US embassy cable - 05JERUSALEM3791

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 003791 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE; NEA/IPA FOR GREENE/LOGERFO/WATERS;NSC 
FOR ABRAMS/MUSTAFA; TREASURY FOR NUGENT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/17/2015 
TAGS: ECON, PREL, PGOV, PHUM, KWBG, IS, GAZA DISENGAGEMENT 
SUBJECT: DISENGAGEMENT COORDINATION UPDATE, AUGUST 17, 2005 
 
REF: JERUSALEM 3703 
 
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: At a trilateral crossings meeting August 17, 
USG representatives tabled a proposal for spending the USD 50 
million in supplemental assistance to upgrade four of the 
crossings between the West Bank/Gaza Strip and Israel and 
asked for PA and GOI responses within the next few days.  The 
Israeli Defense Ministry and the UN's Office for the 
Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) agreed August 
17 on a common map of checkpoints, roadblocks, and physical 
obstacles in the West Bank, though their tallies differ by 63 
barriers.  Final negotiations continue on the statement of 
understanding on the demolition of settlement houses and the 
disposition of the rubble.  The funds from the anonymous 
donors to purchase the Gush Katif greenhouses remain with the 
Israeli NGO pending establishment by the settlers of their 
side of an escrow account.  End summary. 
 
2.  (C) Passages and Trade: 
 
-- GOI representatives told World Bank Country Director Nigel 
Roberts August 16 that the GOI will not discuss its internal 
security standard operating procedures or risk management 
systems with the PA and international community during 
negotiations on the passages. 
 
-- In an August 17 telcon with PA Civil Affairs Minister 
Dahlan, Consul General indicated the USG wanted to come to 
closure quickly on how to use the USD 50 million in USG 
assistance for the crossings and would table a proposal later 
in the day.  Dahlan responded that he had given instructions 
to his team to work towards a quick resolution. 
 
-- At a trilateral crossings meeting later in the day, August 
17, USG representatives tabled a proposal for spending the 
majority of the USD 50 million in supplemental USG assistance 
to upgrade the crossings.  The proposal includes placing a 
package of one 6 or 9 MEV relocatable container scanner, one 
4 MEV portable container scanner, and one "sniffer" at each 
of four crossings: Erez/Beit Hanoun and Karni/al-Mintar 
between Gaza and Israel and Tarqumiya and Tulkarm/Shar 
Ephraim between the West Bank and Israel.  USAID,s security 
technology consultant was present at the meeting to discuss 
the rationale for the proposal.  The GOI and PA teams were 
asked to respond within 24 hours to the proposal given the 
need to move forward quickly with procurement because of 
extended delivery timelines for this type of technology. 
Both sides agreed that they would like to meet separately 
with USAID's security technology consultant over the next few 
days before responding to the USG proposal.  USG 
representatives stressed that if  the two parties did not 
respond to the proposal, the Ambassador and Consul General 
would call for a trilateral political-level meeting to hammer 
out a compromise. 
 
3.  (C) WB/Gaza Link: 
 
-- Nothing to report. 
 
4.  (C) Movement in the West Bank: 
 
-- (C) Brig. Gen. Speigel met August 17 with UN Office for 
the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) 
representatives as part of an ongoing Israeli Defense 
Ministry-OCHA effort to deconflict their respective tallies 
of checkpoints, roadblocks, and physical obstacles in the 
West Bank (see Jerusalem 3703).  The two sides have now 
reduced their discrepancy from approximately 400 to 63, with 
OCHA counting 384 barriers/checkpoints and the IDF counting 
321.  Speigel said he is willing in principle to remove one 
or two roadblocks in the near term as a confidence building 
measure.  He said, however, that removing any barriers 
between Jenin and Ramallah would be difficult due to the high 
concentration of Israeli settlers there. 
 
5.  (C) Air/Seaports/Rafah: 
 
-- Ronit Kahn, director of Foreign Trade in the Israeli 
Ministry of Industry and Trade, told Econoff August 16 that 
once a fully-functioning Gaza seaport is in place ) most 
likely within two to three years -- Israel will be forced to 
abrogate the customs union, regardless of what the GOI 
decides now on the issue.  By that time, she posited, 
alternative arrangements similar to an FTA will have been 
made, ensuring Gaza,s economic viability. 
 
-- In an August 14 PA National Economy Ministry issue paper 
entitled "Disengagement, the Paris Protocol and Rafah," the 
PA notes that keeping Rafah as the designated crossing 
between Gaza and Egypt "implements the related provisions of 
the (Paris) Protocol, which builds on the normal practice in 
customs unions around the world that each party administers 
customs in its territory.  It is equally normal practice that 
goods enter the union through the different parties' 
territories."  The issue paper later states, "Since the 
Gaza-Israel interface is already, and will continue to be, 
functioning as a comprehensive security border, the operation 
of Rafah as a goods entry does not raise security issues for 
Israel.  It should be noted in addition that the Palestinian 
Authority's own security and fiscal interests will ensure an 
effective operation at Rafah with respect to potential 
smuggling activities...."  (Note: Full text of issue paper 
will be e-mailed to NEA/IPA.  End note.) 
 
6.  (C) Settlement Housing: 
 
-- The GOI and PA continue to negotiate the final edits to 
the GOI-PA statement of understanding on the demolition of 
settlement houses and the disposition of the rubble.  The 
last issue is how to refer to the GOI's "responsibility" to 
remove the rubble. 
 
-- According to a PLO legal advisor working closely with 
Minister Dahlan, several PA ministers, in an August 16 
cabinet meeting, asked Dahlan not to sign the statement with 
the GOI since they had seen little progress on agenda items 
at the top of the PA's list, such as crossings, the airport, 
seaport, and Rafah.  Consul General told Dahlan in a telcon 
August 17 that the USG and Quartet Special Envoy Wolfensohn 
would continue to press the remaining agenda items and that 
the PA should not hold an agreement on the rubble hostage to 
progress on the other agenda items.  Dahlan responded that 
the hold-up on signing the statement relates to responding to 
Egyptian questions regarding the disposal of the rubble in 
the Sinai.  Consul General told Dahlan that the USG would 
work to address any remaining questions. 
 
7.  (C) Greenhouses: 
 
-- The funds from the anonymous donors were received by the 
Israeli NGO.  The settler farmers have not yet set up their 
side of the escrow account, hence the delay in distributing 
the first 50 percent of the payments for the greenhouses. 
The remaining 50 percent will be paid after the donors' 
assessors verify the condition of the greenhouses immediately 
prior to the IDF's withdrawal from Gaza.  If there is damage 
to the greenhouses, the farmers will only receive a final 
payment of 25 percent, rather than the full remaining 50 
percent. 
 
8. (C) Humanitarian issues: 
 
-- Nothing to report. 
 
9.  (C) Other issues: 
 
-- Nothing to report. 
WALLES