DURBAN: JEWISH ORGANIZATION PRESSES SENIOR LEVELS

C O N F I D E N T I A L BERLIN 000304 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/13/2019 TAGS: PHUM PREL GM SUBJECT: DURBAN: JEWISH ORGANIZATION PRESSES SENIOR LEVELS TO WITHDRAW; GERMAN MFA KEEPS OPEN HOPE FOR IMPROVED DRAFT DOCUMENT REF: BERLIN 199 Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Jeffrey Rathke for reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (C) In a March 11 conversation, Secretary General of the Central Council of Jews of Germany Stephan Kramer told Pol M-C that he had discussed Germany's continued participation in the preparation for the Durban Review Conference with Foreign Minister Steinmeier and Chancellery National Security Advisor Christoph Heusgen recently. Kramer said he pushed Steinmeier to define Germany's red lines for the Durban process and under what circumstances the Foreign Minister would pull Germany out. Kramer said that Steinmeier was generally reassuring but declined to spell out Germany's red lines. Kramer subsequently spoke to NSA Heusgen, who reportedly said the Chancellery view was that Germany should end its participation. Kramer said that the Council was planning to publicly criticize FM Steinmeier if the MFA does not decide to end German participation. ¶2. (C) We approached the MFA separately for details. Human Rights Desk Officer Dirk Sander told poloff March 13 that he expected a revised Durban draft document (that he thought would be submitted on March 16 or 17th) to show some improvements. He said that he was doubtful it would be down to five pages, but he assessed it would be much shorter than the earlier version. He said it would be "unrealistic" to expect no mention of the Middle East conflict, but he believes that discussion of this will be shortened. He expressed the view that the Israeli media had overblown the problem with the earlier document's treatment of Israel. Sander said he was hopeful that the revised document could be "a starting point" for a second stage of negotiations for an improved text. He expressed the hope that the United States would have an open approach to the new document, adding that while the new document will not be a "miracle," it could be "a starting point." Koenig