Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05TELAVIV3227
2005-05-27 14:02:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tel Aviv
Cable title:  

GAZA DAIRY FARMER WANTS INTACT TRANSFER, DESCRIBE

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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 003227 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/26/2015
TAGS: KWBG EAID ECON IS SETTLEMENTS GAZA DISENGAGEMENT
SUBJECT: GAZA DAIRY FARMER WANTS INTACT TRANSFER, DESCRIBE
COMPLEX SETTLER MINDSET

Classified By: Economic Counselor William Weinstein for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 003227

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/26/2015
TAGS: KWBG EAID ECON IS SETTLEMENTS GAZA DISENGAGEMENT
SUBJECT: GAZA DAIRY FARMER WANTS INTACT TRANSFER, DESCRIBE
COMPLEX SETTLER MINDSET

Classified By: Economic Counselor William Weinstein for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d)


1. (C) Summary and comment: Amidst halting progress on
GOI-PA negotiations regarding the disposition of settlement
assets, some settlement farmers are making independent
attempts to secure the continuity of enterprises in which
they have invested significant resources. The CEO of Omer
Cattle Marketing, the Gaza Strip,s only dairy farm, is
seeking USG or European backing to transfer his business to
the Palestinians in tandem with disengagement. Omer,s Gush
Katif owner/directors have forbidden management to seek a
Palestinian buyer from among the company,s existing
contacts. Dani also discussed the status of settler
preparations for withdrawal, quipping that while Katif
residents are "no longer mowing their lawns," they have made
no specific plans for their post-disengagement lives inside
green line Israel. In his view, settlers are beginning
Spring planting not as an ideological gesture but a pragmatic
commercial measure -- planting now will enable them to claim
a force majeure exemption if disengagement prevents them from
meeting contractual obligations to marketing firms. Finally,
Dani posited that settlers will willfully destroy greenhouse
technology and other valuable agribusiness assets on the
hectic "hour of" withdrawal, arguing that despite the IDF,s
training of special disengagement units it will not be
equipped to evacuate or safeguard machinery. End summary.

-------------- --------------
Gaza's Dairy Farm Managers Prefer Intact Transfer
With USG or European Assistance
-------------- --------------


2. (C) While GOI and international attention has focused on
the need to preserve settlement greenhouses following
Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, policy planning has
glossed over some settlement businesses that hold significant
economic potential for the post-disengagement Gazan economy.
Dani Ben Barak, CEO of Omer Cattle Marketing, which manages
the Gaza Strip,s only dairy farm, told Econoff May 29 that
he believes his business falls into this category, and said
that intact transfer to the Palestinians is the only way to

maintain the farm's value in the face of disengagement.
Barak explained that, if evacuated, Omer,s several hundred
head of cattle would have to be divided between several
existing farms inside Israel, since the disengagement
timeline offers no opportunity for the company to build a new
facility elsewhere. He explained that Omer,s Gush Katif
owner/directors refuse to allow company management to seek a
buyer from among interested Gazan agribusiness contacts.
Only USG or European involvement, Barak said, will be
sufficient to overcome this resistance, and enable what he
termed "a boon to the Gazan economy and a significant
national gesture for Israel." (Note: Omer does not
currently meet USAID,s Palestinian Agribusiness Partnership
Activity (PAPA) requirements for employment generation
because it is primarily involved in R D and cattle import.
It is connected, however, to the Israeli agricultural
management firm CYC, which maintains farm facilities in
several countries and could serve as a marketing link for
increased Gazan exports. End note.)


3. (C) Omer management envisions transferring the farm
intact to the PA or a Gazan firm via a third party --
preferably a USG agency such as USAID or the Foreign
Agricultural Service (FAS),a private U.S. firm, or a
European entity such as the Dutch -- or, more simply, selling
it directly to one of these outside entities. Barak
explained that the final owner, not the middleman, would pay
Omer approximately 80 percent of the cost of opening a new
facility inside Israel. He pointed out that while management
is willing to work with the Peres Center for Peace to
potentially arrange for Dutch custodianship of the farm after
withdrawal, this cooperation would also require USG
assistance due to settlers' "longstanding distrust" of Peres.
When asked if Omer has approached the GOI with this agenda,
Barak maintained that his company needs USG or European
backing before the GOI will agree to support the plan "on a
policy level." Einat Wilf, advisor to Vice PM Shimon Peres,
told EconCouns that she expects Omer, like the rest of the
settlement agribusinesses, will accept GOI compensation for
approximately 60 percent of the value of its farm and simply
evacuate what it can, leaving the rest behind.

--------------
Gush Katif Settlers' Denial is a Front
--------------


4. (C) Barak described the current mood in Gush Katif as one
of deliberate passivity. "People have stopped mowing their
lawns and cleaning their houses," he quipped, "but nobody is
making plans" for their post-disengagement lives inside Green
Line Israel. In his view, settlers know in the back of their
minds that they will be evacuated, but the political climate
requires that they maintain a front of denial. He said he
believes that the settlement farmers have begun Spring
planting not to send the message that disengagement will
fail, as some Israeli media have reported, but to cover
themselves legally when evacuation precludes them from
meeting contractual obligations to marketing and retail
firms. "If they plant now, they can claim disengagement was
a force majeure," Barak said.

-------------- --------------
Greenhouse Technology Will Be Destroyed or Left Behind
-------------- --------------


5. (C) Most of the USD 80 million worth of high-tech
greenhouse machinery currently operating in Gush Katif will
not leave the Gaza Strip, Barak claimed. In many cases, he
said, settlers will be focused solely on their families and
personal belongings at "the hour of evacuation," and will not
concern themselves with cumbersome pieces of technology that
have no fixed destination inside Israel. In other cases,
settlers will destroy the machinery "out of spite" in the
chaos of withdrawal. The relatively few settlers that Barak
expects will request the IDF to transport their greenhouse
technology will be disappointed -- Barak asserted that
despite highly publicized IDF preparations for disengagement,
IDF soldiers will not be equipped to properly evacuate the
machinery or protect it from settler vandalism.


6. (C) Comment: Barak's assertion that the GOI will not
support intact transfer of the dairy farm unless it has U.S.
or European backing is indicative of a murky political
environment in which fraught settler-GOI relations and
frequent impasses in GOI-PA technical coordination derail
positive ground-level initiatives. With disengagement
quickly approaching, it appears that many potentially
valuable economic assets will drop off the radar screen
unless clear protocols for the transfer of assets are
promptly put in place. End comment.

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