NATIONAL UNION MK TELLS CODEL DAVIS THAT

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 002354

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/23/2014
TAGS: PREL IS GAZA DISENGAGEMENT ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS
SUBJECT: NATIONAL UNION MK TELLS CODEL DAVIS THAT
DISENGAGEMENT REWARDS TERROR

REF: TEL AVIV 2335

Classified By: Ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Knesset member Yuri Shtern of the right-wing
coalition National Union party told visiting Congressmen Tom
Davis and Jim Moran during their April 15 meeting that Prime
Minister Sharon's disengagement plan is one-sided and rewards
terror. Palestinian leadership is corrupt, he continued, and
this only serves to reward them for choosing the path of
terror over negotiations. According to Shtern, the current
intifada is not about settlements or pre-1967 borders but
about Palestinian acceptance of the state of Israel. If
settlements were the issue, he reasoned, then Palestinian
terror attacks should be concentrated directly at them rather
than in Israel proper, where most attacks continue to take
place.


2. (C) Shtern reaffirmed the commitment of the National
Union party to pull out of the governing coalition if the
disengagement plan is adopted by the Cabinet. (Note:
National Union Chairman and Transportation Minister Avigdor
Lieberman told the Ambassador on April 20 that his party
would not stay in the coalition if the Cabinet approved
Sharon's disengagement plan (reftel). End Note.) Speaking the
day after Sharon's meeting with POTUS, Shtern called the plan
a risk to Israel's survival and stated that it was a mistake
for President Bush to have given his support. In response to
Congressman Davis' query whether in Shtern's view there was
anything the President could do to rectify the situation,
Shtern responded that he must support the unity of Jerusalem
under Israeli control and declare unequivocally that there
should be no return to pre-1967 borders.


3. (U) Bio Note. Shtern is one of 7 National Union MK's,
and is Chairman of the Internal Affairs and Environment
Committee. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from Moscow
University, where he was a lecturer in Economics from 1971
until his emigration to Israel in 1981.

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