Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06TELAVIV2019
2006-05-24 12:39:00
SECRET
Embassy Tel Aviv
Cable title:
KUPPERWASSER'S FINAL ASSESSMENT OF HAMAS
how-toO 241239Z MAY 06 FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3756 INFO ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE CIA WASHDC IMMEDIATE DIA WASHDC IMMEDIATE DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC IMMEDIATE
S E C R E T TEL AVIV 002019
TREASURY FOR SZUBIN
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2016
TAGS: PTER KTFN EFIN PREL IS KPAL
SUBJECT: KUPPERWASSER'S FINAL ASSESSMENT OF HAMAS
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Gene A. Cretz for
reasons 1.4 (a) and (b).
-------
SUMMARY
-------
S E C R E T TEL AVIV 002019
TREASURY FOR SZUBIN
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2016
TAGS: PTER KTFN EFIN PREL IS KPAL
SUBJECT: KUPPERWASSER'S FINAL ASSESSMENT OF HAMAS
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Gene A. Cretz for
reasons 1.4 (a) and (b).
--------------
SUMMARY
--------------
1. (S) In a May 2 meeting at the NSC, BGen Yossi Kupperwasser
told Under Secretary (U/S) of the Treasury for Terrorism and
Financial Intelligence (TFI) Stuart Levey that if the
Palestinian people turn away from Hamas, they would probably
not turn towards Fatah unless Fatah undergoes a significant
ideological transformation. Kupperwasser provided four
possible Hamas courses of action, judging the most likely to
be an attempt to survive the US/EU/GOI financial cordon
through donations from sympathetic Muslim states. NSC
Counterterrorism Bureau (CTB) Director Danny Arditi agreed in
principle to future meetings between GOI,s NSC and Treasury
Department financial analysts to discuss financial targets of
mutual concern. End Summary.
--------------
KUPPERWASSER'S VIEW OF PA LANDSCAPE
--------------
2. (S) At the Israeli National Security Council (NSC),
Brigadier General Yossi Kupperwasser, outgoing Chief of the
Israel Defense Intelligence's (IDI) Products Division,
presented U/S Levey his view of the political landscape in
the Palestinian Authority. He began by saying that there is
a "duality" among the Palestinian people, whereby 70 per cent
of them want peace with Israel and 70 per cent of them are
also in favor of continuing terrorist attacks against Israel
and 40 per cent desire both options. Against this backdrop,
he asserted that if the Palestinian people turn away from
Hamas, they would not necessarily turn towards Fatah in its
current form.
3. (S) Kupperwasser said that the majority of Fatah members
mistakenly believe that their party simply needs an "image
makeover" to regain popular support. Kupperwasser maintained
that Fatah must instead undergo a significant ideological
transformation if it is ever to shake the "culture of
corruption" responsible for its loss of public trust.
Kupperwasser claimed that within Fatah, President Mahmoud
Abbas "stands alone" against multiple hard line factions. He
alluded to GOI intelligence that former PA Minister of Civil
Affairs Muhammad Dahlan had been very critical of Abbas for
his public condemnation of the April 17 terrorist attack in
Tel Aviv.
4. (S) Kupperwasser then described four options that he
believes are currently under consideration by the Hamas
leadership: (A) Hamas could make political concessions to
Abbas, in the belief that Hamas will eventually overcome
Abbas and then could retract such concessions -- an option
allegedly favored by PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh; (B)
Hamas could make ideological, mostly semantic, concessions in
order to publicly support the Arab League Initiative and
steal "political thunder" from Abbas; (C) Hamas could make no
concessions and return to a campaign of violence -- an option
favored by military wing commander Muhammad Deif; and (D)
Hamas could wait out the US/EU/GOI attempt to financially
strangle it, sustained by assistance from Iran and the Arab
states, and emerge stronger afterwards -- the option
apparently favored by Political Chief Khalid Meshal.
