Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05TELAVIV5055
2005-08-16 10:52:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tel Aviv
Cable title:  

SPIEGEL UPDATES AMBASSADOR ON BORDER CROSSINGS AND

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TEL AVIV 005055 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/16/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV IS ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS SETTLEMENTS GAZA DISENGAGEMENT
SUBJECT: SPIEGEL UPDATES AMBASSADOR ON BORDER CROSSINGS AND
WORKING WITH THE PALESTINIANS DURING DISENGAGEMENT

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

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TEL AVIV 005055

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/16/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV IS ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS SETTLEMENTS GAZA DISENGAGEMENT
SUBJECT: SPIEGEL UPDATES AMBASSADOR ON BORDER CROSSINGS AND
WORKING WITH THE PALESTINIANS DURING DISENGAGEMENT

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


1. (C) Summary: Brigadier General (res.) Baruch Spiegel,
Ministry of Defense (MOD) advisor, told the Ambassador on
August 12 that the MOD continues to work with the UN's Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to agree on the
definition and number of roadblocks in the West Bank (WB).
He explained that the evacuated region in the northern WB
will remain under "Area C" status after disengagement so the
IDF has the freedom to respond to terror attacks. On
disengagement itself, Spiegel asserted that the GOI security
forces are ready and will coordinate all troop movements with
the Palestinian Authority (PA). GOI-PA coordination on the
post-disengagement management and operation of border
crossings remains under discussion. Spiegel also told the
Ambassador that it will be difficult for the GOI to remove
illegal outposts after disengagement because the government
may not have the political strength to do it. End summary.

--------------
Working with OCHA on Roadblock Figures
--------------


2. (C) Brigadier General (res.) Baruch Spiegel, Ministry of
Defense (MOD) advisor, told the Ambassador on August 12 that
officials from COGAT and the Central Command continue to meet
with the UN's Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) to deconflict the definitions and figures of
roadblocks in the West Bank. According to Spiegel, a member
of the Wolfensohn mission, OCHA Director David Shearer, and
GOI security officials will meet on August 17 to decide on a
common map, and to find a way to improve internal movements
and access. Spiegel recognized that the number of roadblocks
between Tulkarm and Nablus has increased since the Netanya
attack, but he did not provide a current figure. In the
northern West Bank, where four settlements are to be
evacuated this week, Spiegel reported that an official from
the Task Force on Project Implementation (TFPI) is working as
a liaison with COGAT in Janin to improve internal movements
in the area.


3. (C) In response to the Ambassador's question on the
rationale behind leaving the evacuated region under "Area C"

status, Spiegel replied that the GOI is currently studying
how to make it "Area B" instead. When the Ambassador
suggested changing it to "Area A" status to reduce the
possibility of friction between Palestinians and IDF
soldiers, Spiegel responded that the IDF wants to maintain
operational freedom and flexibility to respond to terror
attacks. He conceded, however, that there is an ongoing
internal GOI debate on the issue.

-------------- --------------
Working with the Palestinians During Disengagement
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Spiegel commented that the evacuations from the
settlements in the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank will be
coordinated with the Palestinian Authority (PA). He said
that two operations centers have been set up, in a UN
building at Erez for the Gaza Strip and near Janin for the
West Bank, to coordinate troop movements and intelligence
during the disengagement. Spiegel said that the centers will
be open around the clock, and added that the PA and the GOI
will have daily meetings if necessary to update each other on
how the process is going.


5. (C) Spiegel continued that the IDF and the police are
ready, and have taken their preparations for the evacuations
very seriously. He made clear that disengagement is going to
work, but the only question is at what price because of the
possibilities of Palestinian attacks or settler violence. In
response to the Ambassador's question on why the IDF did not
close off the Gaza Strip sooner to prevent settler
infiltrations, Spiegel replied that many youngsters snuck
into Gaza in car trunks, and other settlers or
settler-supporters went in when there were no restrictions
and simply overstayed their permits.


6. (C) Spiegel questioned the PA's readiness to deal with a
post-disengagement Gaza, however. While he acknowledged that
the Palestinians have "done a lot in the last weeks," and he
has seen a serious attempt to give orders, he admitted that
he has very low expectations that the PA will be able to
maintain control in the future. Spiegel explained that the
biggest issues with the PA are law and order, chain of
command, and institution-building.

