RAFAH SECURITY WORKING GROUP MEETING

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 000704 SIPDIS SIPDIS NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE; PASS TO NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WATERS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/19/2017 TAGS: KPAL KWBG PGOV PREL PTER IS SUBJECT: RAFAH SECURITY WORKING GROUP MEETING REF: JERUSALEM 103 Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: USSC Dayton chaired the Security Working Group (SWG) on the Rafah Crossing April 15. All sides agreed to create a sub-working group on persons of concern. The GoI provided an approved list of goods of concern. The next SWG meeting is tentatively scheduled for May 16. ¶2. (C) ATTENDEES: -- U.S: USSC LTG Keith Dayton (plus seven USSC staff); ConGen Jerusalem EconChief; Embassy Tel Aviv Senior Advisor and Assistant Army Attache. -- Palestinians: PLO Chief of Negotiations Sa'eb Erekat; Director-General of the General Administration for Crossings and Borders (GACB) Nazmi Muhanna; Security Advisor to the President BG Hazem Attallah; Gaza Presidential Guard (PG) Commander BG Musbah Buhaysi; Rafah PSO Liaison Officer Khalil Buhaysi; PG officer in charge of borders and crossings Colonel Jamal Abu al-Fahim; and Negotiations Support Unit staff Zeinah Salahi and Rami Dajani. -- GoI: MoD Political-Military Director Major General (ret.) Amos Gilad; MG Gilad,s advisor Odded Herrman; MG Gilad,s personal assistant Danishai Kornbluth; IDF legal advisor Yigal Ostnovsky; COGAT representative for Gaza crossings Colonel Nir Press; Shin Bet attendee. -- GoE: EGIS General Burhan Hamad; Embassy Senior Intelligence Attache Nader al-'Asser; and EGIS Brigadier Sharif Ismayil. -- EU (observer): EU-BAM LTG Pietro Pistolese; EU-BAM POLAD Mario Martins; and EU-BAM Chief of Operations Patrick Delval. JANUARY 10 SWG: FOLLOW UP -------------- ¶3. (C) CUSTOMS PROTOCOL: LTG Dayton said he understands the GACB and Palestinian Customs are under control of the PA Presidency and unaffected by creation of a national unity government (NUG). He noted that Erekat had confirmed that a separate account was opened to receive the customs revenue in order to keep it separate from the PA Treasury. MG Gilad said he was not persuaded that Palestinian Customs is subordinate to the Presidency. Erekat offered to amend the Customs Protocol to reflect the PA Presidency's authority over customs and the separate account for customs revenue. LTG Dayton said the SWG has addressed all of the security aspects of the Customs Protocol, and further discussion should be pursued in diplomatic channels. ¶4. (C) PERSONS and GOODS OF CONCERN: LTG Dayton thanked the GoE for its quiet help to prevent persons of concern from crossing through Rafah, although the GOE is not a party to the Security Protocol. He said that neither party has ever activated the Security Protocol's mechanism to deal with persons of concern, but procedures to operationalize the mechanism should be established; i.e., to identify appropriate points of contact. All parties agreed to create a USSC-chaired sub-working group, which includes the GoI, Palestinians and EU-BAM, to address procedures for operationalizing the persons of concern mechanism. Hazem Attallah and Musbah Buhaysi will be the Palestinian representatives. MG Gilad said he will identify the GoI participants. LTG Dayton agreed to LTG Pistolese,s suggestion to test the procedures after they are developed. The SWG agreed that the sub-working group will report its results at the next SWG meeting. MG Gilad provided a consolidated GoI interagency approved list of goods of concern for review. ¶5. (C) CRISIS MANAGEMENT: Erekat said he is waiting for a GoE response to the January SWG agreement that the Palestinians, Egyptians and EU-BAM should draft and approve crisis management procedures. General Hamad agreed to obtain a response from Cairo. ¶6. (C) EGYPTIAN LNO AT KEREM SHALOM: LTG Dayton queried MG Gilad on whether an additional GoE officer along the Philidelphi corridor would violate previous agreements. MG Gilad said the GoE must first decide whether an LNO at the Rafah liaison office makes sense before he seeks an Israeli interagency view. General Hamad agreed to get the GoE position within 10 days. ¶7. (C) RCP/EU-BAM EQUIPMENT: MG Gilad said the Egyptian-donated scanners were authorized for movement into Rafah Crossing and the Egyptian-donated bus had also been released. Herman said the GoI had also authorized importation of Egyptian-donated telecommunications equipment and 110 donated wheelchairs. ¶8. (C) EU-BAM: LTG Pistolese and COL Press confirmed improvement on EU-BAM access to the Rafah crossing and said EU-BAM staff have access via the Egyptian side of the Philadelphi corridor during GoI closures. LTG Pistolese noted that the GoE is facilitating this movement. He said Ambassador Otte will address mandate extension during his upcoming visit to the region; however, he does not expect the EU member states to decide before May. The SWG consensus is to support extension of the EU-BAM mandate. NEW ISSUES -------------- ¶9. (C) EXCEPTED CATEGORIES: LTG Dayton reviewed the decision of the March 7 EU-BAM Coordination and Evaluation Committee (CEC) to establish a sub-working group on the Palestinian proposal for excepted categories, noting that the GoI was not present at the first sub-working group meeting. (Note: "Excepted Categories" are defined by the Rafah Agreement as those who do not hold West Bank/Gaza IDs, e.g. humanitarian cases, who would be allowed entry with prior PA-GoI agreement. End note). Ostnovsky said the GoI,s main problem with the Palestinian proposal is its definition of humanitarian cases, which the GoI believes should be more restricted. All parties agreed to LTG Dayton,s recommendation for a GoI-Palestinian-USCC-EUBAM meeting within the next two weeks to determine exceptional category eligibility before using the SWG arbitration process. ¶10. (C) RAFAH AND KEREM SHALOM: LTG Dayton said he will report the discussions on this issue at the next SWG. Erekat noted that no progress is possible without approval of the Customs Protocol. USSC staff presented a proposal for possible expansion of the World Bank-funded Paltrade website to include information on cargo shipments at the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings and for a new (possibly EC-funded) website with information on the Rafah passenger crossing. The parties supported exploring the proposal. WALLES