US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV6717

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 006717 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE FOR NEA/IPA DGREENE, NEA/PPD AFERNANDEZ/RSMITH 
STATE INFO FOR ECA DPOWELL/MCAIN/LMOODY 
STATE INFO IIP RWINCHESTER 
JERUSALEM PASS ICD DANIELS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, SCUL, OEXC, OIIP, KPAO, IS, ISRAELI SOCIETY, GOI INTERNAL, U.S.-ISRAEL RELATIONS 
SUBJECT: Chief Justice Lauds Post's Judiciary Programs, 
Discusses Personal Plans, Constitution 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY 
 
REF: TEL AVIV 5940 
 
1. (U) Summary: At a program planning meeting November 
29, 2005 in his chambers, Israel's Supreme Court Chief 
Justice Aharon Barak and National Court Administration 
President Judge Boaz Okun told the PAO, American Center 
Director, and PD rule of law program specialist that he 
places a high value on the vast two-way exchange of 
legal models afforded Israel by the Embassy's active 
program of speakers, exchange visits, and video 
conferences touching diverse members of Israel's 
judiciary.  Barak said he hopes the Embassy will 
continue to be able to send even larger numbers of 
Israeli judicial figures on exchange visits to U.S. 
courts and academic institutions and bring American 
judges and legal experts to Israel to speak at seminars 
on topics of mutual interest, such as the U.S. Bill of 
Rights or Civil Liberties and the Global War on Terror. 
In view of his upcoming retirement from the Supreme 
Court in summer 2006, after nearly 28 years of 
government service, Barak discussed his future plans to 
write, teach, and speak in Israel and abroad, including 
tentative plans for a stint at Yale University Law 
School sometime in 2007. End Summary. 
 
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Barak: "Bring More Americans Here, Send More Israeli 
Judges to the U.S." 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
2. (U) Barak suggested expanding on what he called the 
"extremely successful" programs held to date, which he 
and other judges have found highly valuable and which 
they think have also been beneficial for the U.S. 
participants. (Some of post's most recent rule of law 
related programs in the last two years are described in 
Reftel).  He noted that each formal exchange visit, as 
well as the many informal exchanges that occur thanks 
to the extensive travel of many Israeli and U.S. 
judicial figures in both directions, adds greatly to 
the richness of each society, and helps continue the 
harmonization of Israeli law with American law and 
American law with legal systems of other countries.  He 
pointed out that he and U.S. Supreme Court Justice 
Scalia are scheduled to be panelists in a debate in the 
Law Faculty of Hebrew University on January 29, 2006, 
focusing on "International Law in National Courts." 
Barak pointed to what he called a welcome increase in 
the study of, and interest in, comparative law in U.S. 
law schools and in U.S. courts, adding that American 
courts have lately begun to cite more frequently 
international cases and precedents in their decisions. 
Comparative domestic law and international law are both 
becoming more important worldwide, he added, and the 
legal field is not immune to the overall trend toward 
globalization. 
 
3. (U) Justice Barak suggested the following ideas for 
possible future Embassy programming and PD exchanges: 
 
-- Send Judge Okun to the U.S. as soon as possible (in 
a special IV or Volvis) to observe U.S. Specialized 
Courts, including drug court models. 
 
-- Organize an in-depth week-long seminar for Israeli 
judges on the U.S. Bill of Rights or other topic with 
top legal experts 
 
-- Send several Israeli Judges to the U.S. annually, 
and for longer periods of time, such as a semester or a 
year, to teach in U.S. universities and consult with 
U.S. courts. Barak said that these deeper, broader 
experiences can enrich the Israeli judiciary. (PD will 
follow up on this idea with ECA Citizens Exchanges and 
the Fulbright Commission.) 
 
-- Continue Embassy programs that focus on key court 
administration/efficiency topics such as case 
management, and the related fields of mediation, ADR, 
and early and neutral evaluation. 
 
-- Finally, Barak noted that an Israeli committee 
established to provide recommendations to the GOI 
regarding the future of mediation as an alternative to 
judicial procedures would soon provide its report. 
President Barak mentioned that the report will likely 
recommend mandatory mediation for civil cases.  PD 
staff has met several times with the chair and members 
of the committee, who have requested a DVC with U.S. 
experts and possibly also a VolVis program in order to 
study the most innovative U.S. models in the area of 
mandatory mediation within the courts. 
 
4. (U) Barak thanked the Embassy for what he 
characterized as consistent and high quality 
programming with Israel's judiciary over the years.  He 
and the PAO agreed that Embassy PD staff should set up 
a meeting as soon as possible with Barak's designee on 
judicial training and enrichment programs, Judge Boaz 
Okun (who succeeded Dan Arbel as President of Israel's 
National Court Administration in the summer of 2004). 
Barak said he had tasked Judge Okun with developing 
concrete input, including suggestions for speaker and 
exchange topics and ideas and date timeframes, to 
contribute to post's plan for potential exchanges, 
speakers and other outreach opportunities in the medium 
and long term. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
Personal Plans, Possible Israeli Constitution 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
5. (SBU) Barak said that, for the first year following 
his mid-2006 retirement, he plans to stay in Israel and 
devote more time to writing. (Note: Barak has already 
published an impressive number of articles and a book, 
"A Judge on Judging: The Role of the Supreme Court in a 
Democracy," while on the court. End Note.) In mid to 
late 2007, he plans to teach for a short period at Yale 
Law School, and tentatively also for a few months at 
either Cambridge or Oxford University in the UK in 2007- 
8.  He emphasized that in general, he plans to spend 
most of his time, at least until mid-2007, in Israel, 
where his input seems to him most relevant and needed. 
 
6. (SBU) Asked for his views on whether a draft Israeli 
Constitution (which has been under development in a 
process of town hall dialogues and in the Knesset's 
Constitution, Law and Justice Committee) might be 
brought before the Knesset during his remaining time on 
the bench, he said that he does not expect a draft 
Constitution or anything of that level of import to be 
considered until after nationwide elections scheduled 
for March 28.  He did not speculate on whether the 
effort to pass a Constitution would succeed or fail in 
the long term. 
 
JONES