US embassy cable - 05JERUSALEM3703

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 JERUSALEM 003703 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE; NEA/IPA FOR GREENE/LOGERFO/WATERS;NSC 
FOR ABRAMS/MUSTAFA; TREASURY FOR NUGENT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/12/2015 
TAGS: ECON, PREL, PGOV, PHUM, KWBG, IS, GAZA DISENGAGEMENT 
SUBJECT: DISENGAGEMENT COORDINATION UPDATE, AUGUST 12, 2005 
 
 
Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
This is a joint cable from Consulate General Jerusalem and 
Embassy Tel Aviv. 
 
1.  (C) Summary: On the eve of disengagement, several key 
coordination issues are much closer to being resolved than a 
week ago.  Representatives of settler farmers and anonymous 
private donors agreed early August 12 on a contract to sell 
the greenhouses and other infrastructure for just under USD 
14 million.  The GOI and PA are close to reaching an 
agreement on how to dispose of the settlement housing rubble, 
though still need formal Egyptian concurrence.  The UN Office 
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) and 
the IDF are also near to agreeing on a common map of 
checkpoints, roadblocks, and physical obstacles in the West 
Bank which will then be used for trilateral discussions on 
how to improve movement within the West Bank.  The bilateral 
technical crossing teams continue to meet to discuss 
management fixes at the Karni terminal and possible 
technological upgrades using the USD 50 million from the USG. 
 Bilateral technical water talks are also progressing since 
the August 9 GOI handover of more detailed inventory 
information.  End summary. 
 
2.  (C) Passages and Trade: 
 
-- The GOI and PA technical teams met August 11 to discuss 
management fixes at Karni terminal and possible technological 
upgrades using the USD 50 million.  The Israeli team 
committed to increasing operating hours, opening additional 
lanes, employing all six pallet scanners, and building 
cold-storage facilities on the Israeli side of the terminal. 
 
-- Yoni Doton, Israel Airports Authority manager of Karni 
terminal, left the meeting early after an argument with other 
members of the GOI team.  Doton protested his colleagues, 
implication that delays at the passage were due to personnel 
inefficiencies. 
 
-- On capacity at Karni terminal, the PA team said it expects 
300 trucks/day by September 1 and 500 trucks/day by December 
1.  It cited September 2006 as the PA,s target date for the 
changeover from a back-to-back to a door-to-door shipping 
system.  (Note: While there is agreement, in principle, the 
GOI has not yet agreed on how to implement a door-to-door 
system.  End note.) 
 
-- GOI Defense Ministry advisor Netzach Mashiach will meet 
with USAID and Emboffs August 15 to discuss GOI proposals for 
how to spend the USD 50 million. 
 
3.  (C) WB/Gaza Link: 
 
-- A trilateral meeting will be held under the auspices of 
Brig. Gen. Baruch Speigel August 15 to discuss the details of 
the convoy system. 
 
4.  (C) Movement in the West Bank: 
 
-- UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance 
(OCHA) head David Shearer told ConGen EconChief August 12 
that OCHA and the IDF's numbers on checkpoints, roadblocks, 
and physical obstacles in the West Bank were converging with 
OCHA now counting 384 as compared to the IDF's 320.  Shearer 
said OCHA's numbers have come down because many obstacles 
have been removed or the IDF is not replacing earthmounds as 
they naturally wear down.  Manned checkpoints, however, have 
not decreased, and new ones have been added to the list in 
Hebron. 
 
-- Shearer said that the IDF's list of obstacles increased 
from 120 in June to the current 320 after it entirely updated 
its list.  This week, for the first time, the IDF gave OCHA a 
complete data file of the coordinates for each of their 320 
checkpoints, roadblocks, and physical obstacles.  OCHA has 
now mapped its coordinates over the IDF ones.  The 
differences, Shearer said, for example, are mostly where OCHA 
counts four barriers on a road while the IDF only counts 
three.  Shearer described the IDF's newfound willingness to 
work with OCHA as a "leap forward" which he largely 
attributed to pressure from QSE Wolfensohn and the USG. 
 
-- Shearer said that after OCHA and the IDF agree on a common 
map, likely at a planned August 17 meeting, OCHA will share 
the map with the PA (which already uses and refers to OCHA's 
maps as its own point of reference) and then the parties will 
begin discussing how to improve movement in the West Bank. 
 
5.  (C) Air/Seaport/Rafah: 
 
-- According to PA sources, the PA understands that the GOI 
believes it can have the necessary infrastructure for cargo 
and passengers in place at the Kerem Shalom tri-border 
crossing within 90 days of an agreement to use Kerem Shalom. 
The PA also understands that the GOI is willing to 
re-evaluate how it handles the crossing after six months.  PA 
interlocutors, however, do not believe the GOI would be open 
to reconsidering the issue after six months.  (Note: The PA 
has not yet agreed to move the Rafah crossing to Kerem 
Shalom.  End Note.) 
 
