AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH JAPANESE MIDDLE EAST

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 004063

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/28/2015
TAGS: PREL KPAL KWBG JA IS GOI INTERNAL ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS GAZA DISENGAGEMENT
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH JAPANESE MIDDLE EAST
ENVOY ARIMA


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


1. (C) Japanese Special Envoy Tatsuo Arima and Japanese
Ambassador to Israel Jun Yokota met with Ambassador Kurtzer
on June 28 to share assessments of the current state of
Palestian-Israeli issues. Arima said he had never seen Dov
Weissglas, PM Sharon's Senior Advisor, so pessimistic, and
that meeting with Weissglas "made (me) realize perhaps there
would be no restarting of the roadmap." Arima acknowledged
that the Palestinians are not fulfilling stage one and want
to skip stage two, but expressed hope that the USG would take
the lead in planning how to move from the day after
disengagement back to the roadmap.


2. (C) Arima reported that PM Quraya said Palestinians are
discouraged that Israelis always focus on the PA's
controlling terrorists rather than on helping the
Palestinians reconstruct their institutions and
infrastructure. Arima also said he found the difference in
perspective between Palestinian President Abbas and PM Quraya
"astonishing." While Abbas acknowledged the summit had been
"very difficult," Quraya described it as a "dismal failure."
Abbas appeared much more positive than Quraya in general.
Arima agreed with Ambassador Kurtzer that there are interior
political tensions in the PA, and said that Minister of Civil
Affairs Dahlan is ultimately loyal only to himself. On a
positive note, Arima pointed out that the Palestinians "truly
praise" Special Security Coordinator LTG Ward.


3. (C) Arima said that the Palestinians were pleased with
his news that the Japanese government will announce an aid
package before disengagement of $100 million for the
Palestinians. Due in large part to their trust in Finance
Minister Salam Fayyad, the Japanese government plans to give
this money directly to the PA, but Arima wondered aloud if
that might be too risky. He also mentioned that when PM
Quraya requested aid for the PA's social security program, he
claimed that some Europeans are going to participate, and
that the USG is considering it. When Ambassador Kurtzer
rejected the idea that the USG might support this program,
Arima said he too considered the program problematic.


4. (U) Japanese MFA Assistant Director for the Middle East
Takeshi Okubo, Japanese Embassy officers Hideo Sato and Izuru
Shimmura, and Ambassador Kurtzer's staff aide (notetaker)
also attended the meeting. Mr. Arima met separately with LTG
Ward for an update on security issues.

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KURTZER