HAMAS PARTICIPATION IN COE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 002272

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/WE AND H

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/01/2016
TAGS: PREL FR PHUM PTER KPAL IS EUN COE
SUBJECT: HAMAS PARTICIPATION IN COE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
MEETING


Classified By: Pol/MC Josiah Rosenblatt for reasons 1.4 (B & D).

This is a joint message from Embassy Paris and ConGen
Strasbourg.


1. (C) Summary: Ambassador Stapleton received April 4 a
letter from Congressman Wexler to COE Parliamentary Assembly
(PACE) President van der Linden seeking to dissuade the
parliamentary assembly from meeting with a Palestinian
delegation of which one member belongs to Hamas. Embassy and
CG Strasbourg have intervened energetically to press the PACE
in Strasbourg, and GOF officials here, to turn off the visit
-- so far with uncertain results. The PACE is claiming it
sent an invitation to the Palestinian Legislative Council
rather than Hamas in an effort to cover itself. The GOF is
extremely uncomfortable with the situation, but claims its
host-country obligations vis-a-vis the COE may prevent it
from refusing a visa request for a legitimate COE meeting.
It is not clear at this stage whether there have been any
formal visa requests. While the MFA, including
A/S-equivalent for the Near East Thibault, appear more
comfortable addressing this as a legal rather than a
political matter, our EU CFSP interlocutor at the MFA
indicated that the GOF is prepared to raise the issue within
the EU if necessary. Comment: GOF focus, thus far, appears
to be on the legal aspect, i.e., whether a case can be made
to refuse a visa, if and when a request is made by a Hamas
member. However, the French do not seem to be making a
concerted effort with other European governments, the COE or
the PACE to block or retract an invitation based on political
considerations. End comment and summary.


2. (U) On April 4, Ambassador Stapleton was copied on a
letter from Rep. Robert Wexler to Rene van der Linden, the
President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe (PACE),seeking to dissuade Linden from allowing the
Palestinian Legislative Council (PLO),which includes at
least one representative from Hamas, from participating in
April 10-13 meetings with PACE's Political Affairs
Subcommittee on the Middle East and a PACE plenary session.
The letter recommends prudence in eschewing all contact with
Hamas until such time as Hamas as fulfilled the three
conditions set forward by the Quartet (denunciation of
terror, recognition of Israel's right to exist, and honoring
of previous agreements with Israel). Rep. Wexler's letter is
also signed by Reps Tom Lantos, Gary Ackerman, Elliot Engel,
Elton Gallegly, Jo Ann Davis, Steve Chabot, and Shelley
Berkley. The letter was also copied to Terry Davis,
Secretary General of the COE and Mateo Sorinas Balfego,

SIPDIS
Secretary General of PACE, in addition to the Ambassador.

SIPDIS


3. (C) Strasbourg CG raised congressional request to the
Council of Europe to rescind the invitation to the
Palestinian Legislative Council April 6 with PACE SecGen
Mateo Sorinas. CG noted the request violated EU/Quartet
policy regarding Hamas and restrictions of diplomatic
contacts and that it sends an inconsistent message in terms
of policies agreed to by the EU and the Quartet. A clearly
uncomfortable Sorinas said the invitation went to the PLC,
not solely to Hamas. He said that the PLC has not yet
responded to the invitation. There has been no discussion in
the PACE about the invitation, according to Sorinas. The
PACE passed a resolution several years ago requiring that the
PLC be invited anytime Middle East issues are discussed in
the plenary.


4. (C) Israeli consul, Gilbert Roos, told CG that the two
members of the PLC may participate. They are Hassan Kreirshe
(sp) Independent, second vice president of the PLC, and
Hamas-affiliated Mahmoud al Ramahi (secretary of the PLC).
Both, according to Roos, attended a March 14 PACE political
committee meeting in Paris. When the two applied for visas
to attend a May 14 meeting in Brussels, they were refused.
Roos noted that Israel, in previous years, would have
prevented such a departure, but that the PLC now departs via
Egypt.


5. (C) In a separate discussion with poloff April 6, MFA desk
officer for Palestinian affairs Mariam Diallo confirmed that
the GOF was considering Ramahi's visa application, but that
no decision had been taken. Poloff reiterated the need for
continued unity on insisting on the Quartet conditions and
not giving Hamas a platform in Europe, given that both the
U.S. and Europe had designated Hamas a terrorist
organization. In response, Diallo stressed that the GOF's
1949 host-country agreement with the COE essentially
obligated the GOF to issue visas to individuals invited to
COE events, and in fact required the GOF to expedite such
visas. She cautioned though, that MFA legal experts were
still examining the issue, with no decision taken. If the
visa were issued, she concluded, the GOF would make clear
that it was only on the basis of host-country obligations and
was a legal, vice political decision. She added that the
invitation came from a COE institution, the Secretary General
of the Parliamentary Assembly, not individuals or member
states, which made it more difficult for the GOF to find a
way out on the issue. Pressed on whether Ramahi had visited
Paris to attend a March 14 COE meeting, Diallo said she was
not aware that any such travel had taken place, and that she
likely would have been informed, given the visa implications.


6. (C) In a follow-on discussion with Political
Minister-Counselor, MFA A/S-equivalent for the Middle East
Jean-Francois Thibault assured PolMC that France was taking a
great deal of care in developing its approach to an extremely
delicate matter. Thibault confirmed that the legality of a
visa denial was still being studied. He claimed that
France's legal obligations under its 1949 agreement with the
COE were more stringent than the European Parliament's with
Belgium. There were previous cases in which, despite
France's opposition to a visit, the GOF had been obligated to
allow a politically objectionable visitor to enter France to
attend a COE event. French authorities in essence ended up
escorting the visitor to and from the airport to ensure that
no other use was made of the visit. PolMC expressed the hope
that France would view this as a political issue, and use its
influence and make known publicly its views on Hamas in order
to persuade the PACE to refuse Hamas participation, citing
the action of EU President Borrell to that effect. Thibault
said that France would make its position clear with respect
to its unambiguous support for and adherence to the Quartet's
conditions, citing specifically FM Douste-Blazy's public
statement to that effect the morning of April 6. He
suggested the U.S. take its concerns directly to the COE,
which PolMC assured him we had done. He also took the
occasion to complain about the "false rumors" emanating from
the Middle East about alleged French contact with Hamas,
completely unfounded and the product of "disinformation
endemic to the region."


7. (C) In yet another, separate conversation with Deputy
PolCouns, MFA CFSP Unit Head Jean-Louis Falconi repeated many
of Thibault's arguments, but with more attention to
operational details. He said that the GOF was still in the
process of attempting to obtain confirmation from the COE
that invitations had been extended to the PLC. Falconi
claimed that, as far as he knew, no visas had yet been
requested for travel. He emphasized that this was situation
France did not wish to be confronted with and was in fact
very anxious to avoid. The GOF's best course of action would
be to try to ensure that there would be no visa request
forthcoming that would require adjudication. Given its COE
obligations, Falconi continued, the GOF would be able to
refuse a visa only if the individual were considered a danger
to public order or listed individually on an EU, UN, or
French list of banned persons. He said that, if indeed the
COE confirms the invitation and France receives a visa
request, then it would attempt to consult its EU partners
before coming to a final decision. He did not indicate
whether this was more for the purpose of cover, or whether
France would be seeking some sort of EU "decision" that might
exempt it in this instance from its COE obligations.

Please visit Paris' Classified Website at:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm

Stapleton