UPDATE ON SETTLEMENTS UNSCR

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000547 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2013 TAGS: PREL KPAL UNSC IS SUBJECT: UPDATE ON SETTLEMENTS UNSCR REF: A. USUN 531 ¶B. USUN 523 ¶C. USUN 519 Classified By: Classified by Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad for reasons 1. 4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) This is an Action Request. USUN requests authorization to engage the Arab Group in New York, in response to a Saudi initiative to seek an UNSCR on Israeli settlements, on a discussion of elements for such a resolution. Proposed elements are in para 3. The primary objective of such engagement is to further delay any Security Council action on this matter. Through engagement, we would seek to avoid U.S. isolation and revise the UNSCR into an acceptable text by watering down the draft language and seeking balance in the content while remaining prepared to veto. End Action Request. ¶2. (C) Update: Since Amb Khalilzad met with the Arab Group on June 16 (ref a),there has been no action on the settlements UNSCR in the Security Council. In addition to the June 24 Quartet meeting in Berlin, the French mission told the Arab Group the French would not support any Security Council action while President Sarkozy is visiting the area June 24-25. However, USUN has learned indirectly that the Libyan delegation intends to raise the matter in the Security Council June 26 when the Council holds its monthly meeting on the Middle East. USUN could seek to secure additional delay, allowing Council deliberation of text to slip into July under the Vietnamese Presidency. Separately, the Arab Group has been meeting individually with Security Council delegations to seek support for the UNSCR. Developments in the region have not diminished Arab support. ¶3. (C) Proposed Elements: -- Express strong support for ongoing Israeli-Palestinian negotiations (per May 2 Quartet statement). -- Call on both sides to fulfill Roadmap obligations and refrain from steps that undermine confidence or prejudice the outcome of negotiations (per May 2 Quartet statement). -- Welcome the progressive transfer of security responsibilities from Israel to the PA in certain areas of the West Bank, as PA security forces develop capacity (per Roadmap). -- Express deep concern at continuing settlement activity and call for a freeze on all settlement activity and the dismantling of outposts erected since March 2001 (per Roadmap and May 2 Quartet statement). -- Condemn rocket, mortar, suicide, and other attacks targeting civilians and call for a permanent end to these attacks and the dismantlement of the terrorist infrastructure (per Roadmap and May 2 Quartet statement). -- Call on all (regional) states to cut off public and private funding and all other forms of support for groups supporting and engaging in violence and terror (per Roadmap but substituting "regional" for "Arab" to encompass Iran). -- Underscore concern about humanitarian conditions in Gaza (and southern Israel) and welcome efforts by Israel, the PA, and Egypt to work together to implement a new approach that would provide security to all Gazans (and Israelis),ensure the controlled and sustained opening of the Gaza crossings for humanitarian reasons and commercial flows, support the legitimate PA government, and work towards conditions that would permit implementation of the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access (per Quartet May 2; updated to reflect developments; references to Israel are new but consistent with previous Security Council discussions). Khalilzad