US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV4281

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 004281 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/11/2015 
TAGS: ECON, PREL, SENV, PGOV, PHUM, EFIN, IS, ISRAELI SOCIETY, ECONOMY AND FINANCE, GOI INTERNAL 
SUBJECT: NGO'S HOPE GOI PLANS FOR NEGEV AND GALILEE WILL 
ADDRESS CONCERNS OF ISRAELI ARABS 
 
REF: A. 04 TEL AVIV 0874 
     B. 05 TEL AVIV 2540 
     C. 05 TEL AVIV 2537 
     D. 05 TEL AVIV 3973 
     E. 05 TEL AVIV 3151 
     F. 04 TEL AVIV 3085 
     G. 04 TEL AVIV 3393 
     H. 05 TEL AVIV 4066 
 
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Gene A. Cretz for reasons 1.4 (b 
) and (d). 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY:  Israeli and Israeli-Arab NGO's have 
expressed growing concern about GOI plans for economic 
development in the Galilee and Negev.  The Chairman of the 
Arab Center for Alternative Planning (ACAP) stated that the 
core goal of the government's plan is to give land to the 
Jewish population, increase support for existing Jewish 
settlements in the Negev, and affect a demographic shift in 
favor of Jews. The Director of the Arab Business Club struck 
the same tone, saying the GOI must address economic issues of 
the Arab sector in the Galilee region where the economy is 
not doing well.  Officials from the Negev Institute for 
Strategies of Peace and Development expressed their concerns 
that GOI planning should include the Bedouin in the planning 
and execution stages.  END SUMMARY. 
 
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ACAP: GOI Economic Initiative Has Started And It's Not Good 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
2. (C) Dr. Hanna Swaid of the Arab Center for Alternative 
Planning (ACAP), an NGO dealing with land and planning issues 
affecting Israeli Arabs told Econoff July 6 that the next 
phase of GOI economic development for the Galilee and the 
Negev has already started in the Galilee region (Ref A).  He 
said GOI housing loans and grants to Galilee residents are 
part of the GOI economic development plan.  Swaid stated that 
the GOI recently provided financial assistance to 30 towns in 
the Galilee.  All of these towns, he said, with the exception 
of Nazareth, are populated by Jewish residents.  This is 
discrimination, Swaid said, disguised under the umbrella of 
economic development, because it only provides assistance to 
non-Arabs (Ref B). 
 
3. (C) Swaid said another example of targeted assistance is 
the establishment of a university in Carmiel.  He said the 
city of Carmiel predominantly inhabited by Jewish Israelis, 
where the university is established will benefit from having 
it there.  If this is a reflection of the economic 
development thrust, Swaid says, then he suspects that other 
plans following this concept will most likely be targeted to 
benefit only Jewish communities in Israel. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Israeli-Arab Voices from the North and South 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
4. (C) Econoff met with Dr. Ramzi Halaby, Director of the 
Arab Business Club in the Galilee, and Amal Elsana - Alhjooj 
of the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and 
Development (NISPED) accompanied by Ruth Paz, Yehudah Paz, 
and Vivian Silver on July 7.  Interlocutors from both 
organizations voiced concerns over the GOI economic 
initiative for the Galilee and the Negev (Refs C, D). 
 
5. (C) Halaby told Econoff that the economic situation for 
the Israeli-Arab community in the Galilee region is not good. 
 He said he has taken steps to talk with leading business 
figures from cities and towns with mixed Arab and Jewish 
populations to find solutions to help the Israeli Arabs.  He 
said he has been talking to GOI officials as well and is 
hopeful that something good will come of these meetings. 
 
6. (C) Alhjooj said that in recent meetings with GOI 
officials and the private firms of Daroma and McKinsey, 
contracted by the GOI to assist in overall planning for the 
GOI economic initiative for the Negev, discussions have been 
disappointing (Ref E).  She said development planning for the 
Negev does not include the Bedouin as a contributing partner 
(Ref F).  During the last four meetings with Daroma, she 
said, the consultants avoided hearing NISPED's perspective 
and focused on telling NISPED what they thought the Bedouin 
needed. 
 
7. (C) Yehudah Paz said that GOI officials tasked with 
planning of the economic initiative will be submitting a plan 
to the government for discussion and consideration on 
September 29.  He said the Bedouin should be included fully 
in the planning and execution stages of projects targeting 
the Negev.  The GOI has historically approached the Bedouin 
as a problem, he stated, adding that this must change for 
progress to take place between Israeli Arabs and Jews.  He 
said GOI "benign neglect," or "patronizing development" will 
also not solve the problem.  The Bedouin should not be seen 
as a burden, but rather part of the solution for developing 
the Negev.  Home demolitions remain a concern, he said, which 
creates a barrier between the Bedouin and the GOI (Refs G, H). 
 
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