US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV4063

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 004063 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/28/2015 
TAGS: PREL, KPAL, KWBG, JA, IS, GOI INTERNAL, ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS, GAZA DISENGAGEMENT 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH JAPANESE MIDDLE EAST 
ENVOY ARIMA 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
. 
 
 1. (C)  Japanese Special Envoy Tatsuo Arima and Japanese 
Ambassador to Israel Jun Yokota met with Ambassador Kurtzer 
on June 28 to share assessments of the current state of 
Palestian-Israeli issues.  Arima said he had never seen Dov 
Weissglas, PM Sharon's Senior Advisor, so pessimistic, and 
that meeting with Weissglas "made (me) realize perhaps there 
would be no restarting of the roadmap."  Arima acknowledged 
that the Palestinians are not fulfilling stage one and want 
to skip stage two, but expressed hope that the USG would take 
the lead in planning how to move from the day after 
disengagement back to the roadmap. 
 
2. (C)  Arima reported that PM Quraya said Palestinians are 
discouraged that Israelis always focus on the PA's 
controlling terrorists rather than on helping the 
Palestinians reconstruct their institutions and 
infrastructure.  Arima also said he found the difference in 
perspective between Palestinian President Abbas and PM Quraya 
"astonishing."  While Abbas acknowledged the summit had been 
"very difficult," Quraya described it as a "dismal failure." 
Abbas appeared much more positive than Quraya in general. 
Arima agreed with Ambassador Kurtzer that there are interior 
political tensions in the PA, and said that Minister of Civil 
Affairs Dahlan is ultimately loyal only to himself.  On a 
positive note, Arima pointed out that the Palestinians "truly 
praise" Special Security Coordinator LTG Ward. 
 
3. (C)  Arima said that the Palestinians were pleased with 
his news that the Japanese government will announce an aid 
package before disengagement of $100 million for the 
Palestinians.  Due in large part to their trust in Finance 
Minister Salam Fayyad, the Japanese government plans to give 
this money directly to the PA, but Arima wondered aloud if 
that might be too risky.  He also mentioned that when PM 
Quraya requested aid for the PA's social security program, he 
claimed that some Europeans are going to participate, and 
that the USG is considering it. When Ambassador Kurtzer 
rejected the idea that the USG might support this program, 
Arima said he too considered the program problematic. 
 
4. (U)  Japanese MFA Assistant Director for the Middle East 
Takeshi Okubo, Japanese Embassy officers Hideo Sato and Izuru 
Shimmura, and Ambassador Kurtzer's staff aide (notetaker) 
also attended the meeting.  Mr. Arima met separately with LTG 
Ward for an update on security issues. 
 
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KURTZER