Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06TELAVIV2927
2006-07-27 12:39:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tel Aviv
Cable title:
SPIEGEL OUTLINES HUMANITARIAN COORDINATION SYSTEM
how-tonull Carol X Weakley 07/28/2006 05:28:27 PM From DB/Inbox: Carol X Weakley Cable Text: C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 02927 SIPDIS CXTelA: ACTION: POL INFO: IPSC PD IMO RES ECON DCM DAO AMB AID CONS RSO ADM DISSEMINATION: POL CHARGE: PROG APPROVED: AMB:RHJONES DRAFTED: POL/C:NOLSEN CLEARED: DCM:GCRETZ VZCZCTVI247 PP RUEHC RUEHXK DE RUEHTV #2927 2081239 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 271239Z JUL 06 FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5226 INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 002927
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/26/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL KWBG IS
SUBJECT: SPIEGEL OUTLINES HUMANITARIAN COORDINATION SYSTEM
Classified By: Ambassador Richard H. Jones for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).
C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 002927
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/26/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL KWBG IS
SUBJECT: SPIEGEL OUTLINES HUMANITARIAN COORDINATION SYSTEM
Classified By: Ambassador Richard H. Jones for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).
1. (C) Defense Minister advisor BG (res) Baruch Spiegel told
the Ambassador July 26 that he is working to eliminate the
confusion remaining within the IDF on the implementation of
humanitarian corridors as agreed by Secretary Rice and PM
Olmert July 25. He said that the guidelines the army
received following the Secretary's meetings were not entirely
clear, although the were instructed to engage Embassy
officials on the humanitarian corridors. He noted that the
IDF and UN relief official Kevin Kennedy already have worked
out an SOP for humanitarian convoys. The IDF has established
a Humanitarian Resource Coordination Center (HRCC) that will
handle with the UN necessary deconfliction for the majority
of relief organizations operating in Lebanon. The HRCC will
deal separately with the ICRC, which wishes to handle its own
coordinaton with the IDF through ICRC Israel Rep Dominick
Stillhart. The Ambassador said that the USG is looking for
the IDF to establish, in coordination with relief agencies,
half a dozen corridors by which humanitarian supplies and
displaced persons can safely move.
2. (C) Spiegel said that the weakest link in the
communications/liaison chain is that with the actual ground
forces in Lebanon, and said that he is pressing for an "HRCC
forward" element to be established inside the conflict zone,
possibly in Bint Jubayl. Establishment of that element will
require agreement by the ICRC and UN to work with the unit,
he added. Currently, forward liaison is handled by a special
IDF civil affairs unit for humanitarian operations that is
headed by a colonel and consists of reserve officers who are
all Arabic speakers. He compared it to the Civil
Administration, which performs a similar role for the
Occupied Territories. The IDF's "advance operations
headquarters" has already assigned a lieutenant colonel to
serve as its liaison officer to UNIFIL. Spiegel said he
wants to see this element expanded, and that UNIFIL, with its
existing resources and experience, and ongoing liaison
relationship with the IDF, could take the lead for organizing
UN operations south of the Litani.
3. (C) Separately, Spiegel commented, without offering
specific casualty figures, that the fighting in Lebanon is
not going smoothly, and that two brigades remain fully
engaged round the clock. He said that in one village
Hizballah fighters have holed up in a mosque and that the IDF
is under orders not to destroy it. He said that the IDF
attack on a UNIFIL position, in which four UNIFIL personnel
were killed, was a tragic mistake.
4. (C) COMMENT: Spiegel is out in front on facilitating
humaniarian relief and is pressing his counterparts in the
IDF to implement the type of assured access that the
Secretary and PM Omert agreed to in their July 25 meeting.
SIPDIS
We intend to weigh in to support his efforts to
professionalize and bring to the field -- not just the policy
level -- a commitment to facilitate our humanitarian,
evacuation and other relief operations. END COMMENT.
********************************************* ********************
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
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/26/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL KWBG IS
SUBJECT: SPIEGEL OUTLINES HUMANITARIAN COORDINATION SYSTEM
Classified By: Ambassador Richard H. Jones for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).
1. (C) Defense Minister advisor BG (res) Baruch Spiegel told
the Ambassador July 26 that he is working to eliminate the
confusion remaining within the IDF on the implementation of
humanitarian corridors as agreed by Secretary Rice and PM
Olmert July 25. He said that the guidelines the army
received following the Secretary's meetings were not entirely
clear, although the were instructed to engage Embassy
officials on the humanitarian corridors. He noted that the
IDF and UN relief official Kevin Kennedy already have worked
out an SOP for humanitarian convoys. The IDF has established
a Humanitarian Resource Coordination Center (HRCC) that will
handle with the UN necessary deconfliction for the majority
of relief organizations operating in Lebanon. The HRCC will
deal separately with the ICRC, which wishes to handle its own
coordinaton with the IDF through ICRC Israel Rep Dominick
Stillhart. The Ambassador said that the USG is looking for
the IDF to establish, in coordination with relief agencies,
half a dozen corridors by which humanitarian supplies and
displaced persons can safely move.
2. (C) Spiegel said that the weakest link in the
communications/liaison chain is that with the actual ground
forces in Lebanon, and said that he is pressing for an "HRCC
forward" element to be established inside the conflict zone,
possibly in Bint Jubayl. Establishment of that element will
require agreement by the ICRC and UN to work with the unit,
he added. Currently, forward liaison is handled by a special
IDF civil affairs unit for humanitarian operations that is
headed by a colonel and consists of reserve officers who are
all Arabic speakers. He compared it to the Civil
Administration, which performs a similar role for the
Occupied Territories. The IDF's "advance operations
headquarters" has already assigned a lieutenant colonel to
serve as its liaison officer to UNIFIL. Spiegel said he
wants to see this element expanded, and that UNIFIL, with its
existing resources and experience, and ongoing liaison
relationship with the IDF, could take the lead for organizing
UN operations south of the Litani.
3. (C) Separately, Spiegel commented, without offering
specific casualty figures, that the fighting in Lebanon is
not going smoothly, and that two brigades remain fully
engaged round the clock. He said that in one village
Hizballah fighters have holed up in a mosque and that the IDF
is under orders not to destroy it. He said that the IDF
attack on a UNIFIL position, in which four UNIFIL personnel
were killed, was a tragic mistake.
4. (C) COMMENT: Spiegel is out in front on facilitating
humaniarian relief and is pressing his counterparts in the
IDF to implement the type of assured access that the
Secretary and PM Omert agreed to in their July 25 meeting.
SIPDIS
We intend to weigh in to support his efforts to
professionalize and bring to the field -- not just the policy
level -- a commitment to facilitate our humanitarian,
evacuation and other relief operations. END COMMENT.
********************************************* ********************
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