REQUEST FOR MORE INFORMATION ON FACTIONAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L STATE 069191 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/02/2019 TAGS: PREL PTER KWBG IS EG SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR MORE INFORMATION ON FACTIONAL COMMITTEE PROPOSAL Classified By: NEA AA/S JEFFREY FELTMAN FOR REASON 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) Department requests Embassy Cairo approach the Government of Egypt to obtain details about the most recent efforts to broker Palestinian reconciliation and why they were postponed. The U.S. shares the GOE's goal of enabling the Palestinian Authority (PA) to return to Gaza in a way that is consistent with the Quartet principles. U.S. support for reconciliation is dependent on all parties' acceptance and adherence to the Quartet principles. To this end, we seek information on the details of the Egyptian proposal to form a 'factional committee', including a description of the committee's scope and its authorities, in order to ensure that it does not cross any U.S. legal or policy lines that would impact our ability to work with the PA. Department asks that Embassy Cairo try to obtain any written documents that Egypt may have provided the Palestinian delegations describing the factional committee. ¶2. (C) The Department is concerned that this committee could have a role in governance (e.g. security reform in Gaza and/or the West Bank) or foreign assistance (e.g. supervising reconstruction of Gaza),which would require the committee and all its members to accept the Quartet principles. If the committee has a role in PA decisions on issues like security and foreign assistance yet does not accept the Quartet principles, the U.S. would need to reevaluate our relationship with the PA. This could lead to the U.S. and other donors cutting off assistance at a critical time for restarting negotiations and for building Fatah's credibility. CLINTON