JAPAN TO HOST ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN OFFICIALS FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 TOKYO 001005

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2017
TAGS: PREL EAGR EAID ETRD EAIR KPAL KWBG IS JO JA
SUBJECT: JAPAN TO HOST ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN OFFICIALS FOR
CONFIDENCE BUILDING TALKS; JORDANIANS WILL JOIN TO
INAUGURATE THE "CORRIDOR OF PEACE AND PROSPERITY" INITIATIVE


Classified By: Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer for reasons 1.4 (b) and (
d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Foreign Minister Taro Aso will preside March
14 in Tokyo over a meeting to inaugurate Japan's "Corridor of
Peace and Prosperity" initiative involving Israel, Jordan,
and the Palestinians. Expected participants include Shimon
Peres for Israel, Saed Erekat for the Palestinians, and
Bassem Awadallah for the Jordanians. The meeting is expected
to last no more than thirty minutes, will be ceremonial in
nature, and will be followed by a reception. The Israelis
are reluctant to call these "four party talks" because they
do not want to set what could be construed as a precedent for
sitting down with the Palestinians at this time. Earlier in
the day on March 14 and continuing on March 15, the Middle
East Research Institute of Japan - a MOFA think tank - will
host an additional set of "Track Two" "confidence building"
meetings between the Israelis and Palestinians, one for
officials and the other for businessmen. This will be the
third in a series of such talks, the last of which took place
in July 2004.


2. (C) SUMMARY (continued): The Corridor of Peace and
Prosperity concept was announced by former Japanese Prime
Minister Koizumi during a visit to the region in July 2006.
Japan's concept is to work collaboratively to initiate
projects that promote regional cooperation for the prosperity
of the region, such as establishing an agro-industrial park
in the West Bank and facilitating the transportation of
high-value added agricultural products to the countries of
the Gulf region. The goal is to create jobs and economic
prosperity in the West Bank. This initiative faces a number
of problems, both political and practical. But Japan wishes
to show that it is doing more in the Middle East and that it
wants to play a more visible role in the Peace Process. FM
Aso recently delivered a speech on how Japan's foreign policy
in the Middle East (septel),and the Corridor of Peace and
Prosperity initiative figured heavily in his remarks. MOFA's
background paper describing the initiative can be found at
www.mofa.go.jp/region/middle e/palestine/concept0607.html.
END SUMMARY.

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BACKGROUND OF THE INITIATIVE
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3. (U) MOFA will announce this week that FM Aso will host on
March 14 the initial meeting of the "Corridor of Peace and
Prosperity" (CPP) partners, which are Japan, Israel, Jordan,
and the Palestinians, MOFA First Middle East Division
Director Hideo Sato confirmed to AID Counselor. The visiting
delegations are expected to be led by Israeli Minister for
the Development of the Negev and Galilee Shimon Peres,
Palestinian negotiator Saed Erekat, and Bassem Awadallah,
Political Director of Jordanian King Abdallah's office.
(NOTE: Demiye Haddad, Counselor at Jordan's Embassy in Tokyo

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told Political Officer he is not yet certain whether
Awadallah will attend. END NOTE.) MOFA First Middle East
Division Deputy Director David Tsunakake told Embassy Tokyo
Political Officer that the meeting would last no more than
thirty minutes and would serve as a ceremonial inauguration
for the initiative. The next step will be to form technical
groups to address issues such as location, budget, human
resources, security, and others. He also said that the
somewhat related proceedings on March 14 and 15 hosted by the
Middle East Research Institute of Japan involving only the
Israelis and Palestinians would be on a "track two" basis,
meaning that the delegates would be appearing in their
personal capacities rather than officially representing their
governments. These meetings will be presided over by
Ambassador Tatsuo Arima, Japan's Representative in Charge of
Peace in the Middle East, according to Sato.


4. (U) Japan's basic goal with the CPP initiative is to act
as a facilitator to promote confidence and regional economic
cooperation between Israelis and Arabs. The CPP idea
involves establishing an agro-industrial park in the West
Bank that would provide jobs for Palestinians and produce
high-value added agricultural products. These products would
then be shipped through a distribution center to be built in
Jordan to markets in the Gulf states. Japan is prepared to
finance a feasibility study and to extend technical
assistance for capacity building, as well as to finance the
transportation component of the initiative. It is hoped that
the private sector will participate. Haddad said that to his
knowledge, the Japanese have yet to indicate how much
financial assistance they are contemplating, but he reasons
that they foresee a sizable investment. (NOTE: In Aso's
speech on the Middle East, he stated that under the
initiative, an area consisting of approximately 1,000 square
kilometers would be utilized as a central point for
high-value added agriculture. END NOTE.)


5. (C) Tokyo has been exploring and refining this initiative
for the past two years, MOFA First Middle East Division
Director Hideo Sato recently told Embassy AID Counselor, and
it was first publicly announced by former Prime Minister
Koizumi during a visit to the region in July 2006. Koizumi
is said to still be a driving force behind the initiative.
Japan first initiated a consultative unit, the "Four
Stakeholders" (Japan, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinians) which
came up with the plan to construct an agro-industrial park in
the West Bank. According to Sato, the Israelis, Palestinians,
and Jordanians all expressed support for the concept and
targets at the time of Koizumi's announcement, and MOFA
continued to work on the initiative.


