Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06TELAVIV989
2006-03-10 16:29:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tel Aviv
Cable title:  

EMBLEM: GOI STANDS STILL; ICRC DELEGATION CONCERNED

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TEL AVIV 000989 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/IPA, PRM FOR ACTING A/S GREENE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/08/2016
TAGS: IS PGOV PREF PREL SZ ISRAELI SOCIETY ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS GOI EXTERNAL
SUBJECT: EMBLEM: GOI STANDS STILL; ICRC DELEGATION CONCERNED

REF: SECSTATE 33441

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

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TEL AVIV 000989

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/IPA, PRM FOR ACTING A/S GREENE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/08/2016
TAGS: IS PGOV PREF PREL SZ ISRAELI SOCIETY ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS GOI EXTERNAL
SUBJECT: EMBLEM: GOI STANDS STILL; ICRC DELEGATION CONCERNED

REF: SECSTATE 33441

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


1. (C) SUMMARY: MFA Deputy Director General (DDG) Aharon
Leshno Yaar told PRM Director for Asia and the Near East
Richard Albright March 2 that the GOI plans to delay
implementing the December agreement between Magen David Adom
(MDA) and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS). ICRC
Head of Delegation Dominik Stillhart told Albright March 3
that he believes GOI officials are concerned that moving too
soon to implement the agreement might afford the Palestinians
several months to press for further concessions. Stillhart
warned that failure to fulfill the agreement before the June
diplomatic conference (reftel) will provide undecided states
an excuse not to support the next steps required for MDA
accession into the Movement. While delaying movement on the
agreement, the GOI reported progress on another front related
to the emblem. MFA Director for International Organizations
(IO) Daniel Meron told poloff on March 3 that the MFA had
begun working with the ICRC to build a primary healthcare
facility for the Druze community in the Golan Heights.
According to Stillhart, however, the status of the MDA-PRCS
agreement will have a far greater impact on the June
conference than will progress in the Golan Heights. END
SUMMARY.

-------------- --------------
GOI STATED POSITION: NO RUSH TO IMPLEMENT AGREEMENT
-------------- --------------


2. (C) "Our lesson from the (December) Geneva conference,"
MFA DDG Aharon Yaar told Richard Albright, "is that it
doesn't matter if we sign an agreement with the Palestinians;
we will still face opposition, and we'll never please the
Syrians." Albright responded that the MDA-PRCS agreement
helped pave the way at the conference for a majority vote in
favor of adopting the Third Additional Protocol. Yaar
replied that, nonetheless, the upcoming Israeli national
elections will force the GOI to wait until May to begin
serious preparations for the June diplomatic conference.



3. (C) Yaar said that leaders of MDA and PRCS have met
several times, and have made progress facilitating at the
GOI-controlled Allenby Bridge the transfer of critically ill
patients seeking treatment at Jordanian hospitals. In a
follow-up March 3 telcon with poloff, MFA IO Director Daniel
Meron claimed that a senior IDF commander has issued a
general directive instructing all checkpoints to grant
priority access to PRCS ambulances. When pressed for
details, however, Meron said that he could not yet report the
specifics of the directive, the identity of the IDF officer,
or the date of its issuance. Meron still could not provide
this information as of March 7.

--------------
ICRC VIEW OF GOI POSITION: DELIBERATE DELAY
--------------


4. (C) ICRC Head of Delegation Dominik Stillhart told
Albright on March 3 that he believes GOI officials are
concerned that moving too soon to implement the agreement
might afford the Palestinians several months to press for
further concessions. "It is a question of timing," Stillhart
said. "The Israelis will do something, but only just before
the conference." Stillhart added that opposition from the
IDF, the Prime Minister's Office, and the Ministry of Health
has slowed progress on implementing the agreement. While the
MFA, Stillhart said, might like to move forward with
implementation, any decision will be taken by the Prime
Minister. As a result, he asserted, "Israel will move only
under heavy pressure. Without pressure, there will not be
sufficient critical mass within the government."


