Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05TELAVIV6550
2005-11-18 08:59:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tel Aviv
Cable title:  

(C) LABOR MINISTER SAYS LABOR WILL LOSE TO SHARON;

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C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 006550 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON PINR KWBG IS ELECTIONS GOI INTERNAL
SUBJECT: (C) LABOR MINISTER SAYS LABOR WILL LOSE TO SHARON;
CALLS "CONVERGENCE" KEY TO PEACE

REF: TEL AVIV 06460

Classified By: Acting Economic Counselor Jason Witow, reasons 1.4 (b) a
nd (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 006550

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON PINR KWBG IS ELECTIONS GOI INTERNAL
SUBJECT: (C) LABOR MINISTER SAYS LABOR WILL LOSE TO SHARON;
CALLS "CONVERGENCE" KEY TO PEACE

REF: TEL AVIV 06460

Classified By: Acting Economic Counselor Jason Witow, reasons 1.4 (b) a
nd (d)


1. (C) Labor MK and Science Minister Matan Vilnai told NEA
DAS Robert Danin November 16 that "thousands" of Labor Party
members will vote for Prime Minister Sharon in 2006 elections
rather than support new Labor Chair Amir Peretz. Vilnai said
the "Peretz revolution" was "too much from the left" at a
time that most Israelis want a PM who rules from the center.
Sharon, he said, had succeeded in pushing Labor to the left.
Vilnai predicted that Sharon will remain in the Likud if
Shimon Peres stays with Labor. Vilnai, who had supported
Peres for the chairmanship won by Peretz, lamented that only
800 votes would have kept Shimon Peres as leader of Labor.
He also commented that Sharon was "doing the right things in
the right way," adding that Labor should be looking to fight
Sharon's successor, because Sharon himself would be too hard
for Labor to beat in 2006.


2. (C) Asked whether he thought Israel should take unilateral
steps to disengage from the West Bank, Vilnai, a retired
general with over thirty years of military service, commented
that he was worried about "a new terror phase" if there is
not sustained momentum. He said the Palestinian Authority
was not strong enough to handle all its problems, or at a
minimum had a leader who believed he was not strong enough.
Touching on history, Vilnai said the Six Day War created the
illusion that Israel was a superpower, but in the Yom Kippur
War, Israel had "won the battles but lost the war." Since
then, Israel had been giving back territory to become
stronger.


3. (C) Vilnai said peace required a "new convergence" on
Israel's part, with a concurrent return to "real Israeli
values." Israel needed to cooperate with the Palestinians
according to a grand strategy, he said, with borders that
realistically reflected Israel's strength (the core element
of the "convergence" concept). He suggested that such
borders would encompass the main settlement blocks and
roughly correspond to American proposals from 2000. Claiming
that he had originally opposed unilateralism in Gaza but was
proven wrong, Vilnai said he was against a unilateral
approach on the West Bank, but allowed that unilateral action
might prove necessary.


4. (U) DAS Danin cleared this message.

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