DISENGAGEMENT COORDINATION UPDATE, AUGUST 17, 2005

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