ISN DAS HAYWARD'S MEETINGS WITH ISRAELI OFFICIALS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 STATE 103443

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UNVIE FOR IAEA
GENEVA FOR CD DELEGATION

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/26/2018
TAGS: EG ENRG IS KNNP MNUC PARM PREL NPT IAEA
SUBJECT: ISN DAS HAYWARD'S MEETINGS WITH ISRAELI OFFICIALS
ON NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION, JERUSALEM, SEPTEMBER 11, 2008

REF: STATE 101698

Classified By: ISN DAS Mary Alice Hayward for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: ISN DAS Mary Alice Hayward, accompanied by a
State Department delegation, briefed Israeli officials
September 11 on the delegation's September 8 meeting in Cairo
on Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT),International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference (GC),and
nuclear terrorism issues. Hayward stated that Egypt had
expressed its disappointment that the 1995 NPT RevCon
resolution on the Middle East has yet to be implemented and
that the United States had not shown sufficient "political
will" to do more to persuade Israel to join the NPT and to
accept IAEA safeguards on all of its nuclear facilities. On
the IAEA GC, the Egyptians had made clear that they saw no
linkage between the two resolutions on the Middle East (one
by Egypt; the other by the Arab League) routinely presented
in that forum. Hayward noted that she had pressed Egypt to
join the Global Initiative and that she had put forward a
proposal for Egyptian participation in a technical workshop
on nonproliferation that would also include Israel. The
Israelis, led by Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Arms
Control Director Rodica Radian-Gordon, briefed on their
perspectives on Egyptian-Israeli relations, Arab attitudes
toward Iran and the latter's role in the region, and Egypt's
arms control policies. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) DAS Hayward - joined by Ambassador Marguerita
Ragsdale (Director of ISN's Office of Multilateral Nuclear
and Security Affairs (MNSA)),Scott Davis (MNSA Deputy
Director); Jody Daniel (ISN's Regional Affairs Office); and
Michael Honigstein (Embassy Tel Aviv Political Officer) - met
in Jerusalem September 11 with Rodica Radian-Gordon (Foreign
Affairs (MFA) Arms Control Director),her deputy Tamar
Rahamimoff-Honig, Joshua Zarka (Israel Atomic Energy
Commission),Israel Tikochinski (MFA's Arms Control
Department),Dov Segev-Steinberg (Director, MFA's Egypt
Department),Ifat Reshef (MFA's Center for Political
Research),and Jonathan Keller (Israeli Defense Forces).


3. (C) Hayward initiated discussions by noting Egypt's view,
as expressed in her September 8 discussions with MFA
interlocutors (reftel),that achieving a Middle East weapons
of mass-destruction (WMD)-free zone is too essential for
security in the region to wait for progress in the peace
process. She also reported that Egypt had pressed the United
States to make greater efforts to persuade Israel to join the
NPT and to accept IAEA safeguards on all of its nuclear
facilities. Hayward explained that the U.S. is intensifying
its dialogue with Egypt and Israel in order to seek progress
on nonproliferation issues in the Middle East. She and her
team had put forward to the Egyptians a series of "baby
steps" that both Egypt and Israel might take, including
greater dialogue between the sides; a trilateral dialogue
that includes the U.S.; and hosting a technical workshop with
Egyptian, Israeli and possibly other Arab state participation
(see reftel). She indicated that a non-paper containing
details of the workshop proposal would be provided to both
Israel and Egypt in the near future. The Egyptian reaction
had been cautious, Hayward said. Hayward stated that she had
been very much in a listening mode with her Egyptian
interlocutors, preferring not to engage in a
"point-counterpoint" debate with them on the issues they
raised regarding Israel and the NPT. She noted particularly
Egypt's expression of frustration in its perception that
little progress had been made in implementation of the 1995
NPT RevCon's Resolution on the Middle East. Hayward also
told the Israelis that she had encouraged Egypt to join the
Global Initiative, although her interlocutors expressed a
preference to work on such matters within a multilateral
context.


