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.

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RE-THINKING UNRWA
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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.)

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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.

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