US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV2077

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 002077 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/04/2010 
TAGS: PREL, KWBG, OREP, IS, ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS, COUNTERTERRORISM 
SUBJECT: FM SHALOM EXPRESSES SKEPTICISM TO CODEL SAXTON ON 
ABBAS'S COMMITMENT TO DISMANTLE TERROR GROUPS 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
. 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY:  In a March 30 meeting with Codel Saxton and 
the Ambassador, Foreign Minister Shalom expressed 
dissatisfaction with what he called Palestinian President 
Abbas's lack of effort to dismantle terrorist groups and the 
recent turn of roadmap discussions toward final status 
issues.  He also discussed regional political changes, 
including those in Iraq, and their positive effects, and 
spoke extensively on his view of Syria's involvement in 
Lebanon.  He said he was optimistic that change is 
forthcoming in Lebanon and negatively described Syria's 
involvement in that country and in promoting terrorist acts 
in Israel via Hizballah and Hamas.  Shalom touched briefly on 
what he said is Iran's involvement with these terrorist 
groups as well, and expressed worry over Iran's possible 
attainment of nuclear weapons.  He also expressed unhappiness 
over the State Department's travel advisory for Israel.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
----------------------------- 
Disengagement and the Roadmap 
----------------------------- 
 
2. (C) Stressing that Abbas can do more for peace, Foreign 
Minister Silvan Shalom expressed to Codel Saxton 
dissatisfaction with Abbas's attempts to work with extremist 
groups in Palestinian society.  He said that Abbas "is not 
willing to forget them or to dismantle them; he is trying to 
achieve peace with them and that's unacceptable."  Individual 
terrorists, he said, therefore will retain the ability to 
"blow up" the peace process.  Shalom said that the number of 
recent successful bombing attacks in Israel is low not 
because Abbas has been successful in preventing them - or has 
even tried -- but because Israel's own security forces have 
been successful in catching and stopping suicide bombers. 
 
3. (C) Moving to the disengagement plan, Shalom said that 
settler evacuations will not take long.  He said Israel is 
coordinating with both Egypt and the U.S., and with the 
Palestinians "in some way."  He was critical, however, of 
what he said were many negative statements coming from the 
Palestinian leadership.  As an example, he said, Abbas 
offered to split with Hamas the assets and buildings that the 
Israelis will leave in Gaza after disengagement. 
 
4. (C) Shalom reiterated Israeli support for the roadmap. At 
the same time, he stressed that the GOI wants to follow it 
step by step, and not "jump to final stage issues we still 
disagree about," citing the status of Jerusalem and 
settlements as examples. 
 
--------------- 
Regional Issues 
--------------- 
 
5. (C) Shalom assessed that the situation in Iraq, while 
still an ongoing process, will soon stabilize.  He said the 
world is much better without Saddam Hussein, and pointed to 
Saddam's fall from power, Arafat's death, and Qaddafi's 
change in attitude as reasons for optimism about the region's 
future. 
 
6. (C) Shalom condemned Iran for supporting Hizballah, citing 
what he claimed have been Iranian shipments of weapons to 
Hizballah through the Damascus airport.  He called Hizballah 
the long arm of Iran, and charged that it has taken over 
Saddam's role of giving money to families of suicide bombers. 
 Shalom asserted that Iran -- through Hizballah -- has 
financed the creation of 60 new terror cells within Hamas. 
The necessary response to global extremism, he said, is to 
"empower the moderates and alienate the extremists."  He also 
expressed concern over Iran's nuclear program. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
What the Future Holds for Lebanon and Syria 
------------------------------------------- 
 
7. (C) Rep. Saxton commented that many Americans are 
"energized" by the possible cause and effect relationship 
between the transition in Iraq and recent events in Lebanon. 
Shalom expressed optimism for Lebanon's future and predicted 
that the Lebanese people will recover their freedom after 30 
years of occupation.  Noting that the current President Assad 
did not, unlike his father in 1991, support U.S. intervention 
in Iraq, Shalom said that Assad "made a huge mistake by not 
following his dad's support of the U.S.," and since then he 
has made many mistakes, one after the other. 
 
8. (C) Shalom attributed what he characterized as the new 
courage of the Lebanese people to demonstrate against Syria 
to three events:  the Iraq elections, President Mubarak's 
opening of Egypt's presidential elections, and the 
above-noted leadership changes in Iraq, the PA, and Libya. 
He commented that Syria made a mistake, and angered the 
French, when it pushed the Lebanese parliament to amend the 
constitution so that President Lahoud could run for a third 
term.  France sponsored UNSCR 1559, he said, because 
President Chirac wanted Hariri to be the next Lebanese 
president. 
 
9. (C) While Shalom predicted that Syria will be compelled to 
leave Lebanon very soon due to grassroots Lebanese movements 
and American and French pressure, he thought Assad would try 
to stay as long as possible.  Syrians, he said, traditionally 
consider Lebanon to be an extension of southern Syria. 
According to Shalom, this is why Syria never opened an 
embassy in Beirut, and did not allow the Lebanese to do so 
either in Damascus.  He said that Syria is now trying to buy 
time and that it's more important to Syria "to stay in 
Lebanon than to have the Golan Heights."  Other reasons given 
by Shalom for Syria's fight to stay in Lebanon are that 20 
percent of Syrian labor works in Lebanon; Syria receives much 
income from operating a drug industry in Lebanon; and Lebanon 
is home to Hamas and Hizballah training camps.  He said that 
Hizballah will do anything to protect Syria's engagement in 
Lebanon, which is why it has been arranging Lebanese mass 
demonstrations in favor of Syria. 
 
10. (C) Shalom drew parallels between Hizballah and Hamas. 
He expressed concern about Hamas trying to emulate the 
Hizballah model of an organization with separate political 
and terrorist wings.  He applauded the U.S. Congress for its 
assistance in trying to convince Europeans that Hizballah is 
a terrorist group and stated that Israel has been working 
hard to do the same. 
 
-------------------- 
U.S. Travel Advisory 
-------------------- 
 
11. (C) Shalom called for the State Department to soften its 
travel advisory for Israel, calling the step necessary for 
Israel to gain revenue from tourism and foreign business 
investment.  He said a new travel advisory would underline 
the emergence of a new era in Israel, one in which he claimed 
that Israelis have succeeded in normalizing relations with 
the Palestinians. 
 
12. (SBU) Members of the Codel included Representatives Jim 
Saxton and Geoff Davis, professional staff member Tom Hawley, 
and Major Michael Hopkins of the U.S. Army. 
 
13. (U) The Codel did not clear this message. 
 
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