SECURITY THREATS TO HUMANITARIAN AID AGENCIES:

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 000122

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR PRM/PRP, PRM/ANE AND NEA/IPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/05/2014
TAGS: ASEC PHUM PREF PREL PTER KPAL IS JO UNSC
SUBJECT: SECURITY THREATS TO HUMANITARIAN AID AGENCIES:
UNRWA

REF: STATE 345694 (NOTAL)

Classified By: Ambassador Gnehm per 1.5 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY AND COMMENT: Per reftel, refcoord reviewed
UNRWA security issues with Deputy ComGen AbuZayd on January

4. According to AbuZayd, the majority of security threats to
UNRWA stem from IDF-Palestinian fighting in the West Bank and
Gaza. UNRWA workers also face harassment and verbal threats
from some private Israeli citizens. AbuZayd believes that
UNRWA's role as the primary source of support for Palestinian
refugees provides protection from Palestinian militants.
Recent attacks on the UN in Iraq and Afghanistan have
prompted UNRWA to tighten security for its operations in
Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, where UNRWA has remained at
security phase I in spite of ongoing Israeli-Palestinian
violence. UNRWA is particularly concerned about security for
its Jordan operations, due to an Iraq-related increased in
the UN presence here and related potential new threats.
While UNRWA's unique mandate to provide services to
Palestinian refugees may create a sense of false security
against terrorism, recent attacks on other presumably "safe"
areas such as Arab expatriate neighborhoods in Riyadh
demonstrate that terrorists do not necessarily follow logic.
Increased security for UNRWA installations, especially in
Jordan, strikes us as prudent. End summary and comment.


2. (C) As requested reftel, refcoord met with UNRWA Deputy
Commissioner General Karen AbuZayd on January 4 to discuss
the agency's security concerns in the wake of increasing
attacks on humanitarian workers throughout the world.
Cautioning that UNRWA operates in a unique environment,
AbuZayd said that UNRWA's security concerns are well-known to
the U.S. Government and focus largely on IDF actions
undertaken in the West Bank and Gaza. While attacks on the
UN and other humanitarian agencies in Iraq and Afghanistan
have prompted UNRWA to take a closer look at the security of
its installations outside the West Bank and Gaza, its core
concerns -- regarding the safety of its international and
Palestinian staff in the midst of a conflict -- remain
unchanged.

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THREATS DURING THE LAST TWO YEARS
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3. (C) AbuZayd told refcoord that the vast majority of
security threats to UNRWA workers has resulted from
IDF-Palestinian fighting in the West Bank and Gaza. Since
the current conflict began in September 2000, two on-duty
UNRWA staff have been killed by IDF troops and another six
off-duty UNRWA employees were killed when they were caught
near clashes between the IDF and Palestinian militants.
(AbuZayd noted that the IDF still has not shared with the UN
its investigation into the November 2002 death of UNRWA
international staff member Iain Hook, whom the IDF
acknowledges it shot to death during a raid in Jenin refugee
camp.) Beyond the usual risks of operating in a conflict
zone (e.g, being in the wrong place at the wrong time),
AbuZayd said that UNRWA's 13,000 employees in the West Bank
and Gaza face the added risk of navigating IDF checkpoints on
their way to and from work and, in some cases, in the
performance of their duties. These UN employees face daily
harassment and abuse from the IDF and several have reported
that the IDF has pointed guns at their heads. In Gaza (site
of UNRWA's administrative and policy headquarters),she said
UNRWA employees face still more risks from targeted
assassinations in densely crowded civilian areas. On the
evening of December 30, for example, UNRWA Comptroller
Ramadan Al-Omari narrowly escaped injury when an IDF missile
struck a civilian vehicle that was only two cars ahead of him.


4. (C) Separately, UNRWA employees face threats and
harassment from private Israeli citizens. UNRWA Commissioner
General Peter Hansen has received numerous threatening phone
calls, including death threats, from callers who appear to be
Israeli. As a result of these calls, Hansen now travels with
a full-time bodyguard/driver and makes a point of varying his
times and routes. UNRWA international staff also face
harassment and petty vandalism from Israelis, with UN cars
frequently defaced and spat upon, and UN employees in those
cars accosted with shouts of "unwanted" or "UN is nothing."
Several West Bank-based international employees have told
refcoord they prefer not to travel inside Green Line Israel
in order to avoid such harassment. Similarly, AbuZayd told
refcoord that she has chosen not to have "UN" emblazoned on
her car in order to avoid personal harassment and negative
attention for the Israeli friends whom she visits on
weekends.


