AMBASSADOR JONES' DECEMBER 11 MEETING WITH VICE

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 003502

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE; NEA/IPA FOR
GOLDBERGER/SHAMPAINE/ROSENSTOCK/PECCIA; NSC FOR
ABRAMS/SINGH/WATERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/11/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL IS KPAL KWBG
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR JONES' DECEMBER 11 MEETING WITH VICE
PRIME MINISTER RAMON

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


1. (S) Summary: The Ambassador met with Israeli Vice
Prime Minister Haim Ramon on December 11, 2007 in Ramon,s
Jerusalem office. In response to the Ambassador's questions
regarding the meeting of Ramon,s inter-ministerial committee
on illegal outposts earlier in the day, Ramon declared that
all future settlement activity that could be deemed
politically sensitive will be subject to prior approval from
the GOI. Ramon lamented that a substantive Declaration of
Principles had not been adopted at the Annapolis Conference,
noting that such a statement could have headed off political
problems caused by the recent Har Homa tender. He told the
Ambassador that he supports a back channel for negotiations
with the Palestinians and is lobbying for a program to
compensate settlers who voluntarily leave the West Bank.
Ramon was skeptical of rumors that an agreement on illegal
outposts had been reached between PM Olmert and MOD Barak, as
Barak has yet to reach an accord on this issue with settler
leaders, something Ramon views as a prerequisite to any
agreement with the Prime Minister. Finally, Ramon was not
overly concerned with the conclusions reached in the recent
National Intelligence Estimate; overall, he saw the report as
a helpful contribution to the debate on the Iranian program.
End Summary.

-------------- --------------
Ramon's inter-ministerial committee on illegal outposts
-------------- --------------


2. (S) At the Ambassador's request, Vice Prime Minister
Ramon began the discussion with a recap of the recent meeting
of the inter-ministerial committee on illegal outposts, which
he chairs. He assured the Ambassador that going forward, any
settlement activity that could be deemed politically
sensitive will be subject to GOI approval. Details of this
meeting are reported septel.

--------------
Settlement freeze
--------------


3. (S) The conversation turned to issues surrounding the
GOI,s freeze on new settlement construction. The Vice Prime
Minister informed the Ambassador that, in his estimation,
there are 12,000 new units in the West Bank for which
construction has already been approved. Ramon was confident
that the GOI can halt most of these private projects, but
"not less than a few thousand" approvals are in the hands of
private groups and can go forward without any further GOI
approval. The Israeli government will attempt to dissuade
those in charge of the construction projects from any
additional building, but Ramon opined that it would be
impossible to stop them all. He had long expected something
like this to occur, he said, and claimed that in
anticipation, he had advocated that it was within Israel,s
best interest to negotiate a Declaration of Principles prior
to the Annapolis Conference. In Ramon,s opinion, had a
substantive Declaration been adopted at Annapolis that
established, for example, the principle that "in Jerusalem
what is Jewish is Israeli and what is Arab is Palestinian,"
the Har Homa tender would not have developed into the problem
it has become. Ramon also confirmed that, in accordance with
GOI rules, the recent tender for 307 new housing units on Har
Homa was most likely not cleared through the Prime
Minister,s Office. The Ambassador expressed the USG,s
concerns over the Har Homa tender, noting its negative impact
on the ongoing negotiations.

--------------
Israeli/Palestinian negotiations
--------------


4. (S) Vice Prime Minister Ramon told the Ambassador that
he now supports negotiating a Declaration of Principles with
the Palestinians before setting up sub-committees. In his
opinion, it will be too politically difficult to establish
sub-committees on the "core" issues of Jerusalem, refugees,
security and even borders. While some observers view borders
as the most resolvable of the "core" issues and one that
could be agreed to separately from the others, he expressed
doubt that either side would come to an agreement on borders
without knowing how the other issues would be dealt with.
Even if broad names are adopted for the sub-committees,
sooner or later they will have to get down to brass tacks on
the substance of negotiations, he told the Ambassador. He
argued against wasting time debating the issues in isolation

TEL AVIV 00003502 002 OF 002


in separate sub-committees, and instead advocated tackling
all the issues at once by negotiating a comprehensive
Declaration of Principles. If this should prove too
difficult politically within the Steering Committee, he
expressed his support for Prime Minister Olmert to establish
a back-channel with the Palestinians; he is "working on" the
Prime Minister and FM Livni, as the GOI,s chief negotiator,
to agree to this.


5. (S) Concurrently with negotiations, Ramon is promoting a
program to compensate settlers who voluntarily leave the West
Bank. Although such a plan would require a line item in the
budget, he opined that it probably could be done without
passing a special law in the Knesset. Ramon told the
Ambassador that he was currently lobbying the Prime Minister
on this issue, arguing that it was one way PM Olmert could
show the world he was "serious" about removing settlements
east of the security barrier without creating political
problems for his coalition, since most of its constituents
already accept that this territory will one day be part of a
Palestinian state.

--------------
Outposts
--------------


6. (S) Ramon strongly doubted rumors that PM Olmert and MOD
Barak had "made a deal" yet on outposts. He said that he had
spoken yesterday (December 10) with the person negotiating on
Barak,s behalf with the settlers, and was told that Barak
had yet to reach a deal with settler leaders. He saw such a
deal as a prerequisite for an agreement between Barak and PM
Olmert. When asked whether a new settlement might be
approved in the Jordan Valley for people previously removed
from Gush Katif as one element of a deal on outposts, Ramon
expressed surprise, noting that he had derailed approval of
such a proposal as Minister of Justice when Amir Peretz was
Defense Minister. Nonetheless, he agreed to pursue the
question with the Prime Minister. The Ambassador noted USG
opposition to such a proposal.

--------------
National Intelligence Estimate
--------------


7. (S) While not pleased with the National Intelligence
Estimate,s potential impact on international efforts to
pressure Iran, Ramon agreed that the problem was more the
media,s focus on "one or two poorly written sentences" which
detracted from an otherwise "nice" report. He was gratified
to learn of Deputy Treasury Secretary Kimmitt,s message to
GOI officials during his recent visit and that Gulf States
remain seized with the Iranian threat.

********************************************* ********************
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