YESHA COUNCIL CHAIRMAN DISCUSSES COUNCIL MEETINGS

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 000689

SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/10/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR PHUM ASEC IS PBTS KWBG KPAL
SUBJECT: YESHA COUNCIL CHAIRMAN DISCUSSES COUNCIL MEETINGS
AND CURRENT SETTLER SENTIMENT

REF: A. 08 JERUSALEM 1987

B. JERUSALEM 661

Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary. The YESHA Council held an expanded meeting
in January at which it established a Secretariat of ten
former Council leaders and a core group of 25 Council
members, which will meet every two months. The expanded
Council, with over 200 members, will meet only two or three
times per year. The YESHA Council Chairman said that the
settler community is waiting for the new Israeli government's
policy on settlement expansion, and feels more confident that
they are represented in the new GOI. End summary.

YESHA Council Chairman Summary of Council Meetings
-------------- --------------


2. (C) On April 22, YESHA Council Chairman Dani Dayan
briefed Poloff on the first expanded YESHA Council meeting
(ref A) in January 2009, and on plans for subsequent
meetings. Dayan said the January meeting, attended by over
100 of more than 200 elected (or appointed) settlement
representatives, dealt with Council procedures, and did not
address substantive issues. He said the Council established
a Secretariat of ten former Council leaders, and a core group
comprised of the ten Secretariat members plus 15 additional
"elders," including Rabbi Elyakim Levanon of Elon More and
Yigal Cohen, Chairman of Ariel "University Center." (Note:
Levanon was one of the rabbinical signitories to a campaign
in late 2008 calling on Israelis to stop employing
Palestinians, whom he called "the Arab enemy." End note.)
Dayan said several important settler "elders" such as Elyakim
Haetzni (co-founder of Kiryat Arba settlement) declined to be
a part of the YESHA Council, saying it is "too moderate" for
them.


3. (C) According to Dayan, this core group of 25 Council
members will meet every two months, while the expanded
Council will meet two or three times per year. Dayan will
remain Chairman of the Council, and Pinchas Wallerstein will
remain Director General. Dayan admitted that the expanded
Council is difficult to control, with members speaking out of
turn to share their opinions. He said he will encourage
greater discipline in the next meeting, which is scheduled to
take place in June, and Dayan will set the meeting agenda.
He said the most pressing issues currently facing the YESHA
Council are the proposed dismantlement of Migron outpost, and
legal challenges such as NGO Yesh Din's pending Israeli High
Court of Justice (HCJ) case against Ofra.

Settlers Waiting for GOI Policy on Settlement Expansion
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Dayan said the settler community is waiting for the
new Israeli government to determine its policy with regard to
settlement expansion, but they are more confident of their
representation in the GOI, noting that ten MKs and two
ministers (Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Minister of
Telecommunications Yuli Edelstein) live in settlements, and
several other MKs and ministers strongly support settlement
expansion (ref B). He said the settlers' vote was split
between Israeli political parties, with most supporting
Likud, Ichud Leumi (National Union),Yisrael Beitanu (Israel
is Our Home),Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home),or Shas. Dayan
said he was active in the Habayit Hayehudi party, but left
the party during the recent Israeli elections when "they
became too religious," saying he "was not comfortable there."
He voted for Likud, though he is not a party member. He
opined that Habayit Hayehudi, which split acrimoniously with
Ichud Leumi over ideological differences, will become more
mainstream and eventually merge with Likud, while Ichud Leumi
will remain a minority party supported by radical settlers.

WALLES