SHIMON PERES ON THE HOSTILITIES IN THE NORTH AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 003199

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/10/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV ECON ETRD ECIN IS
SUBJECT: SHIMON PERES ON THE HOSTILITIES IN THE NORTH AND
THE WAY FORWARD


Classified By: Charge Gene A. Cretz for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary. During an August 10 meeting Vice Premier
Shimon Peres told visiting U.S. Representatives Johnson,
Miller, Royce, Shaw, and Sherwood, and Ambassador Jones that
Hizballah's goal is to destroy Israel. Peres defended the
Israeli Air Force (IAF) saying it is only targeting rocket
launchers and bases of Hizballah operations in the bombing
campaign. He contended that Israel had been unwilling to use
force against Hizballah rockets, even thought it knew they
existed, until the July 12 attack. He laid out three
objectives for Israel's future: establishing peace, building
defenses and focusing on economic development. Peres
asserted that Hizballah capabilities are based on the
strength of the militant's convictions, not the sheer numbers
of fighters they have to wage war. He took issue with the
way that the media is portraying Israeli action as
"disproportional." Finally, Peres underlined Israel's
appreciation for U.S. support and assistance during the
current conflict. End summary.

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We knew about the rockets
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2. (C) Responding to a question from an NBC reporter at the
opening of the meeting, Peres refused to comment on his
decision to abstain from the August 9 Israeli Security
Cabinet vote to expand ground operations in Lebanon. Peres
told the delegation that even though Israel had been aware
that Hizballah had missiles before the July 12 kidnapping of
two soldiers, Israel did not launch an offensive attack
against Hizballah, responding to defend itself only after the
attack. Peres reaffirmed the Israeli government's
appreciation for U.S. support, and said "I can assure you
that Israel will never ask for American soldiers to come to
our borders to fight for us." Peres suggested that the
timing of the July 12 attack, just one day after the EU's
Solana arrived in Tehran to discuss Iran's nuclear weapons
program, strongly suggests Iran is using Hizballah to divert
attention from its WMD programs.

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Hizballah's Objectives
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3. (C) Peres told the delegation that Hizballah and its
sponsors have three main objectives in this war: the
destruction of Israel, the "enchantment of Lebanon by the
spell of Sh'ia Islam and Iran," and the destabilization of
Iraq. Peres described the war as first and foremost a
religious war being waged in an attempt to destroy Israel.
He said that since Hizballah will not be able to achieve this
objective it is also seeking to bring Lebanon under "the
spell of Sh'ia Islam and under the spell of Iran." Finally,
there is the possibility that the conflict will encourage
Sh'ia militants throughout the Middle East and create
conflict in Iraq.

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GOI Objectives
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4. (C) Peres said that the IAF is focusing on two types of
targets: rocket launchers and locations harboring Hizballah
fighters or operations centers. Peres emphasized that Israel
was attacked in a religiously motivated war by the "Quartet
of Evil" (Hizballah, Hamas, Syria and Iran) and is acting in
self-defense.


5. (C) Israel's long-term goals, as described by Peres, are
establishing peace, ensuring national defense, and building
economic peace. Peres described the disengagement plan as
the first time that Israel's right-wing politicians agreed
with the left on the creation of a Palestinian state. Peres
claimed that prior to the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad
Shalit from Kerem Shalom on the Gaza border, the GOI was
considering releasing Palestinian prisoners from Israeli
jails at the request of President Abbas. Peres underlined
that the main strategic victories from the conflict with
Hizballah will be political, not military. Alluding to the
current conflict, Peres said that the goal for the Israeli
military is defense and highlighted that IDF stands for
Israeli Defense Forces. Finally, Peres called for building
bridges through economic peace with initiatives like the
development of the Jordan Valley into an industrial zone and
joint projects aimed at Dead Sea conservation.

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Lebanese Capabilities
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6. (C) Responding to a question from the delegation, Peres
assessed the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) are "as strong as
they want to be." Citing the fact that the LAF has 60,000
soldiers, while Hizballah numbers only around 6,000
militants, Peres said Hizballah's dedication makes it a
stronger military force. Peres said there are 2,500
Hizballah militants in southern Lebanon who are "hardened
fighters," but Israel has killed 400 of them in the last
month. He estimated that a further 400 hard-core militants
were injured in the fighting, bringing the total Hizballah
core force down to around 1,600. When asked about the
officer core of the Lebanese army, Peres said that he
believes the top echelon of commanders reflects the
confessional diversity of Lebanon.

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International Media Response
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7. (C) Sharply criticizing the response of some international
media outlets that have called the Israeli response
"disproportional," Peres questioned whether sending more than
200 missiles per day towards civilian populations for more
than a month is "proportional." The delegation asked Peres
to remember that this is a media war as much as a ground war,
and that explaining as many of the facts on the ground as
possible will remind the world that Israel is responding to
an unprovoked attack on its northern border.

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UN
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8. (C) Peres postulated that it will be interesting to see
whether Russia chooses to use this opportunity to show that
it is a "great country" by holding up progress at the UNSC.
He also said that Siniora's seven-point plan gained a
majority of support at the recent ministerial meeting in
Beirut only because of the three-way split in the Islamic
world between Iran, fundamentalist Sunnis, and moderate
Islamic states. Peres again thanked the delegation for
continued U.S. support.


9. (U) The Codels did not have an opportunity to clear this
cable before departing.

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