PALESTINIANS SEEK PROGRESS ON GAZA-WEST BANK LINK

UNCLAS JERUSALEM 004570 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE; NEA/IPA FOR WILLIAMS/SHAMPAINE/STEINGER; NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WATERS; TREASURY FOR SZUBIN/LOEFFLER/NUGENT/HIRSON E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV ECON ETRD KWBG KPAL IS SUBJECT: PALESTINIANS SEEK PROGRESS ON GAZA-WEST BANK LINK AMA IMPLEMENTATION REF: A. JERUSALEM 4511 ¶B. JERUSALEM 4472 ¶1. (U) Summary: ConGenoffs, accompanied by USSC, USAID and Embassy Tel Aviv representatives, met October 17 with Palestinians who were involved in the negotiation of the Agreement on Movement and Access (AMA). The informal meeting, the third and final in a series of preliminary brainstorming discussions intended to reinvigorate AMA implementation efforts, focused on the implementation of a Gaza-West Bank link as well as on movement within the West Bank (reported SEPTEL). The Palestinians, led by representatives of the PLO's Negotiations Support Unit (NSU) and including former Minister of Planning Ghassan al-Khatib, reiterated that they had never found the initial Israeli proposal for a passenger convoy feasible, but they are still willing to accept those suggestions as a pilot program for moving people between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. While truck convoy discussions had not commenced in late 2005, the NSU reviewed the successful truck convoy system that operated between 1996 and 2000 and advocated a similar operation for AMA truck convoys. End Summary. -------------- Passenger Convoys -------------- ¶2. (U) The original GOI proposal for the movement of passenger by bus, which specified one round-trip convoy per day and placed restrictions on who could use the busses, would have allowed only Gaza Palestinian identity card holders to travel, excluding West Bank ID holders and those without Palestinian IDs. Those using the busses would be limited to a maximum stay in the West Bank of ten days, and there would have been limited access for males aged 16 to 35. Negotiations stalled in December of 2005 when the Palestinian Authority requested a specific time-frame when the pilot could be re-evaluated and, if appropriate, opened to both Gazans and West Bankers with a more flexible length of stay policy. ¶3. (U) According to former Minister of Planning Ghassan al-Khatib, the Palestinians had agreed to accept what they considered to be an inadequate proposal from the GOI for the passenger convoys at the recommendation of the Consul General. Al-Khatib said, "We said, 'we agree that this is a beginning. We agree to start,'" with the understanding that it was a start and would be expanded and improved. -------------- Permits Are Not The Solution -------------- ¶4. (U) Zeinah Salahi, legal advisor for the NSU, said for those for whom the convoys would not work (those who needed to stay longer) or who weren't eligible for the convoys, the GOI had said they would expand the number of humanitarian permits. She said that far from solving the issue, the situation had gotten worse. While the PA is permitted to request humanitarian permits for medical cases and students, al-Khatib said the number of permits actually issued had declined dramatically, adding that if the crossings are closed the permit is invalid. Convoys, as a system for internal Palestinian movement, should operate even during closure when Palestinian access to Jerusalem and green-line Israel is denied, Salahi noted. -------------- A Useful Model For Truck Convoys: The Safe Passage Protocol -------------- ¶5. (U) Salahi suggested that the 1996-2000 system for truck movement could serve as a useful model for truck convoys under the AMA. Salahi said that for several years prior to the second Intifada, there was a "healthy movement" of goods from Karni and Tarqumiya, with as many as 300 trucks per day traveling in convoys of 15 trucks on several routes, not just to and from the West Bank, but to Israeli ports and packing houses as well. Salahi said each convoy contained 15 trucks and had an Israeli army escort in the front and rear. Trucks were required to arrive at the crossing one hour prior to exiting Gaza or the West Bank for security screening. There were no security incidents involving the truck convoys. ¶6. (U) Participants in the meeting said they were open to a variety of means to insure the security of the truck convoys, including Israeli escorts or tracking devices as well as new scanning technologies to check the goods being transported at the crossings. Saad Khatib, a Trade Policy Advisor with PalTrade, said that once a means to transport goods is established investors from the private sector would "find a way" to fill any gaps in funding and technology. -------------- Next Steps: Implementing the Pilot Program -------------- ¶7. (U) Al-Khatib noted that the Palestinian side would likely still be willing to start with the more restricted passenger convoy proposal. Both Salahi and al-Khatib agree that finding a way to establish a connection between the West Bank and Gaza is vital to both Gaza's current economic survival and to the future establishment of a viable Palestinian state. Al-Khatib said, "Gaza is not economically viable on its own. The Israelis not only disengaged Gaza from Israel, but they also disengaged it from the West Bank." WALLES