6. (U) In November 2006, the Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) dispatched a project formulation team focusing
on the agro-industrial park and location, electrical power
resources, transportation routes, and private sector interest
and potential involvement. MOFA Second Country Assistance

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Planning Division Director Naofumi Hashimoto told AID
Counselor that location has been a major concern from the
beginning of the talks, but now there is agreement that the
Jericho region will be the site of the project. It is
contemplated that at the end of March 2007, another JICA team
will be dispatched to the region to (1) conduct the
feasibility study for the agro-industrial park, (2) conduct a
feasibility study for water supply development, and (3)
prepare the agricultural technical requirements. Hashimoto
said that perhaps within three to six months the necessary
project technical assistance/expertise and grant aid
assistance package would be clarified.

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OBSTACLES
--------------


7. (C) One obstacle to the success of the CPP initiative is
the concern on the part of the Israelis that they not deal
with representatives of Hamas, according to Israel Strolov,
Second Secretary at the Israeli Embassy in Tokyo. The
Israelis support the CPP concept and are willing to move
forward with it as long as they are certain they are dealing
with people under the authority of Palestinian President
Abbas, but until the Israelis are satisfied that Hamas
representatives are not involved, it is unlikely there will
be much forward progress other than the completion of
feasibility studies. Even if the hurdle of defining an
acceptable partner can be overcome, there are a number of
other details that are open to disagreement.


8. (C) Damiye Haddad, Counselor at the Jordanian Embassy in
Tokyo, told Political Officer that there are at least three
outstanding technical issues that need to be worked out
before any significant forward progress can be made. The
first is location. Although MOFA, as indicated above,
believes the area for the agro-industrial park has been
narrowed down to Jericho, Haddad says there is ongoing
discussion about whether it would be located in an "area c"
area where security is controlled by the Israelis, or an
"area a" area, where the Palestinians exercise more control.
Strolov, also confirmed that this is an issue.


9. (C) The second issue addresses how the produce grown in
the West Bank will get to Jordan for onward shipment.
Currently, overland shipments from the West Bank to Jordan
cross the Allenby Bridge. Jordan, Haddad explained, would
like to see the run-down, one-way Damiya Bridge, about one
kilometer south of the Allenby Bridge, rebuilt into a modern,
two-way bridge to serve as the primary border crossing point
for all CPP produce. The Israelis, says Haddad, are opposed,
arguing that to create a new port of entry would impose
security requirements it cannot currently meet. They prefer
to see all CPP produce transit across the Allenby Bridge,
which would be upgraded. Haddad believes the Japanese agree
with the Jordanian view, and is unclear on whether the

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Israelis, among themselves, have yet to really agree upon a
unified position. According to Haddad, during King
Abdallah's last visit to Tokyo in December 2006, the King
told Prime Minister Abe that he'd raise this question with
Prime Minister Olmert, but Haddad is unaware if this ever
happened.


10. (C) The third issue is how to get the produce from Jordan
to the end markets in the Gulf region. The Jordanians,
explained Haddad, would like to build a new airstrip near the
border crossing point, which would allow for expeditious
onward shipping for the perishable products to be exported.
The Japanese are suggesting to upgrade the Queen Alia
International Airport, approximately 40 kilometers away.
Jordan's reply to this is that traffic into and out of Queen
Alia is subject to delays, and that it would cost the same to
build a new airstrip as it would to upgrade the existing
airport. Plus, the new airport would act as a magnet for
additional growth and investment in its immediate vicinity.
Haddad concluded that the bottom line is that the Japanese
are interested in building an agro-industrial park for the
Palestinians, and that fixing bridges and airports are
secondary concerns that will do more to help the Jordanians
and Israelis. So until the details of the agro-industrial
park are settled upon, the Japanese are not very interested
in focusing on the other issues. He said the Japanese have
made it clear to him that any agreement on the airport issue
will be bilateral only and will not involve the other parties.

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COMMENT
--------------


11. (C) Japan clearly wants to be seen as playing a larger
role in the Middle East and in the Peace Process. Their CPP
initiative, while seemingly straightforward, we believe will
be difficult and complicated to realize. The Japanese, no
doubt, will proceed cautiously on a step by step basis, but
there seem to be many questions yet unanswered (or maybe even
unasked) about how this is supposed to play out. As will be
reported septel regarding FM Aso's recent "The Middle East As
I See It" speech, it is generally agreed upon here by members
of the Arab diplomatic corps that Japan has a rather romantic
and overly simplified view of what it takes to make progress
in solving the problems that seem to plague the region. In
addition, it is difficult to predict what, if any, results
will emerge from the Israeli-Palestinian confidence building
talks. Embassy will endeavor to obtain a readout once they
are completed.
SCHIEFFER