USUNESCO - ISRAELI AMBASSADOR DISCUSSED FOLLOW-UP TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 003124

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 5/10/06
TAGS: IS UNESCO
SUBJECT: USUNESCO - ISRAELI AMBASSADOR DISCUSSED FOLLOW-UP TO
THE EXECUTIVE BOARD


Classified by Ambassador Louise Oliver, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (U) Summary: Wanting to touch base following last month's
Executive Board at UNESCO, Israel's ambassador to UNESCO called
on Ambassador Oliver to thank the U.S. for its work on the
resolution regarding Jerusalem and on the "cartoon" issue.
Strategy was discussed about best ways to work together and
advance common interests in the coming months.


2. (U) Israel's ambassador to UNESCO and current Charge
d'Affaires in France, David Kornbluth, met with Ambassador
Oliver May 11. Kornbluth was accompanied by embassy officer
Daniel Safran.


3. (C) Kornbluth began by saying the Israelis were extremely
grateful for the role played by the U.S. during the recent
Executive Board. He felt we had gotten through the spring
session of the Board "pretty well," but asked if we thought it
would be wise to have Israel be more pro-active in attempting to
change the language of future draft resolutions.


4. (C) Kornbluth suggested that he is getting some pressure from
his foreign ministry to try to change the Syrian language in the
resolution on cultural institutions in Jerusalem. Ambassador
Oliver told him that the negotiations leading to the defusing of
the issue were a success, and that Israel faced an uphill battle
if it tries to push for a change and also risked to be seen as
contentious, which might have an adverse effect on its influence
within UNESCO.


5. (C) Ambassador Oliver said that the best strategy would be to
use precedent for protection. The fact that Israel had already
accepted the language at least four times in the past, trying to
change it would be seen negatively not just by the Arab states,
but potentially by other member states as well. Ambassador
Oliver also said that trying to change the Syrian language would
be a high-risk strategy, as it would open the door for other
changes and would probably be unsuccessful.


6. (C) Both ambassadors noted the work of the Jordanian
ambassador to UNESCO as an "honest broker," and remarked that
she was able to "hold the line" during the negotiations before
the Executive Board.


7. (C) Ambassador Oliver made the point that even the
Palestinian observer to UNESCO could argue that precedent makes
any possible change in language difficult, locking them into the
language that has already been hammered out. Kornbluth noted
that the Palestinian wasn't easy to deal with, but said that he
preferred him to the possibility of a Hamas supporter taking his
place. Ambassador Oliver agreed and remarked that she found the
present observer significantly easier to deal with than his
predecessor.


8. (SBU) Kornbluth also told us that he had spoken to Francisco
Bandarin, director of UNESCO's World Heritage Center, and asked
him directly if UNESCO had plans to create an office in
Jerusalem. Bandarin had told him no, though Kornbluth said that
Bandarin had previously told him yes. Ambassador Oliver agreed
that Bandarin is often hard to pin down, but while the subject
of Jerusalem is too hot right now to deal with, getting Bandarin
to give a straight answer is completely justified. Kornbluth
said that he was concerned that there is some interest to
increase the size of UNESCO's footprint in Jerusalem.
Ambassador Oliver also suggested that Bandarin be asked directly
what he has done in terms of changing the way UNESCO is
operating in Jerusalem and Kornbluth promised to send some key
points to her based on a recent conversation he had with
Bandarin.


9. (SBU) During discussion of the upcoming World Heritage
Committee meeting in July, Ambassador Oliver suggested that a
short visit by Kornbluth would be useful, signaling Israel's
strong interest in the subject and its support for the Israeli
site that has been proposed for the next addition to the World
Heritage list. Ambassador Oliver also added that she thought
Israel should be more active in all the key committees of which
it is now a member, including Man and the Biosphere, the
International Program for the Development of Communications and
the MOST (Management of Social Transformations) program. (Note:
Israel was elected to all of the committees in the fall of
2005, despite supporting the United States' position on the
cultural diversity convention.)


10. (SBU) Ambassador Oliver mentioned that the ratification
process for the cultural expressions convention was moving
slowly toward the 30 member states needed to bring it into
force. Both ambassadors agreed that the use of UNESCO funds to
promote the ratification process would be viewed as a misuse of
budgetary funds. Ambassador Oliver noted that we should at some
point bring up the issue of now many members states are needed
to bring instruments into force, as the 30-state threshold was
set years ago when the overall number of member states was much
smaller than today. She remarked that given the low 30-member
threshold, that it is plausible that one geographic group could,
by itself, push a convention into force.


11. SBU) Finally, Kornbluth said that he was pleased with the
U.S.'s idea to create a new Group I "informal information group"
to counter the EU informational meetings. Ambassador Oliver
said that she expects to call a meeting of the new group in the
coming weeks to try to institutionalize the meetings as soon as
possible.
Oliver