US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV2729

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 002729 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, KNAR, IS, GOI INTERNAL, GAZA DISENGAGEMENT 
SUBJECT: SHARANSKY'S RESIGNATION OVER DISENGAGEMENT LEAVES 
GAP IN JEWISH PROPERTY RESTITUTION COVERAGE 
 
REF: TEL AVIV 2664 (NODIS NOTAL) 
 
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Gene Cretz for reasons 1.4 (b,d) 
. 
 
1.  (C) The long-expected May 2 resignation of 
Minister-without-Porfolio Natan Sharansky was an act of 
political symbolism by a disengagement opponent that comes 
too late to affect the course of disengagement.  In 
announcing that he is resigning over his opposition to 
disengagement, Sharansky said that he opposed disengagement 
because it rewards terrorism and should be contingent on 
democratic reforms in the Palestinian Authority.  Sharansky 
told Prime Minister Sharon privately of his decision on April 
21 (reftel), but delayed the public announcement until after 
the Passover holiday and a stay this past weekend at the Gush 
Katif settlement block in Gaza.  Sharansky apparently made 
his decision to leave the GOI much earlier.  According to one 
of his former top aides, Erin Mor, Sharansky informed his 
staff prior to GOI decisions on disengagement in February and 
March that, once disengagement would become finalized, he 
would have to leave the government. 
 
2.  (C) Mor expressed uncertainty about Sharansky's political 
future.  Since Sharansky is not a Knesset Member, his 
resignation from his ministerial position takes him out of 
the GOI altogether.  Agudat Yisrael MK Ya'akov Litzman told 
Poloff May 2 that he has heard that Sharansky intends to 
announce his candidacy to head the Jewish Agency.  Mor 
suggested that Sharansky may now intend to get more involved 
in Likud politics.  (Note: Sharansky was chairman of the 
former Yisrael Ba'aliya Party, which merged with Likud last 
year.  The merger agreement brought 128 members of Yisrael 
Ba'aliya into Likud's 3,000-member Central Committee.  End 
note.)  Sharansky may also intend to spend more time 
promoting his new book, "The Case for Democracy."  His staff 
has in recent months met with emboffs to discuss ideas for 
advancing democracy in the Middle East.  In a May 2 morning 
meeting with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Sharansky was 
upbeat and said that he would continue his work. 
 
3.  (C) Sharansky's resignation leaves temporarily vacant the 
minister-without-portfolio position that covers Jewish 
property restitution and anti-Semitism.  The vacancy could 
lead the GOI to reexamine how it handles these matters.  Mor, 
who worked closely with Sharansky on restitution issues and 
who has returned to his former position in the Ministry of 
Finance, opined that Holocaust-era restitution matters should 
be housed within a permanent ministry, and not handled by a 
minister-without-portfolio, now that the GOI has in the past 
month launched a five-year plan on restitution matters.  Mor 
noted that restitution of Jewish property from Arab countries 
has a permanent structure within the Ministry of Justice, and 
advocated creating a similar structure for Holocaust-era 
restitution issues within the Finance Ministry.  He said he 
is now a candidate to head the Finance Ministry's 
International Division, and that if appointed, he would 
promote the establishment of such a structure to handle 
property restitution. 
 
4.  (C) MK Litzman, who chairs the Knesset's Finance 
Committee, however, told Poloff that he is against placing 
Jewish property restitution within the Finance Ministry, and 
would prefer that it be handled by the Prime Minister, 
himself.  Litzman said he expected the Prime Minister would 
handle restitution and the other areas left vacant by 
Sharansky until Sharon can shepherd through the Knesset the 
appointment of several additional ministers. 
 
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