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