5. (C) When pressed by refcoord to identify possible threats
emanating from the Palestinian community, AbuZayd responded
that the general Palestinian perception of UNRWA as a source
of protection and relief for Palestinians ensures that even
militant, rejectionist factions respect UNRWA and its staff.
UNRWA, she noted, is often viewed in the Palestinian
community as something apart from the rest of the UN system,
an organization that is part of the community and dedicated
to the well-being of Palestinian refugees. As such, UNRWA is
not even referred to in Palestinian communities as "the UN;"
it is instead called either "the agency" or "the agency for
relief." When Palestinians complain about UNRWA, it is
usually a request for more services or a job. Even in the
lawless and desperate atmosphere of Lebanon's refugee camps,
where UNRWA employees are routinely criticized for perceived
slights to one faction or another, the tense political
environment has never resulted in assaults on UNRWA
employees. While AbuZayd noted that UNRWA could not afford
to discount the risks of individuals acting against UNRWA,
she said that recent attacks on the UN in Iraq and
Afghanistan have not changed UNRWA leaders' assessment that
the Palestinians perceive UNRWA to be a benevolent
organization that must be protected.


6. (C) Given the assessment that security risks to UNRWA
stem largely from the current conflict in the West Bank and
Gaza, AbuZayd said that UNRWA's security situation depends on
resolution of the overall political situation. Her personal
view, and that of other senior UNRWA managers, is that the
political situation -- and hence UNRWA's security situation
-- is unlikely to improve anytime soon. The greatest
contribution the U.S. could make to the security of UNRWA
workers, AbuZayd said, would be an enhanced effort toward
peace.

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EFFECT OF ATTACKS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN
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7. (C) AbuZayd told refcoord that recent terrorist attacks
on humanitarian agencies in Iraq and Afghanistan have had the
greatest impact on UNRWA operations in Jordan, Syria and
Lebanon, where the UN family has largely remained at security
phase I in spite of conflict elsewhere in the region. (UNRWA
operations in the West Bank and Gaza have been at phase III
during the same period.) AbuZayd acknowledged that because
UNRWA operations in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon have not been
affected by the ongoing violence in the West Bank and Gaza,
UNRWA's security rules and procedures in those countries
prior to the August 19 UN bombing had been relatively lax.
In Jordan in particular, AbuZayd said, UNRWA -- like other UN
agencies -- is now worried that the larger UN footprint
created by the high numbers of UN staff "in exile" from Iraq
makes international agencies in Jordan a more inviting target
for terrorists. (Heads of several UN missions in Jordan have
also raised these concerns with us.) She added that UNRWA's
Jordan field office is particularly vulnerable, as -- unlike
other UNRWA offices -- it is located directly on a public
street and has no setback. (All other UNRWA offices,
including the Gaza and Amman headquarters, are located in
large compounds with restricted access and considerable
setback from public streets.)


8. (C) In the wake of the August 19 attack on the UN in
Baghdad, UNRWA management in all five fields has changed its
"security mentality" and procedures in accordance with
recommendations contained in the UNSYG's independent review
of the Iraq attack. All UNRWA international staff have
undergone mandatory security training and senior management
is convening more regular meetings of the fields' security
management teams (SMT). AbuZayd said SMTs in the West Bank
and Gaza meet on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, while SMTs in
the other fields now meet once a month. However, the number
of UNSECOORD staff members has not changed. One UNSECOORD
official is responsible for all UN agencies in the West Bank
and Gaza and another UNSECOORD official is responsible for
all UN agencies in Jordan. AbuZayd was not aware of
UNSECOORD arrangements for operations in Syria and Lebanon.
She noted that further changes will depend on the next round
of UN recommendations on required security changes (due to be
completed in mid-January),as well as the willingness of
donors to fund these changes.

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COMMENT
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11. (C) Due to the nature of its mandate -- providing relief
and services to just one party in a long-running and
emotionally charged conflict -- UNRWA inevitably is viewed by
both Israelis and Palestinians alike as anything but a
neutral organization. This perception historically has
provided UNRWA a great deal of protection from Palestinian
militants, while raising Israeli government suspicions about
UNRWA's true activities and intent. The fact that the vast
majority of UNRWA's 23,000 employees throughout the region
are themselves Palestinian refugees only reinforces these
views. For these reasons, we judge it unlikely -- but not
impossible -- that terrorist groups would choose to target an
organization that works exclusively on behalf of one of the
primary groups of dispossessed whom terrorists claim to
support. Nevertheless, recent attacks on the UN in Iraq and
Afghanistan, as well as on mostly Arab residential
neighborhoods in Saudi Arabia, demonstrate that terrorists do
not necessarily follow such logic and that UNRWA cannot be
complacent about potential new threats. Increased security
measures for UNRWA's estimated 800 facilities throughout the
region -- and particularly here in Jordan, where the
incentive seems greatest for an attack on the UN -- seem to
be prudent.
GNEHM