Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09JERUSALEM1984
2009-11-03 18:39:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Jerusalem
Cable title:  

UNSCO AND UNRWA DESCRIBE CONTRADICTIONS IN GAZA

Tags:  PREF PTER PGOV EAID KPAL GZ IS 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7891
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHJM #1984/01 3071839
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 031839Z NOV 09
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6557
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 001984 

SIPDIS

NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE AND IPA; PRM FOR FRONT OFFICE AND
PRM/ANE; NSC FOR SHAPIRO/KUMAR; JOINT STAFF FOR LTGEN SELVA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2019
TAGS: PREF PTER PGOV EAID KPAL GZ IS
SUBJECT: UNSCO AND UNRWA DESCRIBE CONTRADICTIONS IN GAZA
POLICY TO AMBASSADOR SUSAN RICE

Classified By: Consul General Daniel Rubinstein for reasons 1.4 (b,d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 001984

SIPDIS

NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE AND IPA; PRM FOR FRONT OFFICE AND
PRM/ANE; NSC FOR SHAPIRO/KUMAR; JOINT STAFF FOR LTGEN SELVA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2019
TAGS: PREF PTER PGOV EAID KPAL GZ IS
SUBJECT: UNSCO AND UNRWA DESCRIBE CONTRADICTIONS IN GAZA
POLICY TO AMBASSADOR SUSAN RICE

Classified By: Consul General Daniel Rubinstein for reasons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) Summary. In an October 22 meeting with USUN
Ambassador Susan Rice, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle
East Peace Process (UNSCO) Robert Serry and UN Relief and
Works Agency (UNRWA) Director for Gaza John Ging emphasized
the need to restart essential infrastructure projects in
Gaza, including shelters and schools. As a result of the
Israeli "blockade," both Serry and Ging noted that Hamas now
controls Gaza's tunnel-driven economy, increasing people's
dependency on Hamas. Ging described a population in Gaza
suffering from massive physical devastation. He pointed out
that while Hamas has all the cement it needs to build a new
checkpoint near Erez, the UN cannot get the cement it needs
to build a single school. Serry stressed the need for a new
strategy on Gaza, suggesting that the current policy has only
strengthened Hamas' position. End Summary.

UN Project Proposal on Gaza
--------------


2. (C) UNSCO Robert Serry emphasized that the situation in
Gaza is "unsustainable," and said that a coherent Gaza
strategy is badly needed. He described the UN proposal to
address some of the most critical infrastructure gaps in
Gaza; the proposal's first phase includes projects suspended
in 2007 focusing on shelter and school reconstruction that
could be completed within six months. UN Secretary General
Ban Ki Moon communicated the proposal to Israeli Defense
Minister Barak, but "it has gone nowhere," Serry said. Serry
reported that UNSCO staff have had numerous conversations
with the GOI on UN monitoring procedures and end-use
assurances. He is confident that Hamas could not divert
materials intended for UN projects. Serry stated that 75
percent of Gazans are dependent on UN assistance; if Hamas
interfered, the UN would pull out and the people of Gaza
would suffer, he said.

Gazans Are Misunderstood

--------------


3. (C) UNRWA/Gaza Director John Ging highlighted UNRWA's
focus on educating Gaza's youth in an effort to stem the
impact of the conflict on the next Palestinian generation.
Compared with the adult population, who, Ging said, grew up
working and trading with Israel, the youth have grown up
isolated. He asserted that the people of Gaza are often
mischaracterized as Hamas supporters. In fact, one-half of
the population are under the age of 20 and did not vote in
the 2005 elections, and one-half of the adults voted for
Fatah, not Hamas. Most Gazans, Ging said, do not support
Hamas' political or religious agenda. However, the current
circumstances are creating a new reality on the ground in
Gaza that needs to be arrested. Ging pointed to the success
of UNRWA's "Summer Games" as an example of resounding public
support for UNRWA and against Hamas' social agenda, as the
games are secular and allow girls and boys to play sports
together.