--------------
Border Crossings in the Gaza Strip
--------------


7. (C) With respect to border crossings, Spiegel told the
Ambassador that the GOI prefers a crossing at Kerem Shalom,
and that it sent a team last Thursday to check on the
possibility of building a passage there. He said the GOI is
working on other alternatives, but emphasized the preference
for the Kerem Shalom option. Spiegel mentioned that the
Palestinians are "sometimes listening, and they ask questions
because of the customs union, so something may have moved."


8. (C) On the Sufah crossing, Spiegel noted that it is
currently open for raw materials and aggregates, but that
perhaps in the future it will function as an agricultural
passage. He reported that a subcommittee on agriculture will
meet this week with the involvement of the Israeli and
Palestinian private sectors, and that they will decide on the
location and volume of a future agricultural passage.


9. (C) Spiegel admitted that the GOI had three meetings last
week on the management of Karni, and that the government is
having internal problems because the Israeli Airports
Authority, which currently runs the crossing, is very
"defensive" about its work. Spiegel said that there cannot
be dramatic management changes until the MOD fully takes over
-- it may take up to a year -- but that the GOI will continue
to meet to determine what operating standards, hours, and
technologies it will use. He also noted that the GOI has
ordered more scanners.


10. (C) Regarding Erez, Spiegel mentioned that the GOI is
working unilaterally because PA Interior Minister Muhammad
Dahlan has not ordered his people to work on issues related
to this crossing. According to Spiegel, "it is a must" that
the Palestinians do something on their side because the GOI
connects Palestinian progress and performance on the ground
to changing the transport system from back-to-back to
door-to-door. He said that while the infrastructure at Erez
will be more advanced than at Karni, the management and
operation may not be.


11. (C) Recognizing that moving to a door-to-door regime is
a process, the Ambassador asked if the GOI has a study to
show the Palestinians the necessary steps to achieve this
goal. Spiegel responded that the GOI will have two meetings
this week, with the Wolfensohn mission and with the
Palestinians, to determine how to move forward. He added,
however, that it will take time and that while it may seem
simple, like the convoy system from Gaza to the West Bank,
there are a lot of interagency issues to deal with and the
GOI needs to study the matter fully. Spiegel continued that
the GOI would start a convoy pilot program after
disengagement for goods and prisoner families, and that the
International Committee for the Red Cross and Israeli police
would escort the buses.


12. (C) Spiegel noted that on Thursday there was "some
better news" on the PA and the GOI agreeing to use more of
the $50 million for technology upgrades, and less for
infrastructure and service. He said the meetings would
continue on August 15, but stressed that time is an important
factor because any delay in the acquisition of technology for
the passages could affect the efficiency on the ground.

-------------- --------------
Passages and the Separation Barrier in the West Bank
-------------- --------------


13. (C) Spiegel reported that in the next two months the GOI
will be opening a few more passages along the separation
barrier in the Jerusalem/Bethlehem area, in Jalameh, and in
Qalandiya. He explained that the process of opening passages
would coincide with the construction of the barrier, and said
that the GOI is approximately halfway through this
construction. Regarding Christian properties that lie in the
path of the barrier around Jerusalem, Spiegel noted that the
GOI continues to have meetings with churches to coordinate
the route of the barrier. He reported that the GOI is still
checking the status of the police station in Ma'ale Adumim,
and that it is in the advanced stages of detailed plans for
the barrier around the Gush Etzion bloc.

--------------
Outpost Removals
--------------


14. (C) The Ambassador queried whether the GOI would discuss
removing illegal outposts with the USG after disengagement,
and Spiegel predicted that it would be very difficult because
the government may not have the strength to do so after
pulling out of Gaza and the northern West Bank. Spiegel
confided that, while outposts should be removed for the
"substance" of it, politics would likely prevent it. He
expressed frustration that it has taken his office more than
a year to assemble files on outposts and settlements because
"no one in the GOI has done this since probably the Six Day
War." He remarked that there had been no typical files like
a government official would have in his office to check on
the status of whatever issue arises that day, but now the GOI
takes overhead pictures every two months to keep the data
up-to-date. Spiegel said he did not want to pass judgment on
why the government had not kept any of this information, but
added that he knows many times one part of the Israeli
government does not know what other parts are doing regarding
outposts. Spiegel reported that Education Minister Limor
Livnat's interministerial committee on the Sasson Report has
prepared some legislation to implement the report's
recommendations, but the committee has yet to publish its
findings or the legislation.

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