4. (C) Segev-Steinberg briefed the U.S. team on
Egyptian-Israeli relations, noting that Egypt-Israel
relations have been defined in recent years by the following:
the 2006 Lebanon War which highlighted that Egypt has lost
its traditional leadership role in the Arab world; the shared
Egyptian-Israeli interest in controlling Egypt's boarder with

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Gaza; and a growing opposition within Egypt that is critical
of the peace process. All of these issues have made the
Egyptian government more carefully manage its relationship
with Israel in recent years. Segev-Steinberg noted that the
strange state of Israeli-Egyptian relations is evident in the
fact that Egypt and Israel experience good relations in
certain areas, like trade, while at the same time the
Egyptian Culture Minister calls for the burning of all
Israeli books.


5. (C) Noting that Egypt-Israel relations on security
matters cannot be fully understood outside the context of the
regional security environment, Reshef discussed Arab
perceptions of the Iran threat. She stated that the Sunni
Arab states are struggling to exert control over the issues
in the region, but due to a lack of clear leadership among
the Arab states, non-Arab actors (Iran, Israel, Turkey) are
now dominant in the region. She argued that the Arab states
are too weak and suspicious of each other to resist the
growth of Iranian influence. The Gulf Cooperation Council
states have substantial reason to fear Iran even without Iran
pursuing nuclear weapons, but lingering suspicions among them
has prevented anything more than a weak coalition which is
far from able to counter Iranian influence. Reshef continued
that Iran's influence in the Arab world is evidenced by its
ability to make Hizbollah the strongest ethnic and political
group in Lebanon. Reshef characterized Jordan as "weak and
vulnerable" but a "barometer" of Arab sentiments in the
region, as its government is more flexible and thus more
responsive to shifting Arab attitudes than Egypt. Jordan,
she said, was the first to identify publicly the new threat
from Iran. Lamentably, however, Jordan's softened attitude
toward Iran in the face of what it sees as a "new reality" in
the region may be a harbinger of shifting attitudes among all
Sunni Arab states.


6. (C) Tikochinski suggested that that there are three main
elements of Egypt's arms control policies: (1) Egyptian
aspirations a visible leading role in spite of its declining
regional influence; (2) the stock Non-Aligned Movement
criticism of western "double standards" on disarmament; and
(3) a "zero-sum game" with Israel on arms control. These
elements all help explain Egypt's emphasis on eliminating
Israel's nuclear capability regardless of the state of the
peace process. Tamar Rahamimoff-Honig argued that Israel and
Egypt differ in approaches to arms control. Israel believes
that since arms races stem from political conflict, progress
in addressing arms issues has to be incremental and made
slowly, starting with modest confidence-building measures.
She added that the security of one state cannot be simply
dismissed by others. Moreover, she continued, one must also
consider non-state actors in assessing security, adding that
outside fora cannot impose solutions on the Middle East.


7. (C) Zarka suggested that, by insisting that a Middle East
WMD-free zone is a prerequisite to peace in the region, Egypt
does not seem interested in making real progress on this
issue. He assessed that Egypt's new approach is a ploy to
ensure that Israel will not support Egypt's resolution on
safeguards in the Middle East at the IAEA General Conference,
thus ensuring there will be no consensus on the resolution
and the issue will continue to be contentious. He added that
Egypt is not negotiating with Israel on its draft GC
resolution and should be encouraged to as soon as possible.
He stated his belief that the primary message that should be
conveyed to Egypt is that it should speak directly to Israel.
Segev-Steinberg opined that this Egyptian unwillingness to
engage with Israel is part of a pattern and that, while
Israel had proposed "joint political committees" in the past,
Egypt has consistently indicated that they are not necessary.



8. (SBU) Hayward described the status of U.S. discussions
with Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates on civil
nuclear energy cooperation. Radian-Gordon asked whether
recent developments in U.S.-Russian relations would affect
the Conference on Disarmament (CD). Hayward said she did not
think so and indicated that our efforts to have the CD begin
negotiations on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty would
continue.
RICE