CYPRUS: ROC POSITION UNCHANGED ON ANTI-ISRAEL

C O N F I D E N T I A L NICOSIA 000935 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE, IO/UNP (ANDREW MORRISON),NEA/IPA E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/25/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV UNGA MEPP CY IS SUBJECT: CYPRUS: ROC POSITION UNCHANGED ON ANTI-ISRAEL UNGA RESOLUTIONS REF: A. SECSTATE 123081 ¶B. 07 NICOSIA 945 Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Jonathan Cohen, Reasons 1.4 (b), (d) ¶1. (C) The Embassy on November 21 shared Ref A points regarding anti-Israel UN General Assembly resolutions with Cypriot MFA Middle East Desk Officer Dionysus Dionysiou. In a follow-up call on November 24, PolChief reviewed the overarching U.S. objective for the Middle East peace process -- to see two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and security. UNGA's historical anti-Israel bent and the flurry of one-sided resolutions it passed every year worked against a settlement, he emphasized. In 2008, the United States hoped to see the overall number of anti-Israel General Assembly resolutions drop, and the defeat of three that reaffirmed the existence and activities of UN bodies which promoted a culture of bias against a single member state. ¶2. (C) Dionysou took note of USG objectives and objections but predicted no significant change in Cyprus's voting pattern (Ref B). Turning to the three UN bodies, he acknowledged that the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the Division for Palestinian Rights within the UN Secretariat, and the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People in the Occupied Territories were anachronistic relics of the 1960s and 70s that no longer served a useful purpose. That said, Cyprus had no intention to end its membership in the Inalienable Rights entity. The Israel-Palestine conflict pitted an aggressive regional power against a near-defenseless "nation," he reasoned, and could be reduced to occupier versus occupied. Considering the situation on the island, Cypriots felt great empathy towards the Palestinians. There existed pragmatic as well as sentimental reasons to retain committee membership, Dionysiou added. "Leaving now would send a bad message to the very Arabs we're trying to cultivate for support on the Cyprus Question." Further, Dionysiou voiced certainty that Turkey would somehow exploit any such decision to further its own Cyprus Question equities with Arab states. Urbancic