Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05AMMAN5931
2005-07-26 14:22:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Amman
Cable title:  

NEW UNRWA COMGEN OUTLINES HER GAZA DISENGAGEMENT

Tags:  PREF OPDC KPAL KWBG JO UNRWA 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 005931 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR PRM AND NEA, GENEVA FOR RMA, USUN FOR ECOSOC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2015
TAGS: PREF OPDC KPAL KWBG JO UNRWA
SUBJECT: NEW UNRWA COMGEN OUTLINES HER GAZA DISENGAGEMENT
STRATEGY

REF: STATE 127444

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i. David Hale for Reasons 1.4 (b) an
d (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 005931

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR PRM AND NEA, GENEVA FOR RMA, USUN FOR ECOSOC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2015
TAGS: PREF OPDC KPAL KWBG JO UNRWA
SUBJECT: NEW UNRWA COMGEN OUTLINES HER GAZA DISENGAGEMENT
STRATEGY

REF: STATE 127444

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i. David Hale for Reasons 1.4 (b) an
d (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: UNRWA's new Commissioner-General (ComGen) is
modifying her agency's Gaza disengagement response plans as a
result of meetings she has had with PA President Abbas and
with Quartet Special Envoy for Disengagement James Wolfensohn
since her appointment. In an introductory July 20 meeting
with the Charge, she said she had used her initial meeting
with President Abbas to signal her growing concern that
militant violence could force her to evacuate staff from
Gaza. However, she assured us that she wants to avoid
repeating last year's extended evacuation of UNRWA's Gaza HQ
to Jerusalem and has no current plans to approve such a
relocation, despite the two-hour kidnapping of an Amcit
activist and fatal shooting of two settlers July 23-24. That
said, the ComGen is likely to permanently assign her
yet-to-be-identified Deputy to Jerusalem to promote closer
cooperation with the Wolfensohn team and the PA officials
engaged in Gaza post-disengagement planning. Asked about the
status of UNRWA's emergency food, job creation and housing
programs in Gaza, the ComGen conceded that the recent settler
protests had delayed UNRWA's plans to break ground on a
Saudi-funded Rafah housing project but she was confident her
agency would have sufficient freedom of movement to complete
an ongoing July-August emergency food distribution for
approximately 850,000 individuals in the Gaza Strip. She is
appealing to the IDF to extend the hours it is prepared to
facilitate the movement of UN agencies during disengagement
to ensure UNRWA can offload a USG-funded September-November
distribution round scheduled to arrive in Ashdot Port in
mid-August. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) Charge delivered the Secretary's congratulatory
message (reftel) to Karen Abu Zayd, the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near
East (UNRWA)'s new ComGen, at UNRWA's Amman HQ July 20. Abu
Zayd had met Palestinian Authority President Abass earlier

that day and briefed the Charge on changes she is
contemplating making to UNRWA's Gaza disengagement strategy
as result of that meeting and other discussions she has held
with Quartet Special Envoy James Wolfensohn since her
appointment.

RELOCATING SENIOR STAFF TO JERUSALEM TO SUPPORT WOLFENSOHN
-------------- --------------


3. (C) Abu Zayd told Charge that she had hoped to use her
first post-appointment meeting with Abu Mazen (July 20) to
discuss UNRWA's potential role in the post-disengagement Gaza
development programs, as well as her obligation to review
staff security in light of the recent up tic in militant
violence. However, security dominated her discussion after
Abu Mazen told her flatly that the PA "can only manage to
focus on security now." Abu Zayd indicated that she is
concerned that the current levels of violence could force her
to repeat the decision her predecessor made last year to
temporarily re-locate UNRWA's Gaza HQ to Jerusalem, but
stressed that she wanted to avoid evacuating UNRWA staff. In
a subsequent July 24 telcon with refcoord, Abu Zayd confirmed
that she has decided to maintain her agency's current Gaza
staffing, noting that there was strong staff support at an
internal July 22 UNRWA Security Management Committee meeting
she chaired to remain in Gaza. She noted that she had also
taken this decision in close consultation with the UN's
Department of Safety and Security following the two-hour
kidnapping of an Amcit activist in the Gaza Strip and fatal
shooting of two Israeli nationals near the Abu Kholi junction
July 23-24.


