AMBASSADOR RICE,S OCTOBER 20 MEETING WITH ISRAELI

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 002375

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/27/2029
TAGS: PREL PHUM KPAL IS
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR RICE,S OCTOBER 20 MEETING WITH ISRAELI
PRESIDENT PERES

Classified By: Classified By: Ambassador James B. Cunningham; reasons 1
.4 b/d


1. (C) Summary: During U.S. Permanent Representative to the
United Nations Rice,s October 20th meeting with Israeli
President Shimon Peres, Peres said he planned to meet with
Abu Mazen early the week of Oct. 26. He said ISRAEL should
fully investigate the actions of its soldiers, as well as the
spurious claims of the Goldstone Report. He said ISRAEL
would not create needless difficulties, but as a member of
the United Nations felt bound to defend the UN Charter, since
it guarantees Israel's right to exist and to defend itself.
He said Abu Mazen and the Palestinian Authority leadership
faced serious problems -- some self-inflicted and others
inadvertently caused by Israel. He called for immediate moves
to establish provisional borders and authorities and
commencement of serious negotiations on all disputed
territory not included in the provisional allotment. Peres
cautioned, however, that the status of Jerusalem needed to be
handled in a separate, parallel track. Ambassador Rice
outlined USG efforts to manage fallout from the Goldstone
Report on Israeli military actions in Gaza, and encouraged
Peres to ensure that ISRAEL did not allow itself to be pushed
into counterproductive actions out of anger in response to
the Report. She urged a full investigation in keeping with
Israel,s democratic values, and Peres agreed there should be
a full investigation. Ambassador Rice also explored Peres,
views on the current difficulties of the Palestinian
leadership and how best to move toward resolving the final
status of co-existent Israeli and a Palestinian states. End
Summary.


2. (C) U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
Susan Rice met with Israeli President Shimon Peres on October
20 just prior to the opening of the annual President's
Conference in Jerusalem. President Peres kicked off the
meeting by expressing his personal appreciation, and that of
his country, for USG efforts to manage fallout from the
Goldstone Report on Israeli military actions in Gaza during
Operation Cast Lead. He also asked Ambassador Rice to express
his personal gratitude to President Obama for the latter's
commitment to pursuing a Middle East peace process under
"extremely difficult conditions." Pres. Peres said also that
he had spoken with Abu Mazen and planned to meet with him the
week of Oct. 26 to give impetus to the peace process.
(Comment: While he was clear in stating this intent, none of
Ambassador Rice's other interlocutors in the GoI evinced any
knowledge of this plan. In addition, Peres' staff indicated
that the meeting may be more aspiration than Peres suggested.
End comment.) End comment.


3. (U) Ambassador Rice thanked President Peres for his kind
remarks, and for his leadership and vision. She underscored
President Obama's personal commitment to comprehensive
regional peace, including two states -- Israeli and
Palestinian -- living side-by-side. Turning to the Conference
itself, Ambassador Rice thanked President Peres for giving
her the opportunity to speak on behalf of the United States
government.


4. (C) President Peres offered his thoughts on managing
negotiation of a permanent solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He said it was important that
no one be in a hurry to resolve all final status issues, and
suggested that the status of Jerusalem should be dealt with
separately, but in parallel, with negotiations on the status
of the West Bank. Peres said he recognized that this
approach faced resistance from the Palestinian leadership,
who put Jerusalem at the top of their list of issues to be
resolved. With regard to the West Bank, Peres said ISRAEL
had in mind an immediate handover of Areas A and B, and
additional land from Area C "if needed for industrial parks."
This territory would result in provisional boundaries with
additional border adjustments to be negotiated until agreed
final borders had been achieved. He also offered that the
GOI was looking at interim measures to make the Palestinian
Authority appear to have more control of Gaza until such time
as the PA could actually exert such control. Other measures
under consideration, according to President Peres, included
refurbishment of the French hospital in Gaza, continued
relaxation of restrictions on movement and access in the West
Bank, and support for USG efforts to expand the capacity and
capability of the Palestinian security forces.