6.  (C) Settlement Housing: 
 
-- According to a PA readout of the August 9 trilateral 
meeting, PA Civil Affairs Minister Dahlan told GOI Defense 
Minister Mofaz and QSE Wolfensohn that he had spoken 
informally with Egyptian General Intelligence Services 
Director Omar Soliman who said the Egyptian government 
agreed, in principle, to disposing of the nonreusable 
settlement housing rubble in Egypt: (1)  if Israel disposed 
of 20 percent of the rubble in Israel; (2) if Egyptian 
specialists could have access to the rubble (or what would 
become the rubble) as soon as possible; and (3) if the 
agreement was completed on a business-to-business basis. 
Dahlan also proposed trucking sand back into Gaza from the 
Sinai. 
 
-- According to that same PA readout of the August 9 
trilateral, Minister Mofaz said: (1) he would coordinate the 
movement of two or three Egyptian specialists; (2) Israel 
would accept that 20 percent of the rubble should be disposed 
of in Israel; and (3) trucks would not be searched when they 
left Gaza going to Egypt but they would be searched upon 
their return back into Gaza. 
 
-- QSE team members report they are discussing a trilateral 
statement of understanding on the arrangement.  There are two 
remaining issues still to be worked out on the statement. 
One issue involves language referring to Israel's commitments 
under international law and the other involves whether to 
refer to Egypt, specifically, as a site for disposal of the 
unusable rubble.  Both sides report that there will likely be 
another meetings to finalize details of the arrangement next 
week. 
 
-- Israeli Defense Ministry contacts told the Ambassador 
August 12 that demolition of settler homes will be "heavy" as 
opposed to &light,8 which they said is also the PA 
preference. The decision was based on the GOI,s concern for 
risk to contractors, and its belief that little usable rubble 
will remain even with light demolition.  The GOI has reported 
that there is no asbestos in the houses, but only in some 
public buildings, which will not be demolished. 
 
-- At the August 9 trilateral meeting, the PA team received 
from the GOI an inventory of the public buildings that would 
be left intact in the settlements, including educational, 
municipal, and service utility structures. 
 
7.  (C) Greenhouses: 
 
-- Early August 2, the representatives of the settler farmers 
and the anonymous donors signed the contract selling the 
greenhouses, associated equipment, and most of the packing 
houses for a little less than USD 14 million.  The exact 
amount of the final transaction will depend on the final 
decisions of the assessor on the state and quality of the 
greenhouses.  As stated in the contract, the title to the 
assets change hands on the day the IDF leaves Gaza.  The 
Israeli NGO Economic Cooperation Foundation will own the 
assets for a brief period before it abandons them to the 
Palestine Economic Development Company (PEDC), who will 
assume ownership and manage the farms.  (Note: The PEDC is 
fully owned by the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF).  End 
note.) 
 
-- The QSE team is working to ensure that the IDF allows the 
assessors in for one last inspection just before the IDF 
pulls out and that the Palestinian workers who have been 
working the farms are allowed to access the farms as the IDF 
leaves. 
 
-- The QSE team and USAID's Palestinian Agribusiness 
Partnership Activity (PAPA) will work with the PEDC to 
provide the necessary technical assistance to properly manage 
the farms. 
 
8.  (C) Humanitarian issues: 
 
-- COGAT briefed donor representatives August 12 at the Erez 
DCL on IDF planning for facilitation of humanitarian 
assistance to Gaza during disengagement.  Maj. Uri Singer 
said that the Erez and Karni terminals will continue to 
operate but will be subject to closure without notification. 
Internal checkpoints, including Abu Kholi, Mawassi, and the 
Eli Sinai area, will be closed to non-evacuees for three days 
at the start of withdrawal.  Abu Kholi will be open 
thereafter between the hours of 2230 and 0530. 
 
-- With prior COGAT coordination, the donor community will be 
able to move during the hours of darkness and in the early 
mornings.  Maj. Singer will provide donors with an IDF 
contact list by August 14 or 15. 
 
9.  (C) Other issues: 
 
--  Israeli and Palestinian water officials held a technical 
committee meeting August 9.  PA officials confirmed to 
ConGenoff that the GOI passed further inventory information 
to the PA team during this meeting.  The sides will meet 
again next week.  Mekorot, the Israeli water company, is 
training eight Palestinian engineers so that they can operate 
the wells in the current settlement areas in Gaza.  Israel is 
leaving in place a pipeline from Kissufim to Gush Katif 
serving the settlements, along with 20 pumping stations, in 
case the Palestinians want to buy the 4.9 million cubic 
meters (MCM) of water Mekorot has been selling to the 
settlers from the Israeli grid. 
 
-- Palestinian Water Authority Chief Fadel Ka'wash told 
USAIDoff AuguQ11 that the PA cabinet will approve August 15 
the memorandum of understanding for the USAID-funded Gaza 
Emergency Connector, which will supply five MCM of water to 
the East Gaza City area.  A COGAT infrastructure official 
told ESTH Officer that Israel is proceeding with its part of 
the connector between Nahal Oz and the border with Gaza and 
will be done with its section by December. 
WALLES