5. (S) Encouraging U/S Levey to not "underestimate the power
of the U.S. Treasury," Kupperwasser claimed to have
intelligence that, "Arabs are saying to themselves that the
U.S. controls the world's finances." Kupperwasser asserted
that the USG does not have to overplay its hand, but must
play it. He also noted that the GOI would only be able to
stop the finances from getting to the Hamas-led PA for a few
months, and that the GOI would need the U.S. to be involved
in this process for the long-term. Kupperwasser claimed that
funds could be transferred from the Arab League account in
Egypt via the Bank of Palestine or the Organization of the
Islamic Conference,s Al-Aqsa Fund, part of the Islamic
Development Fund.
6. (S) CTB Director Danny Arditi gave a presentation on the
current economic state of the PA and the Palestinian
territories. He described several potential channels for
transferring funds to the PA: directly through the
Presidency, the Palestinian Monetary Authority (PMA),the
Islamic Qatar Bank, and the Islamic Palestinian Bank (a very
small Palestinian-based bank not related to the Bank of
Palestine).
--------------
AGREEMENT TO FUTURE WORKING-LEVEL MEETINGS
--------------
7. (S) U/S Levey requested future meetings between financial
analysts from the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of
Intelligence and Analysis (OIA) and GOI CTF counterparts.
Danny Arditi, CTB Director of Counter Terror Finance (CTF)
Udi Levi and Israel Security Agency (ISA) CTB representative
Uzi Shaya agreed in principle. U/S Levey suggested that an
initial working-level meeting in the near future could review
specific evidence regarding the Islamic umbrella charity
organization known as the & Union of Good 8 (or the &Charity
Coalition8),and the American Near East Refugee Association
(ANERA) NGO. Arditi enthusiastically supported U/S Levey's
request. He also noted that in the Israeli Finance Ministry
-- the Israeli equivalent to the U.S. Treasury Department --
there is no resident intelligence collection or analytical
body.
--------------
ATTENDANCE
--------------
8. (S) Attendees at the 2 May NSC meeting included:
BGen Yossi Kupperwasser
NSC CTB Director BGen Danny Arditi
NSC CTF Director Udi Levi
NSC ISA CTF Director Uzi Shaya
ISA Legal Counsel Avi Avramson
ISA Case Officer for CTF Moran
Treasury U/S Stuart Levey
Senior Advisor Adam Szubin
Policy Advisor Kristen Hecht
Financial Analyst Matt Epstein
Regional Treasury Attach Brian Grant
Econ Counselor
Deputy Econ Counselor
Econoff.
9. (U) U/S Levey cleared this cable.
********************************************* ********************
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.
********************************************* ********************
CRETZ
TREASURY FOR SZUBIN
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2016
TAGS: PTER KTFN EFIN PREL IS KPAL
SUBJECT: KUPPERWASSER'S FINAL ASSESSMENT OF HAMAS
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Gene A. Cretz for
reasons 1.4 (a) and (b).
--------------
SUMMARY
--------------
1. (S) In a May 2 meeting at the NSC, BGen Yossi Kupperwasser
told Under Secretary (U/S) of the Treasury for Terrorism and
Financial Intelligence (TFI) Stuart Levey that if the
Palestinian people turn away from Hamas, they would probably
not turn towards Fatah unless Fatah undergoes a significant
ideological transformation. Kupperwasser provided four
possible Hamas courses of action, judging the most likely to
be an attempt to survive the US/EU/GOI financial cordon
through donations from sympathetic Muslim states. NSC
Counterterrorism Bureau (CTB) Director Danny Arditi agreed in
principle to future meetings between GOI,s NSC and Treasury
Department financial analysts to discuss financial targets of
mutual concern. End Summary.
--------------
KUPPERWASSER'S VIEW OF PA LANDSCAPE
--------------
2. (S) At the Israeli National Security Council (NSC),
Brigadier General Yossi Kupperwasser, outgoing Chief of the
Israel Defense Intelligence's (IDI) Products Division,
presented U/S Levey his view of the political landscape in
the Palestinian Authority. He began by saying that there is
a "duality" among the Palestinian people, whereby 70 per cent
of them want peace with Israel and 70 per cent of them are
also in favor of continuing terrorist attacks against Israel
and 40 per cent desire both options. Against this backdrop,
he asserted that if the Palestinian people turn away from
Hamas, they would not necessarily turn towards Fatah in its
current form.
