EMBLEM: GOI STANDS STILL; ICRC DELEGATION CONCERNED

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. ********************************************* ******************** 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