MFA TELLS DAS DIBBLE THAT GOI GRAPPLING WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 000885

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/03/2016
TAGS: PREL PTER ECON KPAL KWBG PINR IS GOI INTERNAL HUMANITARIAN AID ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS
SUBJECT: MFA TELLS DAS DIBBLE THAT GOI GRAPPLING WITH
DEFINITION OF HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

Classified By: Classified by: DCM Gene A. Cretz, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d
).


1. (C) Summary: MFA officials told NEA DAS Liz Dibble that
the GOI is going through a comprehensive inter-agency process
to define humanitarian assistance and formulate how best to
continue it to the Palestinians without benefiting Hamas.
They also want a mechanism that would permit the GOI to track
assistance and determine the final destination. According to
one MFA official, most UN agencies should be able to continue
their work, but UNRWA and UNDP are more problematic. The GOI
does not want to see an expansion of UNRWA,s mandate to
non-refugee populations and UNDP works directly with the PA
government. MFA officials said that the GOI is grappling
with where to draw the line on aid to education for the
Palestinians as well as how to continue healthcare
cooperation without working with the Hamas government. End
summary.


2. (C) NEA Deputy Assistant Secretary Elizabeth Dibble met
on February 23 with MFA Director General Ron Prossor, North
America Deputy Director General Yoram Ben-Zeev, Deputy
Director General for International Organizations and UN Ronny
Leshno-Yaar, Director of the Multilateral Track and Water
Issues Yaacov Keidar, and Deputy Director General for
Economic Affairs Yossi Gal to discuss the GOI,s approach to
future assistance to the Palestinians. DAS Dibble detailed
the U.S. worldwide demarche asking countries not to meet with
Hamas, and if they do so, to do it below the political level
and push Hamas to abide by the Quartet principles. She also
explained that the U.S. wants to ensure that Humanitarian
assistance to the Palestinian people continues, while not
benefiting the Hamas government.

--------------
GOI Inter-Agency Consultations
--------------


3. (C) Director General Ron Prossor said that the GOI is
conducting comprehensive inter-agency consultations to help
formulate how to continue assistance to the Palestinians
while still applying pressure on the Hamas government. Ronny
Leshno-Yaar said that FM Tzipi Livni chaired a February 22
inter-agency meeting covering how to define exactly what
constitutes humanitarian assistance. Yoram Ben-Zeev said
that Livni met February 21 with deputy ministers and asked
for creative ideas to resolve this issue. He said Livni is
not dismissing any suggestion, including possible
international oversight of projects. He said there is no GOI
blueprint yet on how to proceed.

--------------
Trying to Define Humanitarian Assistance
--------------


4. (C) Yossi Gal said that the GOI is looking at the whole
spectrum of assistance activities, from those obviously
meeting humanitarian needs (provision of basic foodstuffs) to
those likely to aid terror, and is judging each assistance
project by where it fits on that axis. In addition, Gal
said, Israeli officials are talking to colleagues in the
international community, including the Norwegians, Japanese,
and EU, and screening each project with them. He said sewage
and water projects should continue, adding it is also
important to create a mechanism that would permit the GOI to
track assistance and determine the final destination.


5. (C) Leshno-Yaar said the GOI wants to see a continuation
of humanitarian assistance through existing mechanisms such
as NGOs and UN agencies. He said almost all the UN agencies,
such as UNESCO, and their projects are "kosher" for the GOI.
Leshno-Yaar said UNRWA, which deals with refugees, is a
separate case and is in a different category. The GOI does
not want to see an expansion of UNRWA,s mandate to
non-refugee populations, he said. He said the GOI would like
more control over education provided by UNRWA and over how it
vets employees. The UNDP, Leshno-Yaar said, is also a
problem, because it is infrastructure project-oriented and
works directly with the PA. He said that because the ICRC
already works with Hamas, its participation is a matter of
concern. Although the GOI might like to expand cooperation
with the ICRC, that might not be possible, he said.

--------------
Education and Health
--------------


6. (C) Prossor said that the issue of assistance to
education is not simple, because the PA government is
changing hands from a secular nationalist movement to a
radical Islamist one, and that could influence what is taught
in schools. Yossi Gal said that the GOI does not want a
generation of Palestinian children who do not attend school,
but, at the same time, it is not clear where the GOI will
draw the line on aid to education. The GOI does not want to
pick up the tab for salaries. Prossor expressed doubt that
Iran could make up the shortfall if western nations cut
assistance to the PA.


7. (C) Gal said that health care assistance is another
complicated issue. For example, he said, Palestinians who
are ill, such as cancer patients, receive treatment in
Israeli hospitals. He explained that the current procedure
is that they receive documentation detailing their need for
treatment from the PA and give that document to an Israeli
hospital, which is then reimbursed by the GOI Ministry of
Health. Gal said one idea under consideration for handling
Palestinian patients after the inauguration of the Hamas
government is for them to receive documentation from ICRC.
Another issue being looked at, Leshno-Yaar said, is how the
Magen David Adom will work with the Palestinian Red Crescent
when the Hamas government is in place.

8. (U) DAS Dibble has 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.
********************************************* ********************
JONES