3. (S) Kupperwasser said that the majority of Fatah members
mistakenly believe that their party simply needs an "image
makeover" to regain popular support. Kupperwasser maintained
that Fatah must instead undergo a significant ideological
transformation if it is ever to shake the "culture of
corruption" responsible for its loss of public trust.
Kupperwasser claimed that within Fatah, President Mahmoud
Abbas "stands alone" against multiple hard line factions. He
alluded to GOI intelligence that former PA Minister of Civil
Affairs Muhammad Dahlan had been very critical of Abbas for
his public condemnation of the April 17 terrorist attack in
Tel Aviv.
4. (S) Kupperwasser then described four options that he
believes are currently under consideration by the Hamas
leadership: (A) Hamas could make political concessions to
Abbas, in the belief that Hamas will eventually overcome
Abbas and then could retract such concessions -- an option
allegedly favored by PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh; (B)
Hamas could make ideological, mostly semantic, concessions in
order to publicly support the Arab League Initiative and
steal "political thunder" from Abbas; (C) Hamas could make no
concessions and return to a campaign of violence -- an option
favored by military wing commander Muhammad Deif; and (D)
Hamas could wait out the US/EU/GOI attempt to financially
strangle it, sustained by assistance from Iran and the Arab
states, and emerge stronger afterwards -- the option
apparently favored by Political Chief Khalid Meshal.
5. (S) Encouraging U/S Levey to not "underestimate the power
of the U.S. Treasury," Kupperwasser claimed to have
intelligence that, "Arabs are saying to themselves that the
U.S. controls the world's finances." Kupperwasser asserted
that the USG does not have to overplay its hand, but must
play it. He also noted that the GOI would only be able to
stop the finances from getting to the Hamas-led PA for a few
months, and that the GOI would need the U.S. to be involved
in this process for the long-term. Kupperwasser claimed that
funds could be transferred from the Arab League account in
Egypt via the Bank of Palestine or the Organization of the
Islamic Conference,s Al-Aqsa Fund, part of the Islamic
Development Fund.
6. (S) CTB Director Danny Arditi gave a presentation on the
current economic state of the PA and the Palestinian
territories. He described several potential channels for
transferring funds to the PA: directly through the
Presidency, the Palestinian Monetary Authority (PMA),the
Islamic Qatar Bank, and the Islamic Palestinian Bank (a very
small Palestinian-based bank not related to the Bank of
Palestine).
--------------
AGREEMENT TO FUTURE WORKING-LEVEL MEETINGS
--------------
7. (S) U/S Levey requested future meetings between financial
analysts from the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of
Intelligence and Analysis (OIA) and GOI CTF counterparts.
Danny Arditi, CTB Director of Counter Terror Finance (CTF)
Udi Levi and Israel Security Agency (ISA) CTB representative
Uzi Shaya agreed in principle. U/S Levey suggested that an
initial working-level meeting in the near future could review
specific evidence regarding the Islamic umbrella charity
organization known as the & Union of Good 8 (or the &Charity
Coalition8),and the American Near East Refugee Association
(ANERA) NGO. Arditi enthusiastically supported U/S Levey's
request. He also noted that in the Israeli Finance Ministry
-- the Israeli equivalent to the U.S. Treasury Department --
there is no resident intelligence collection or analytical
body.
--------------
ATTENDANCE
--------------
8. (S) Attendees at the 2 May NSC meeting included:
BGen Yossi Kupperwasser
NSC CTB Director BGen Danny Arditi
NSC CTF Director Udi Levi
NSC ISA CTF Director Uzi Shaya
ISA Legal Counsel Avi Avramson
ISA Case Officer for CTF Moran
Treasury U/S Stuart Levey
Senior Advisor Adam Szubin
Policy Advisor Kristen Hecht
Financial Analyst Matt Epstein
Regional Treasury Attach Brian Grant
Econ Counselor
Deputy Econ Counselor
Econoff.
9. (U) U/S Levey cleared this cable.
********************************************* ********************
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.
********************************************* ********************
CRETZ