4. (C) However, Abu Zayd suggested that she is planning to
assign her yet-to-be-named Deputy ComGen to Jerusalem for six
months, if not on a permanent basis, to ensure that UNRWA has
consistent senior-level coordination with the Wolfensohn team
and the PA. On the ComGen Deputy search, she told the Charge
that she and UN SYG Chef de Cabinet Mark Malloch Brown had
agreed to finalize a Deputy UNRWA ComGen short list before
July 26, and explained that identifying a candidate who could
improve UNRWA's funding situation would be the driving factor
in her selection. Indeed, she revealed that she had already
rejected two qualified internal candidates in favor of an
outside candidate from the Gulf, Europe or Japan that would
be more likely to spur additional voluntary contributions.
(NOTE: In a follow-up July 24 telcon, Abu Zayd told refcoord
that her staff had consulted several regional governments
over the last week, but had been unsuccessful in identifying
an Arab candidate. Without offering names, she said her
current short list consisted of four candidates from Japan,
Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. She thought it unlikely
that her deputy would be appointed ahead of disengagement, as
only two of these four candidates had definite interest in
the position, and only the Japanese candidate had the clear
support of his government. END NOTE.)


5. (C) In addition to re-locating her Deputy, Abu Zayd told
refcoord June 24 that she will likely re-assign the agency's
Director of Operations to Amman to "force that individual to
work with all of UNRWA's fields and programs" but suggested
that she would not force current Gaza Field Director/Director
of Operations Lionel Brisson to relinquish his operations
role before he is scheduled to retire later this year.

DISRUPTIONS TO GAZA EMERGENCY PROGRAMMING
--------------


6. (SBU) Abu Zayd told refcoord July 24 that she used a July
21 meeting with Major General Yossef Mishlev to formally
request that the IDF extend its plan to facilitate the
movement of UN and other aid workers from 6 p.m. on Friday to
6 p.m. Sunday during disengagement by an additional three
hours on Fridays to help UNRWA avoid a break in its emergency
food pipeline this fall. (NOTE: UNRWA needs to offload a
September-November food distribution scheduled to arrive in
Ashdot Port in August. END NOTE) Asked about UNRWA's
current access to the Gaza Strip and its impact on its
emergency food, job creation and housing projects, Abu Zayd
said that recent settler protests had forced UNRWA to
postpone a July 18 ceremony to lay the cornerstone of their
Saudi-funded emergency Rafah re-housing project. However,
she was confident that UNRWA's ongoing July-August emergency
food distribution (to approximately 145,000 households) would
not be disrupted "for more than 48 hours at time" -- despite
the fact that UNRWA is still facing the potential logistical
problem of transporting food from its warehouses in Gaza City
and Rafah to four camps located between the Abu Kholi and
Netzarim junctions in central Gaza that are particularly
vulnerable to closure.

RECONSTRUCTION - UNRWA RAMPING UP MICRO-CREDIT LENDING
-------------- --------------


7. (SBU) Finally, Abu Zayd noted that UNRWA is preparing to
use current funding to ramp up its micro-finance and housing
projects in Gaza to support Wolfensohn's Rapid Action Plan.
She explained that UNRWA has USD 15 million to implement its
new 2005-2009 Medium Term Plan, and had decided to allocate
it evenly to its five fields, noting that that decision had
been well-received by senior Jordanian and Syrian officials
concerned the agency would divert resources to Gaza. Abu
Zayd added that Wolfensohn had encouraged UNRWA to submit
additional, longer-term reconstruction projects in the areas
of micro-credit, camp development and education to his team
this month. (NOTE: UNRWA's External Relations Director
backbriefed USAID West Bank/Gaza and regional refcoord on the
reconstruction projects it has submitted to the Wolfensohn
team (matrix emailed to PRM) in Tel Aviv, July 21. END
NOTE.)


8. (U) This message was cleared by Embassy Tel Aviv and
Consulate General Jerusalem.
HALE