WEST BANK SETTLEMENT CONSTRUCTION MORATORIUM, TOME

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 002132

SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/27/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV KWBG KPAO KPAL IS
SUBJECT: WEST BANK SETTLEMENT CONSTRUCTION MORATORIUM, TOME
OF PALESTINIAN RESPONSE ASCRIBED TO USG PRESSURE

REF: JERUSALEM 2130

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

SUMMARY
--------------

1. (SBU) The GOI's November 25 announcement of a ten-month
moratorium on new residential construction in West Bank
settlements was the subject of continued criticism on
November 26-27. Palestinian officials issued a stream of
press statements arguing that the moratorium was meaningless
without the inclusion of East Jerusalem and fell short of
Israel's obligations under the Roadmap. Settler leaders
charged in the Israeli press that Prime Minister Netanyahu
had caved to USG pressure, and betrayed his campaign
promises.


2. (C) Palestinian officials' public criticism of the USG
lessened in stridency, however. Speaking from Chile on
November 26, President Abbas called the moratorium
"insufficient," and said he planned to raise a UN Security
Council-backed demarcation of Palestine's borders with the
USG, among others. Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)
Executive Committee Secretary General Yasir Abd Rabbo
announced from Ramallah that while the PLO considered the GOI
announcement a "political maneuver" that "shows Israel is not
serious about peace," it also appreciated the USG's
statements regarding the illegitimacy of settlement activity,
and the relevance of the 1967 borders. Privately, contacts
told Post that the Palestinian political leadership was
frustrated.

SETTLERS VOICE ANGER AT NETANYAHU
--------------


3. (C) Prime Minister Netanyahu's November 25 declaration
of a ten-month moratorium on residential construction in West
Bank settlements drew continued fire from senior settler
leaders on November 26-27. Daniel Luria, spokesman for
ultra-nationalist settler movement Ateret Cohanim, told Post,
"the voters didn't elect Netanyahu to freeze settlements, and
he will pay for it at the polls. He is trying to please the
U.S., which won't serve Israeli interests. Israel shouldn't
be trying to please the Arabs -- nothing Israel does
satisfies them anyway. Israel needs to cut its umbilical
cord to the U.S., as the dependence is unhealthy for both."

MORATORIUM ATTRIBUTED TO US PRESSURE
--------------


4. (C) Prominent Palestinian civil society and political
leaders widely attributed the GOI decision to USG pressure.
Palestinian historian and journalist Mahdi Abdul Hadi told
Post, "Netanyahu's message was not geared to Palestinians or
Arabs, it was written expressly to satisfy the U.S.
government. And the fact that Jerusalem was not included
shows Israel is not serious about peace." In an interview
with Israeli Army Radio, PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat
accused the GOI of attempting to appease the USG, saying, "At
the end of the day, Netanyahu needs to make peace with us,
the Palestinians. He doesn't need to make peace with the
Americans. If that's what he wants to do, that's his
business -- but the last I knew, Washington is 6,000 miles
away from Jerusalem, and Jericho is 67."

EXCLUSION OF JERUSALEM REMAINS A STICKING POINT
-------------- --


5. (U) In a statement issued November 26, Fatah Central
Committee (FCC) member Mohammed Dahlan said that, "the issue
of Jerusalem is a very sensitive issue. Ignoring the issue
of Jerusalem will jeopardize the whole peace process...(the
GOI) is continuing to use force to create new facts on the
ground, with the aim of isolating Jerusalem from the rest of
the Palestinian territories." In an official statement
issued from Ramallah, the FCC as a body said that the GOI
proposal showed that Netanyahu was "continuing to avoid the
peace process." Hamas joined in the criticism from Gaza,
with spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri referring to the freeze as a
"cosmetic step," which "aims to restart pointless
negotiations...without any real cost."

PALESTINIAN LEADERSHIP REJECTS FREEZE, APPEALS TO ALLIES
-------------- --------------


6. (U) While rejecting the GOI moratorium as "insufficient"

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and "not serious," PA and PLO leadership reached out to its
Arab allies and the USG for assistance. In remarks made in
Santiago on November 26, President Abbas charged that the GOI
had chosen settlements over peace, and said, "faced with this
Israeli position, we are consulting with our Arab brothers,
with the Latin American, African, European, and Asian
countries and groups, and in the future with the American
administration, regarding the possibility of going to the
United Nations Security Council with the aim of demarcating
the borders of the state of Palestine on the June 4, 1967
borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital."


7. (SBU) In a November 26 press conference, PLO Executive
Committee Secretary-General Yasir Abd Rabbo called the
proposed GOI freeze, "an attempt to deceive world opinion.
He continued, "what is needed for the resumption of the peace
process is not theatrical moves like Netanyahu's
announcement." Abd Rabbo argued that what was required was
increased USG effort to achieve "a total cessation of
settlement activity in both Jerusalem and the West Bank,
without exception," and "commitments by both sides to the
1967 borders, with any amendments mutually-agreed." (Note:
the above reflects an unofficial translation of Abd Rabbo's
remarks.)


8. (SBU) Abd Rabbo noted that "we appreciate the (USG)
positions declared after the Netanyahu statement, which
called for a total cessation of settlement activity, and
appreciate the reference to the 1967 borders as the borders
of the (Palestinian) state." He continued, "we note the
positive statements by Secretary Clinton and Senator Mitchell
regarding the illegitimacy of settlements, and also that
Secretary Clinton and Senator Mitchell decried Israeli
practices in Jerusalem." He finished by saying that "we
will maintain contact will all parties, including the U.S."

PALESTINIAN LEADERSHIP PRIVATELY FRUSTRATED
--------------


9. (C) In conversations with Post on November 26-27, PLO
Executive Committee member Saleh Rafat, Palestinian
Legislative Council (from Fatah) member Husam Khader, and
former PA Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Hatem Abdel Qader
described the PLO and PA leadership as privately frustrated.
All three asserted that the Palestinian leadership --
including Abu Mazen -- believed internally that there was "no
way" to resume negotiations on the basis of the Israeli
declaration. At the same time, they said, some in the PLO
leadership feared negative consequences to their relations
with the USG, and had sought to manage relations more
carefully by moderating their initial public position.


10. (C) The same contacts pointed Post to Abd Rabbo's
positive statements about the remarks made by the Secretary
and Senator Mitchell as evidence of a softened PLO line, and
predicted that while the PLO and PA will continue to refer to
the proposed GOI freeze in negative terms, it will avoid
direct criticism of the USG. They also conveyed that it is
believed in Palestinian political circles that on November 30
(official "International Day of Solidarity with the
Palestinian People),President Abbas will instruct the
Palestinian Permanent Observer to the United Nations to
deliver a speech on his behalf seeking the assistance of UN
member states in determining the terms of reference for a
"meaningful" peace process.

RUBINSTEIN