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