US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV3505

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 003505 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2015 
TAGS: PREL, KWBG, ECON, IS, GAZA DISENGAGEMENT, ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS 
SUBJECT: POLITICS AND BUREAUCRACY SLOW DISENGAGEMENT 
PLANNING WITHIN GOI AND PA 
 
REF: JERUSALEM 2158 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
This cable was cleared by ConGen Jerusalem. 
 
1.  (S) Summary: GOI contacts recently described bureaucratic 
and political obstacles to disengagement planning and GOI-PA 
coordination on the transfer of settlement assets, upgrades 
at the border crossings, and water talks.  NSC advisor Gaby 
Blum characterized the MoD's takeover of leadership on 
settlement assets and crossings coordination as a 
bureaucratic maneuver for power, and noted that the limits it 
has placed on the asset data requested by the PA constitutes 
a breach of previous agreement.  NSC head Giora Eiland is 
reportedly reluctant to answer to the MoD, and will meet with 
PM Sharon this week to discuss the issue.  Blum argued that 
even the limited progress made to date on planning for the 
transfer of assets has been marked by political infighting on 
both sides, including Likud party politics within the GOI and 
Civil Affairs Minister Dahlan's reluctance to divest 
negotiating authority to the PA technical teams.  On water, 
Palestinian Water Authority chairman Fadel Kawash told 
Emboffs and ConGenoffs that he had not yet been given the 
go-ahead to negotiate disengagement water issues with his GOI 
counterparts, but that he was willing to do so informally 
during regular meetings of the Joint Water Committee.  Kawash 
emphasized that USAID's Gaza water carrier and desalinization 
projects, which were halted following the October 2003 
killings of USG personnel in Gaza, are important to help 
cover Gaza's 60 mcm water deficit.  End summary. 
 
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MoD,s Takeover of Discussions a Bureaucratic Power Play 
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2.  (S) Outgoing NSC advisor Gaby Blum told EconCouns June 1 
that "bureaucratic infighting" within the GOI, including 
Likud party politics in the run-up to elections, and the 
Ministry of Defense,s (MoD) takeover of discussions on 
settlement assets and crossings, has brought internal GOI 
preparations for disengagement coordination with the PA to a 
standstill.  According to Blum, the MoD "woke up a little 
late" to the process, and decided to grab a piece of the 
disengagement planning agenda for itself. In Blum,s view, 
Minister Without Portfolio Haim Ramon was remiss for not 
keeping the MoD in check as part of the larger GOI team. 
Blum added that Defense Minister Mofaz is reluctant to move 
ahead with PA coordination until PA President Abbas "lives up 
to" his Sharm el-Sheikh commitments.  In a June 3 meeting 
with the Ambassador, MoD advisor Brigadier General (res) 
Baruch Spiegel confirmed that the MoD is the appropriate 
address for crossings and assets issues.  He added that 
control of the passages leading up to privatization is being 
transferred from the Israeli Airports Authority (IAA) to the 
MoD in order to allow increased flexibility on security 
issues. 
 
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Eiland Undercut by MoD 
---------------------- 
 
3.  (S) The MoD,s machinations have left NSC head Giora 
Eiland uncertain as to whether he wants to continue his 
involvement in disengagement coordination, Blum said, adding 
that he will meet with PM Sharon this week to question 
whether Sharon wants him to continue or not.  While Vice PM 
Shimon Peres had been relying on Eiland to handle the bulk of 
negotiations with the Palestinians, she explained, Eiland was 
significantly undercut by the MoD,s censorship of the 
settlement asset data that the GOI planned to give the PA 
earlier this week.  BG Spiegel told the Ambassador he hopes 
the MoD will be able to release the data, but according to 
Blum it will not include high-resolution aerial photos and 
other requested data due to the MoD,s security concerns. 
While the parties had initially come to an agreement to 
release data that is publicly available, Blum said, the 
information and aerial photos that the MoD has now deemed 
acceptable are less defined than what is available in the 
private sector, and will only cover approximately one page of 
the PA's seven-page request for asset inventory.  Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs Deputy DG for Economic Affairs Ilan Baruch 
told EconCouns that the MFA is no longer part of the GOI's 
settlement asset or passages teams. 
 
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GOI-PA Asset Talks Still Mired in Politics 
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4.  (S) Touching on GOI-PA discussions to date regarding the 
transfer of settlement assets, Blum said that Dahlan 
continues to reject any third party transfer, and that the PA 
has stated it will not accept additional settler 
compensation.  (Note: PA officials have told ConGenOffs that 
they would be willing to discuss a role for third parties in 
the handover but are not willing to discuss additional 
settler compensation.  See reftel.  End note.)  According to 
Dahlan, Blum reported, the PA will only agree to informally 
accept the settlement assets from the GOI after disengagement 
takes place.  (Note: According to Planning Minister Al-Khatib 
May 26, the PA will be submitting draft legislation to the 
PLC that will give the PA legal authority to take 
custodianship of the evacuated settlements until the final 
disposition of the assets is resolved.  End note.)  Blum 
commented that the PA,s strategy of focusing on political 
issues before allowing the technical teams to work is a 
"recipe for inaction."  She also discussed the postponement 
of a planned PM Sharon-level meeting to discuss potential 
changes in the GOI's plan to destroy settlement houses due to 
Housing Minister Tzipi Livni's objections that "any change in 
this decision is a change in disengagement law" and must be 
considered by the Knesset.  In Blum's view, Livni's 
objections were raised for the benefit of her constituency, 
and example of the party politics Blum argued are stalling 
GOI disengagement planning. 
 
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Water An Off-Again On-Again Aspect of Disengagement Prep 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
5.  (S) After missing a planned May 31 informal lunch with 
the Israeli water commissioner and NEA S T advisor Charles 
Lawson due to what he claimed were permit problems,  PWA 
Commissioner Fadel Kawash met June 1 with Lawson, a senior 
GOI water consultant, ESTHoff and ConGenoffs.  Fadel 
emphasized that he still did not have the go-ahead from his 
superiors in the PA to discuss disengagement water issues 
with the GOI, due in part to Civil Affairs Minister Dahlan,s 
reluctance to delegate coordination responsibilities to the 
technical level teams until the coordination agenda had been 
agreed to at the political level.  He agreed to conduct 
informal disengagement preparations with the GOI during 
regular Joint Water Committee meetings. 
 
6.  (S) Fadel and the GOI consultant concurred that the 
potential for unauthorized well-digging on settlement lands 
is a serious concern for post-disengagement Gaza, and 
emphasized that there must be a clear mechanism for securing 
the assets following withdrawal.  While Fadel recognized that 
water from Israel is a politically sensitive subject within 
the PA, he said he believed it was a key means of addressing 
Gaza,s 60 mcm water deficit.  USAID,s Gaza carrier and 
desalinization projects should be resumed, he said, 
suggesting a meeting with USAID, ConGen and Embassy 
representatives in the near future to discuss potential means 
of continuing the projects without U.S. presence in Gaza. 
 
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