SHEETRIT DISCUSSES WINOGRAD COMMITTEE,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TEL AVIV 003785

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/21/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV KWBG IS
SUBJECT: SHEETRIT DISCUSSES WINOGRAD COMMITTEE,
SETTLEMENTS, COPYRIGHT LAW AND TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS WITH
THE AMBASSADOR


Classified By: Ambassador Richard H. Jones for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: The Ambassador met with Israeli Acting
Minister of Justice Meir Sheetrit on Tuesday, September 19,
2006, to discuss new Trafficking in Persons (TIP) and
Copyright laws pending in the Knesset and settlement building
in the West Bank. In addition, Sheetrit discussed the
current Winograd Committee formed by Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert to investigate the Government and the Israeli Defense
Force,s (IDF) performance in the recent Lebanon war.
Sheetrit argued that a Committee of Inquiry, set up under
existing Israeli law, would have been more appropriate;
however, he suggested that Olmert might have been concerned
that the Supreme Court would have appointed individuals
opposed to his government. On settlements, Sheetrit claimed
that the recent tender notification was approved in 2004 and
for purely private development within existing communities.
On the new copyright law, the Ambassador stressed the
importance of further consultations between the U.S. and GOI
before the law went further in the Knesset. Lastly, the
Ambassador stressed the importance of including assistance
for legal support for victims of labor trafficking in new
legislation now before the Knesset. End Summary.

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Winograd Committee - Lebanon War
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2. (C) The Ambassador met with Israeli Acting Minister of
Justice Meir Sheetrit on Tuesday, September 19. Sheetrit
said that PM Olmert should have created a Committee of
Inquiry under existing Israeli law instead of the current
Winograd Committee to investigate the GOI and IDF,s
performance during the recent war in Lebanon. Sheetrit
argued that a committee of inquiry would have been much
stronger but that Olmert appeared to fear that the Supreme
Court might appoint GOI opponents to the committee, which
Olmert would not like. Sheetrit claimed he would have
prevented anyone being appointed that the PM would disapprove
of and said he could have assured that recently retired
Supreme Court President Barak would have been the chairman.
Sheetrit added that Olmert had also told him an official
committee of inquiry would tie up the country for two years
and that was why he (Olmert) went for the Winograd Committee.
In response to the Ambassador's questions, Sheetrit said
that there were no time limits on the committee's mandate and
that it could go back as far in time as it felt necessary to
analyze problems.


3. (C) Speaking more broadly about the war in Lebanon,
Sheetrit argued that the ground invasion had cost Israel the
most lives while its artillery and AIR strikes had inflicted
much more damage on Hizballah. He also said that the GOI had
acted too quickly when it responded to Hizballah's attack and
did not take enough time to prepare. He would have preferred
giving Hizballah a deadline for releasing the prisoners
during which time Israel could have prepared itself more
thoroughly. He agreed, however, that Israel had achieved a
major success in destroying most of Hizballah's long-range
missiles early in the war. Lastly, Sheetrit claimed that he
had advised Olmert to suspend hostilities a few days before
the tragic Kfar Qana incident when Olmert's poll numbers were
still 90-plus percent. Sheetrit claimed that if Israel had
paused before that incident, the UN Security Council
resolution would have been more favorable for Israel than it
was two weeks later. (He discounted Olmert's thesis that the
IDF's eleventh-hour ground offensive had markedly improved
UNSCR 1701.)

