POLITICS AND BUREAUCRACY SLOW DISENGAGEMENT

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 003505

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2015
TAGS: PREL KWBG ECON IS GAZA DISENGAGEMENT ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS
SUBJECT: POLITICS AND BUREAUCRACY SLOW DISENGAGEMENT
PLANNING WITHIN GOI AND PA

REF: JERUSALEM 2158

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

This cable was cleared by ConGen Jerusalem.


1. (S) Summary: GOI contacts recently described bureaucratic
and political obstacles to disengagement planning and GOI-PA
coordination on the transfer of settlement assets, upgrades
at the border crossings, and water talks. NSC advisor Gaby
Blum characterized the MoD's takeover of leadership on
settlement assets and crossings coordination as a
bureaucratic maneuver for power, and noted that the limits it
has placed on the asset data requested by the PA constitutes
a breach of previous agreement. NSC head Giora Eiland is
reportedly reluctant to answer to the MoD, and will meet with
PM Sharon this week to discuss the issue. Blum argued that
even the limited progress made to date on planning for the
transfer of assets has been marked by political infighting on
both sides, including Likud party politics within the GOI and
Civil Affairs Minister Dahlan's reluctance to divest
negotiating authority to the PA technical teams. On water,
Palestinian Water Authority chairman Fadel Kawash told
Emboffs and ConGenoffs that he had not yet been given the
go-ahead to negotiate disengagement water issues with his GOI
counterparts, but that he was willing to do so informally
during regular meetings of the Joint Water Committee. Kawash
emphasized that USAID's Gaza water carrier and desalinization
projects, which were halted following the October 2003
killings of USG personnel in Gaza, are important to help
cover Gaza's 60 mcm water deficit. End summary.

-------------- --------------
MoD,s Takeover of Discussions a Bureaucratic Power Play
-------------- --------------


2. (S) Outgoing NSC advisor Gaby Blum told EconCouns June 1
that "bureaucratic infighting" within the GOI, including
Likud party politics in the run-up to elections, and the
Ministry of Defense,s (MoD) takeover of discussions on
settlement assets and crossings, has brought internal GOI
preparations for disengagement coordination with the PA to a
standstill. According to Blum, the MoD "woke up a little
late" to the process, and decided to grab a piece of the
disengagement planning agenda for itself. In Blum,s view,
Minister Without Portfolio Haim Ramon was remiss for not
keeping the MoD in check as part of the larger GOI team.
Blum added that Defense Minister Mofaz is reluctant to move
ahead with PA coordination until PA President Abbas "lives up
to" his Sharm el-Sheikh commitments. In a June 3 meeting
with the Ambassador, MoD advisor Brigadier General (res)
Baruch Spiegel confirmed that the MoD is the appropriate
address for crossings and assets issues. He added that
control of the passages leading up to privatization is being
transferred from the Israeli Airports Authority (IAA) to the
MoD in order to allow increased flexibility on security
issues.

--------------
Eiland Undercut by MoD
--------------


3. (S) The MoD,s machinations have left NSC head Giora
Eiland uncertain as to whether he wants to continue his
involvement in disengagement coordination, Blum said, adding
that he will meet with PM Sharon this week to question
whether Sharon wants him to continue or not. While Vice PM
Shimon Peres had been relying on Eiland to handle the bulk of
negotiations with the Palestinians, she explained, Eiland was
significantly undercut by the MoD,s censorship of the
settlement asset data that the GOI planned to give the PA
earlier this week. BG Spiegel told the Ambassador he hopes
the MoD will be able to release the data, but according to
Blum it will not include high-resolution aerial photos and
other requested data due to the MoD,s security concerns.
While the parties had initially come to an agreement to
release data that is publicly available, Blum said, the
information and aerial photos that the MoD has now deemed
acceptable are less defined than what is available in the
private sector, and will only cover approximately one page of
the PA's seven-page request for asset inventory. Ministry of
Foreign Affairs Deputy DG for Economic Affairs Ilan Baruch
told EconCouns that the MFA is no longer part of the GOI's
settlement asset or passages teams.

--------------
GOI-PA Asset Talks Still Mired in Politics
--------------


4. (S) Touching on GOI-PA discussions to date regarding the
transfer of settlement assets, Blum said that Dahlan
continues to reject any third party transfer, and that the PA
has stated it will not accept additional settler
compensation. (Note: PA officials have told ConGenOffs that
they would be willing to discuss a role for third parties in
the handover but are not willing to discuss additional
settler compensation. See reftel. End note.) According to
Dahlan, Blum reported, the PA will only agree to informally
accept the settlement assets from the GOI after disengagement
takes place. (Note: According to Planning Minister Al-Khatib
May 26, the PA will be submitting draft legislation to the
PLC that will give the PA legal authority to take
custodianship of the evacuated settlements until the final
disposition of the assets is resolved. End note.) Blum
commented that the PA,s strategy of focusing on political
issues before allowing the technical teams to work is a
"recipe for inaction." She also discussed the postponement
of a planned PM Sharon-level meeting to discuss potential
changes in the GOI's plan to destroy settlement houses due to
Housing Minister Tzipi Livni's objections that "any change in
this decision is a change in disengagement law" and must be
considered by the Knesset. In Blum's view, Livni's
objections were raised for the benefit of her constituency,
and example of the party politics Blum argued are stalling
GOI disengagement planning.

-------------- --------------
Water An Off-Again On-Again Aspect of Disengagement Prep
-------------- --------------


5. (S) After missing a planned May 31 informal lunch with
the Israeli water commissioner and NEA S T advisor Charles
Lawson due to what he claimed were permit problems, PWA
Commissioner Fadel Kawash met June 1 with Lawson, a senior
GOI water consultant, ESTHoff and ConGenoffs. Fadel
emphasized that he still did not have the go-ahead from his
superiors in the PA to discuss disengagement water issues
with the GOI, due in part to Civil Affairs Minister Dahlan,s
reluctance to delegate coordination responsibilities to the
technical level teams until the coordination agenda had been
agreed to at the political level. He agreed to conduct
informal disengagement preparations with the GOI during
regular Joint Water Committee meetings.


6. (S) Fadel and the GOI consultant concurred that the
potential for unauthorized well-digging on settlement lands
is a serious concern for post-disengagement Gaza, and
emphasized that there must be a clear mechanism for securing
the assets following withdrawal. While Fadel recognized that
water from Israel is a politically sensitive subject within
the PA, he said he believed it was a key means of addressing
Gaza,s 60 mcm water deficit. USAID,s Gaza carrier and
desalinization projects should be resumed, he said,
suggesting a meeting with USAID, ConGen and Embassy
representatives in the near future to discuss potential means
of continuing the projects without U.S. presence in Gaza.

********************************************* ********************
Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv

You can also access this site through the State Department's
Classified SIPRNET website.
********************************************* ********************
KURTZER