US embassy cable - 05VIENNA697

UNCLAS VIENNA 000697 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR IO/T, IO/S, EUR/ERA AND EUR/AGS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AORC, ELAB, KIPR, IS, AU, WIPO, ILO 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL'S MEMBERSHIP IN GROUPS AT WIPO, ILO, UNEP, 
UN-HABITAT AND CND: AUSTRIAN RESPONSE 
 
REF: A) STATE 35846 B) BRUSSELS 850 
 
This message is sensitive but unclassified. 
 
1.  (SBU) EconPolOff delivered ref a demarche on March 4 to 
Dr. Helmut Boeck, new deputy head of the Austrian MFA's 
International Organizations Bureau.  He observed that some of 
these issues have been pending since his last stint in the UN 
Affairs Bureau seven years ago.  Boeck told us that, to the 
best of his knowledge, EU member states were still split on 
this issue, but would seek to hammer out a common position. 
He found the timing of our demarche propitious, since he will 
be representing Austria at the CONUN meeting in Brussels on 
March 8 (ref b). 
 
2.  (SBU) We argued that the draft EU-Israel Action Plan's 
commitment to normalizing Israel's position in the UN, as 
well as recent signs of progress in the Middle East Peace 
Process, indicated that the time was right to act on Israeli 
participation in WEOG groups in Nairobi and Vienna, WIPO 
group B and ILO IMEC.  Boeck seemed impressed by this, and 
promised to convey our points to other offices in MFA with 
specific responsibility for ILO, UNEP, UN-Habitat, CND and 
WIPO matters.  (Note: Post is also providing courtesy copies 
of the demarche to those offices and will engage them.)  We 
also requested a follow-up meeting with Boeck after his 
return from the CONUN session in Brussels. 
 
Brown