ISRAELI MFA DDG YA'AR SUPPPORTS UNRWA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 001008 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR PRM AND NEA E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/09/2016 TAGS: PREL PTER PREF PINR ECON KWBG KPAL IS ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS GOI EXTERNAL SUBJECT: ISRAELI MFA DDG YA'AR SUPPPORTS UNRWA REF: A. TEL AVIV 989 ¶B. TEL AVIV 885 Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Gene A. Cretz. Reason 1.4 (B/D) . ¶1. (U) This message was drafted by the Amman-based regional refugee coordinator and has been cleared by PRM, Embassy Amman and ConGen Jerusalem. ¶2. (C) SUMMARY: Israeli MFA officials told PRM PDAS Greene and other visiting PRM officials over the last week that UNRWA will form a critical part of efforts to maintain humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians in ways that do not benefit Hamas. While UNRWA is still officially a subject of the GOI's comprehensive inter-agency review of all assistance providers operating in the West Bank and Gaza, these officials appear ready to move the agency into their category of acceptable international service providers. They indicated, however, that they may be establishing "benchmarks" for UNRWA as part of a larger GOI plan to track international assistance, arguing that international aid could now be used creatively to force UNRWA to address long-standing GOI concerns about UNRWA's hiring practices and its use of refugee-hosting nations' curricula in its schools. The MFA is also adamantly opposed to any UNRWA "mission creep." Apart from opposing the idea of UNRWA expanding its mandate to provide services to non-refugees, MFA officials fear that UNRWA will become emboldened and ramp up a nascent effort to protest the movement restrictions the GOI has placed on locally hired UNRWA staff. MFA officials indicated in meetings with U.S. officials that they may also consider ICRC as a candidate to provide more humanitarian aid. END SUMMARY. -------------- RE-THINKING UNRWA -------------- ¶3. (C) PRM/ANE Office Director Richard Albright met with MFA Deputy Director General for International Organizations and the UN Ronny Leshno-Ya'ar, International Organizations and Human Rights Department Director Daniel Meron and UN Political Affairs Department Director Rony Adam on March 1 to review the GOI's position on providing assistance to Palestinians through UN agencies in the wake of the PLC elections. Refcoord served as notetaker. The MFA officials also reviewed GOI efforts to facilitate Palestinian Red Crescent Society ambulance access ahead of an international ;conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement scheduled to convene in Geneva in June to change the Movement's statutes and vote to admit MDA into the Movement (ref A). ¶4. (C) Ya'ar said the GOI's efforts to define appropriate humanitarian interventions for Palestinians by carrying out a comprehensive inter-agency review of aid providers is still ongoing, but indicated that the MFA's emerging preference is to channel humanitarian aid using existing UN mechanisms, specifically citing WFP, WHO and UNICEF as candidates. He also expressed interest in increasing assistance to international NGOs operating in the West Bank and Gaza. Ya'ar echoed concerns expressed in NEA DAS Dibble's February 23 meeting with MFA officials (ref B), about other UN agencies that work directly with the PA, such as UNDP, but suggested that the MFA is willing to "re-shape" these UN programs to limit their PA contact, a process he jokingly referred to as "kosherizing the UN." Ya'ar described ICRC as a "good" candidate to provide more humanitarian aid, but noted that ICRC officials "resent being used," adding that it is "not in the U.S. or Israel's interest to give the impression that there is a general emergency on the ground." (NOTE: ICRC provides humanitarian assistance in areas experiencing armed conflict. END NOTE.) ¶5. (C) Asked about UNRWA, Ya'ar said the marching orders he had received from FM Livni in the wake of the PLC elections were to facilitate humanitarian aid, and that this had forced him to put aside his campaign to downsize UNRWA, noting that the appeals he had made in meetings with USG officials over the last six months to engender an immediate and wholesale transfer of UNRWA's operations to the PA in Gaza were no longer viable. Ya'ar suggested that his reversal was also due to the stronger relationship the MFA had been able to develop with UNRWA's new senior management team, noting that he was about to depart the ministry to hold a working lunch with UNRWA Deputy Commissioner-General Filippo Grandi. In a subsequent March 8 telcon with PRM PDAS Rich Greene, Ya'ar also characterized UNRWA aid in the post-PLC election environment as "indispensable." Ya'ar was adamant, however, that the international community should avoid facilitating UNRWA "mission creep." While acknowledging that security might be enhanced if UNRWA were to run PA secondary schools rather than leave teenagers on the street, he opposed the idea of UNRWA expanding its services to non-refugees. ¶6. (C) Ya'ar also expressed concern that the current political situation would embolden UNRWA to use "harder anti-GOI rhetoric." Asked whether he was referring to specific statements, Ya'ar explained that the MFA had recently received a letter from UNRWA's Legal Department which reportedly challenged the legality of subjecting locally-hired UNRWA staff working to new permit regimes, as that access restriction was negatively affecting the agency's West Bank Headquarters, which are located in East Jerusalem. Arguing that UNRWA had never received permission to locate offices in East Jerusalem, and that lifting permit requirements would constitute a violation of Israeli law, Ya'ar said he had recommended to UNRWA ComGen Karen Abu Zayd that she withdraw UNRWA's complaint. (NOTE: Refcoord understands that the ComGen has refused this suggestion. Ya'ar did not share a copy of UNRWA's complaint; refcoord has requested a copy from the agency. END NOTE.) -------------- -------------- NEW OVERSIGHT REGIME -- MFA "BENCHMARKS" FOR UNRWA? -------------- -------------- ¶7. (C) Continuing on UNRWA, Ya'ar said the MFA was considering setting "benchmarks" for the agency as part of a larger GOI scheme to establish greater monitoring and oversight of international aid. Calling the current situation an opportunity to place "demands" on UNRWA that would address long-standing GOI concerns, Ya'ar indicated that the MFA was particularly interested in pushing UNRWA to establish stronger vetting of Hamas in its hiring practices. He also suggested that the MFA might ask the international community to request that UNRWA reverse its long-standing practice of teaching the curricula of the region's refugee hosting nations in its schools. IO Director Dan Meron claimed that independent organizations had found inflammatory and inaccurate references in secondary school PA textbooks. Refcoord informed him that UNRWA provides 10th grade education in only one of its schools in East Jerusalem, and that the PA Education Ministry had already revised the texts UNRWA uses in its schools in Gaza and the West Bank. Meron welcomed an opportunity to meet appropriate USG officials responsible for USG-funded programs to evaluate the content of the new PA textbooks, as well as other ongoing USG programs that have enabled UNRWA to introduce supplemental education materials that teach concepts of tolerance, human rights, gender equality and democracy in all of its schools and to provide extensive training on these materials for all of its teachers and school administrators. ********************************************* ******************** Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv You can also access this site through the State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. ********************************************* ******************** JONES