5. (C) Stillhart said he believes that Arab governments will
pay close attention to GOI implementation of the MDA-PRCS
agreement. In particular, according to Stillhart, they will
examine three central elements of the agreement:

(1) fast access through IDF checkpoints for PRCS ambulances
entering East Jerusalem;
(2) fast access through IDF checkpoints for PRCS ambulances
traveling inside the West Bank;
(3) permission to station PRCS ambulances in East Jerusalem.


6. (C) For each of these issues, Stillhart said, the GOI
faces a different obstacle to implementation.
(1) Stillhart said that MDA, PRCS, and the GOI Civil
Administration have begun seriously addressing fast access to
East Jerusalem; they have already identified and registered
six ambulances and 30 staff. While it is possible, according
to Stillhart, that the GOI will soon agree to this demand,
Stillhart also claimed that a lack of will within senior
ranks of the IDF may hamper its actual implementation.

(2) By contrast, Stillhart said, the IDF has expressed a
willingness to accelerate PRCS access through checkpoints
inside the West Bank, but appears to lack the organizational
discipline to enforce this directive at the local level.
Stillhart said he believes that the soldiers at checkpoints
simply "do not take this issue seriously."

(3) The plan to station PRCS ambulances in East Jerusalem
faces more significant political opposition than do the other
two issues, according to Stillhart. He said GOI officials
and elected representatives continue to resist a permanent
presence for the PRCS in East Jerusalem.

--------------
ICRC: GOI POSITION A CAUSE FOR CONCERN
--------------


7. (C) Stillhart argued that the GOI's "go slow" approach to
the MDA-PRCS agreement in the run-up to the June conference
will provide undecided states a ready excuse not to support
the next steps required for MDA accession into the Movement.
Stillhart said MDA opponents will focus most intently on the
issue of stationing PRCS ambulances in East Jerusalem. The
Palestinians, he explained, need ambulances in East Jerusalem
because MDA ambulances get stoned when they enter Arab areas.
Without local emergency services, East Jerusalem patients
currently experience delays when PRCS ambulances get stopped
or turned around at IDF checkpoints, according to Stillhart.
Stillhart said that 16 Palestinian women gave birth in taxis
in East Jerusalem during 2005 because ambulances could not
reach them in time, but added that he believes no one has
died as a result of delays. "It's only 16 women out of
thousands that gave birth last year," Stillhart said, "but it
never happens in Israel." Albright asked Stillhart whether
the Palestinians plan to publicize data illustrating the
impact of delayed access to emergency services. Stillhart
said that he does not think Palestinians or others have ever
presented statistics such as these in public settings.


8. (C) Stillhart also reported that ICRC President Jakob
Kellenberger noted mounting opposition to MDA accession into
the Movement among Arab national societies at a meeting in
Abu Dhabi in February. Because of this increasing hostility,
Stillhart said, "We worry that if nothing happens in the next
few weeks (to implement the MDA-PRCS agreement),then actions
may not have an impact later." The MDA and PRCS societies
would like to make progress, according to Stillhart. "The
societies are not the problem," he asserted. "It's the
Israeli government."

--------------
PROGRESS IN THE GOLAN HEIGHTS
--------------


9. (C) Meron told poloff March 3 that the MFA has commenced
discussions with the ICRC to build a primary healthcare
facility for the Druze community in the Golan Heights. The
project stems from a proposal contained in ICRC reports of
2002 and 2005 about health care provision to the Druze
population in the Golan Heights. The Syrians raised this
issue in the December diplomatic conference. Meron stressed
that the GOI wants to work on this project with the ICRC, but
not with the Swiss government. The Swiss, Meron said, "will
make it into a political issue, while the ICRC will keep it
on a humanitarian basis." While the negotiations on a Golan
medical clinic represent progress, Stillhart told Albright,
the status of the MDA-PRCS agreement will have a far greater
impact on the June conference.

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