4. (C) Ambassador Rice asked Ging to elaborate on what one
would see inside Gaza today. Ging replied that one would be
struck first by the scale of the physical devastation. Ging
said that the American International School of Gaza, which
Palestinian militants had twice unsuccessfully targeted, was
leveled by the IDF in a matter of minutes. The IDF, he said,
destroyed Gaza's factories using bulldozers in the last three
days of the war; the owners of these businesses were Israel's
associates and friends and had been trading with Israeli
businessmen for decades, Ging asserted. The second thing one
would be struck by upon entering Gaza, Ging said, is the fact
that Gazans are not expressing hatred or vitriol against the
Israeli people. Gazans distinguish between IDF actions and
the Israeli people. "Gazans are stuck in a prison, but are
refusing to act like prisoners," he said.

Current Gaza Policy Is Counterproductive
--------------


5. (C) Ging stated that "all is not lost, but the 'hostile
entity' declaration (by the Israeli Cabinet in September
2007) will become self-fulfilling if we don't turn it
around." Gazans are now dependent on Hamas for work due to
economic stagnation and the rise of the tunnel economy. With
1,500 tunnels openly operating between Gaza and Egypt, he
said, Hamas is able to acquire any materials it needs. For
example, Hamas is building a checkpoint within binocular
sight of the Erez checkpoint with bags of cement and iron

JERUSALEM 00001984 002 OF 002


bars. Meanwhile, Ging said, he is unable to acquire cement
to build a single school. UNRWA would work with contractors
who are well known to, and cleared by, the GOI to implement
reconstruction projects, he added.


6. (C) Serry stressed that this is why a Gaza strategy is
needed -- "we must enable economic recovery by working with
the private sector." Serry expressed hope that the GOI will
soon respond with some easing of access, since winter is
approaching. Israel, he said, "will look very bad" if Gazans
continue to live without windows or underneath collapsed
structures. He noted that the Israeli Coordinator for
Government Activities in the Territories had approached him
that same day about permitting glass for windows into Gaza.
Serry said that from the beginning, UNSCO has worked closely
with PM Fayyad, and the UN has the PA's full support for its
initiatives in Gaza.


7. (C) Israel's decision to ease access into Gaza, Serry
noted, should be done in a way that gives the PA credit. If
it is done instead in response to the release of captured IDF
soldier Gilad Shalit, the credit will go to Hamas. Serry
asked the USG to consider the UN as part of the solution in
Gaza once there is a strategy. The UN relationship with
Israel, he noted, is difficult, and the Goldstone report did
not make it easier. If Shalit is released, Serry said he
wants the UN to be a part of the release in order to prove
the value of the UN to the Israeli people.

Hamas' Position in Gaza is Strong
--------------


8. (C) Ging said that Hamas leaders in Gaza are "very
relaxed," getting stronger and richer every day as a result
of the blockade. From "day two" after December 2008-January
2009 IDF combat operations against Hamas in Gaza ended,
weapons were coming in, Ging added. Serry reported that
UNSCO maintains contact with Hamas "out of necessity." In
their contact, Serry said, Hamas has shown no readiness to
end the conflict with Israel. The Hamas leadership's demands
remain: a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with a full
release of prisoners, a return of all refugees to their homes
in Israel, and approval of a peace agreement by referendum.


9. (C) Serry said Hamas is presenting itself as a moderate
alternative to militant Sunni Islamists and, in doing so,
strengthening its claim of leading the Palestinian national
movement. Serry believes that as long as there are no
serious negotiations, Hamas is under no real pressure to make
compromises. Negotiations would force them to choose whether
to join the process or not, he added.


10. (C) Serry noted that Hamas leaders in Gaza are very
interested to hear about developments in the U.S.
Administration and Quartet principals. UNSCO Political
Advisor Robert Dann said that on some level, Hamas is a
reliable interlocutor, but they are very passive. Dann
stated that Hamas leaders do not believe there is a living
Israeli politician who would end the occupation.


11. (U) Ambassador Rice cleared this cable.

RUBINSTEIN