US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV4419

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 004419 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/18/2015 
TAGS: ECON, PREL, EAID, ETRD, KWBG, IS, GAZA DISENGAGEMENT, ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS 
SUBJECT: RAMON DESCRIBES DISENGAGEMENT COORDINATION 
PRIORITIES 
 
 
Classified By: Charge d'affaires Gene A. Cretz for reasons 1.4 (b) and 
(d). 
 
1. (C) Summary: In a July 14 meeting, Minister without 
Portfolio Haim Ramon described disengagement coordination 
priorities for Assistant Secretary Welch, Ambassador Kurtzer, 
and Lt. General Ward.  Ramon expressed his desire to 
coordinate $50 million in USG assistance for improving 
passages with the PA, but noted the Israeli Ministry of 
Finance was an obstacle.  He expressed disappointment that no 
final agreement had been reached to deploy Egyptian border 
guards opposite the Philadelphi corridor, stressing 
the importance of involvement from the PM's office in any 
resolution of the issue.  Ramon said that Egyptian 
intelligence chief Omar Soliman "did not object" to a 
proposal for Egypt to take the rubble from Gaza settlement 
housing due to be razed, but that Soliman wanted any deal to 
be secret and a commercial, not a government-to-government, 
transaction.  End Summary. 
 
2. (C) Minister without Portfolio Haim Ramon, designated by 
the Prime Minister as one of the GOI's disengagement 
coordinators with the PA, described his disengagement 
coordination priorities in a July 14 meeting with Assistant 
Secretary Welch, the Ambassador, Lt. General Ward and NSC 
 
SIPDIS 
Director Mustafa.  Einat Wilf, Vice Premier Shimon Peres' 
foreign affairs advisor, joined the meeting. 
 
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Passages 
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3. (C) Ramon began the meeting by discussing passages between 
Israel and the West Bank/Gaza.  In his view the passages are 
as important for Israel as for the PA because $500 
million/year in Israeli products are sold to Gaza.  Ramon 
estimated that there was an urgent need for $50 million to 
complete upgrades at three key passages -- Erez, Karni, and 
Tulkarm (West Bank) -- to facilitate the movement of goods. 
He also detailed the unilateral upgrades that the GOI has 
undertaken at Karni to expand from two to eight transit lines 
for permit holders seeking to enter Israel.  According to 
Ramon, this plan will decrease the current wait time for 
permit holders from three or four hours to a maximum of two 
hours at the passage.  Ramon also detailed the proposal he 
endorses to extend an existing rail line from Ashdod to Erez 
and to build a cargo terminal at Erez.  Plans at Tulkarm call 
for establishing a temporary access 
point east of the Green Line and a permanent passage just 
west of the Green Line.  Ramon claimed that the Palestinians 
agree with this plan. 
 
4. (C) Regarding funding for the upgrades at the three 
priority terminals, Ramon characterized the Ministry of 
Finance (MoF) as the biggest obstacle to unlocking USG 
assistance.  Wilf described the MoF as "thinking the $50 
million was given to Israel, so what is the need to 
coordinate?"  Ramon said that he planned to work with the 
Ministry of Defense (MoD) on July 18 to establish a shopping 
list of equipment and upgrades for the passages.  Ramon 
expected that the list would then be coordinated with the PA. 
 Wilf warned that the MoD is seeking to divert the money for 
use on West Bank passages, when the more urgent need for 
upgrades, in her view, is with Gaza. 
 
5. (C) Ramon criticized the PA for holding off negotiations 
on the passages in what he said was an attempt to secure GOI 
agreement for door-to-door shipping.  Wilf suggested urgent 
efforts are needed to convince the MoF that U.S. assistance 
would not be delivered until arrangements for passage 
upgrades are coordinated with the PA.  In addition, she 
suggested that the Embassy bring the two parties together for 
either a trilateral or back-to-back meetings about how to 
spend the $50 million.  Ambassador Kurtzer concurred and 
offered to have USAID facilitate such a meeting.  A/S Welch 
asked that the GOI forward any plans or "shopping lists" to 
the USG in advance of the meeting with the PA, but emphasized 
that the USG will not mediate negotiations about how to spend 
the money. 
 
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Philadelphi Corridor 
-------------------- 
 
6. (C) Assistant Secretary Welch queried Ramon about his 
recent visit to Egypt and what he had learned while there. 
In a read-out of his meeting with Egyptian intelligence chief 
Omar Soliman, Ramon expressed disappointment about the 
failure to reach final agreement on the deployment of 
Egyptian border guards along the 14-kilometer border between 
Egypt and Gaza.  Ramon said that he believed that the major 
issues had been solved and now the GOI was dealing with 
"legal nonsense."  Ramon indicated that he was sure that an 
agreement would be reached.  A/S Welch commented that on 
previous visits an agreement was also "imminent" but almost a 
month later no progress had been made.  He asked what is 
needed to resolve the issue.  Ramon commented that the Prime 
Minister's Office needs to be involved in any decision about 
securing the Philadelphi corridor.  He cautioned that even if 
Egyptian border guards are deployed along the border, the GOI 
would not withdraw from Philadelphi until it is confident 
that the Egyptians are securing the border. 
 
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Rubble Trouble 
-------------- 
 
7. (C) Welch inquired about the Egyptian reaction to the 
proposal for moving the rubble from the settlers' houses in 
Gaza to the Sinai in Egypt for burial.  Ramon said that 
Soliman "did not object." The plan, according to Ramon, is 
for Israeli demolition, Palestinian transportation, and 
Egyptian disposal (burial) of the rubble.  Ramon thought that 
an agreement was possible, but noted that Soliman had two 
conditions.  The first is that the deal not be made public. 
Secondly, Soliman asked that the deal be structured as a 
commercial transaction and not an agreement between 
governments. 
 
8. (C) Ramon recounted that PA Minister for Internal Affairs 
Dahlan viewed the rubble issue as the GOI's problem, not his. 
 Ramon said he believes the PA is supportive of the 
destruction of the houses because removing the rubble would 
create jobs in Gaza.  He thought the PA realizes as well that 
it would not be able to control who takes over the houses 
after disengagement. 
 
9. (C) Wilf suggested that leaving the houses intact would be 
the only alternative if the GOI is not able to reach an 
agreement about disposal of the rubble.  A/S Welch cautioned 
that this was not a viable option since both the GOI and the 
PA had agreed to the destruction, and the USG has been 
supportive of this first "agreement" resulting from 
disengagement coordination. 
 
10. (U) Assistant Secretary Welch has cleared this message. 
 
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