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Settlements
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4. (C) The Ambassador expressed dissatisfaction that the
Ministry of Housing and Construction, of which Sheetrit is
also minister, had not notified the Embassy in advance of the
recent tender offer to build more units at Beitar Illit and
Ma'ale Adumim. He added that advance notification was normal
practice and that Sheetrit was aware of U.S. policy against
the expansion of settlements. Sheetrit replied that the
recent tender was approved in 2004 and was strictly for
private development at no cost to the GOI. Sheetrit claimed
that the GOI had stopped most building in Judea and Samaria;
however, he acknowledged the need to make a clear policy on
settlements. Sheetrit argued that the building in Ariel and
around Jerusalem was strictly private building and that the
GOI was not funding any new construction. The Ambassador
challenged this claim asking who was paying for
infrastructure such as roads, sewers and so on. Sheetrit
said that most roads were already built and that the private
contractors who won the tenders would build the remaining
infrastructure. Sheetrit then noted that approving tenders
did not necessarily mean building would take place; some
previous tenders were canceled because nobody wanted to live
in the settlements in question. Tenders also do not
necessarily mean additional development, he said. Sheetrit
went on to detail two further planned tenders. The first
would be for 164 units (Ariel 88 units; Qarnei Shomron, 20
units; Alfei Menashe, 56 units). The second would be for 434
units (Efrat, 78 units; Gai Adon (NFI),158 units; Kiryat
Arba, 156 units; Elkana, 42 units). However, he noted that
the Minister of Defense had not yet approved the Efrat, Gai
Adon, Kiryat Arba, and Elkana tenders. Sheetrit told Jones
that he would provide the Embassy with a complete list.


5. (C) The Ambassador reiterated that the U.S. position on
settlements had not changed and asked about the Sasson report
and what the GOI was planning to do about outposts. Sheetrit
replied that he had canceled a scheduled inter-ministerial
meeting on the MOJ's draft reply to the Sasson report
(prepared under his predecessor) to allow more time for him
to study the issues. Sheetrit claimed that outposts were not
an issue with the Palestinians so much as a matter of Israeli
rule of law but that no politician was eager to take on the
issue. Sheetrit said that it was clear to him that all
outposts must be removed. However, he hoped to find a
compromise that would allow the issue to be resolved
peacefully, for example, by allowing those living in the
outposts to resettle into nearby, legal, settlements. Any
such solution would depend on the PM, however. Any final
settlement would need to help those living in the outposts
save face but that there were some extreme people living in
them. Sheetrit added that most of the outposts have been
built close to existing settlements but not all are
associated with legal settlements. The Ambassador again
asked about the status of the MOJ draft reply to the Sasson
report and would Sheetrit push it forward. The paper still
exists, Sheetrit said, but he was not sure if he would push
it forward. The Ambassador stressed the U.S. view that new
outposts should be removed immediately and reminded Sheetrit
that the GOI has made a commitment to remove existing
outposts. Sheetrit assured the Ambassador that the GOI had
not allowed any new outposts to be created. He asked for
more information on the GOI commitment to remove existing
outposts, which the Ambassador agreed to provide.

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Copyright Law
--------------


6. (C) In a discussion on the draft copyright law recently
submitted to the Knesset, the Ambassador warned Sheetrit that
the current text was not acceptable to the U.S. because it
appears to allow non-open source material to be declared open
source upon entering Israel. Sheetrit claimed that this
could not be done and that under current law there would be a
penalty. The Ambassador reiterated that the current draft
before the Knesset appeared to allow copying of
copyright-protected material imported into Israel. Sheetrit
claimed he had not seen this law but that he would get a copy
of the proposed law, he noted that it did not seem logical
that the law would be changed in this way. The Ambassador
agreed and reiterated that a strong copyright law is in both
the GOI and U.S. interest. He added that the Embassy was
disappointed that the GOI had not discussed the new law with
the U.S. before it had been submitted to the Knesset. He
urged the GOI to consult with the U.S. before the law moves
any further in the Knesset. Sheetrit said he would look into
this issue.

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Trafficking in Persons
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7. (C) Lastly, the Ambassador noted that a new law
criminalizing labor trafficking was also before the Knesset
and urged Sheetrit to do what he could to get the law brought
to a vote quickly. In addition, he said that the U.S.
strongly suggests that the law include a provision for
providing legal support to victims of labor trafficking.
Sheetrit noted that legal support was being provided to women
victims of trafficking. The Ambassador recognized that help
was being provided to victims of sexual exploitation; we were
now seeking the extension of this practice to victims of
labor trafficking. Sheetrit replied that it would be a
matter of money. The Ambassador suggested that perhaps legal
support for those trafficked for labor purposes could be
included as part of the current women,s program.

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