordination with the World 
Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) and the other main 
survivor and restitution bodies in Israel and abroad.  All of 
the above are in addition to the GOI Ministerial Committee,s 
continuing research into expanding pursuit of restitution 
claims for Jewish property and assets from Arab lands. 
 
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KURTZER