5. (C) Peres said that while he and Prime Minister Netanyahu
came from different political streams, the Prime Minister
fully shared Peres' desire for peace and understood that time
was running out. He added that on issues that could be
resolved quietly, Prime Minister Netanyahu was ready and

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willing to move quickly. While noting that the current
atmosphere of crisis creates misinterpretation, Peres said
President Obama has been fair in his dealings with both
Israel and the Palestinians, and for that, ISRAEL should be
thankful. In response, ISRAEL "can move, should move, and
will move."


6. (C) Replying to Ambassador Rice's question about how he
saw PA President Abbas' current circumstances, Peres
characterized Abbas as being in a very poor situation. Peres
said the Palestinian leader had lost the prestige and
momentum he had enjoyed in the wake of the August Fatah Party
Congress. The Israeli release of 20 female Hamas prisoners
in exchange for a video of Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit, the
mishandling of the Goldstone report by both the PA and the
Israeli mission in Geneva (who leaked the PA decision to
withdraw its resolution before the HRC),and Abu Mazen's
unrealistic expectations for the meeting in New York with PM
Netanyahu and President Obama had all combined to seriously
undermine his leadership. Peres said his advice to Abu Mazen
would be that he cannot improve his position by competing
with Hamas on its own terms; rather, he should force Hamas to
compete on his terms, negotiating and pointing to the PA's
sustained economic and security reform successes in the West
Bank.


7. (C) Returning to the Goldstone Report, Peres noted that
Israel was a member of the United Nations. Hamas' actions
and calls for Israel's annihilation are contrary to the UN
Charter. The same holds true for Iran, yet there is no
accountability for these statements and actions because the
built-in anti-Israel majority in the UN and the Human Rights
Council prevents it. Peres contended that the existing
international agreements aimed at conventional arms and
nation-state aggression needed to be updated by an
international code addressing terrorism. International calls
to sanction ISRAEL for protecting its children from 12,000
rocket and mortar attacks over eight years, while ignoring
Hamas actions that endangered Palestinian children in Gaza,
show how inadequate and biased the current international
system has become. Peres said Israel's military officers
should be held accountable, but not by people like Goldstone,
Qadhafi or Ahmedinejad. He opined that Goldstone lost
credibility even before his report had been done, simply by
not refusing the job when he saw the mandate for the report
and the composition of the committee with whom he would be
working.


8. (C) Ambassador Rice noted that the USG had been very clear
in its views on the flaws of the mandate, as well as on the
unacceptability of the report's conclusions and
recommendations. She said the U.S. had worked hard in Geneva
to address the report in a responsible fashion, and now the
report,s proponents would try to move the action to New
York. Prior to Goldstone, Rice said, we had sensed some
relaxation of the reflexive hostility in the General Assembly
and were hoping to moderate some of the most offensive
resolutions. She urged the Israeli government to not give
the General Assembly any measure of legitimacy by looking as
though we care too much about what it does. We will manage
it by not giving it too much importance and she urged ISRAEL
to do the same.


9. (C) Rice said the Security Council was different and has
to be taken more seriously since its actions can have the
force of law. She underscored USG commitment not to allow
the issue to move from the Security Council to the
International Criminal Court. The Ambassador said that while
Israel finds the Report offensive and abhorrent, the USG will
continue to manage it in a responsible way, consistent with
our interests and added that it will be important not to
allow anti-Israel moves to prompt ISRAEL to do anything
shortsighted out of anger. Ambassador Rice urged the Israeli
government to fully investigate the allegations under its own
democratic procedures and consistent with its history and
values. President Peres took the point, and repeated his
view that Somalia, Yemen, and Iran could not be allowed to
teach human rights to the rest of the world. He said he was
especially disappointed in the Russians, and wondered how
they might have reacted if the report had been done with
reference to Chechnya. He said ISRAEL would not create
difficulties for the sake of creating difficulties. However,
in his view, UN members needed to defend the UN Charter. In
any event, said Peres, we will have a full investigation of
IDF actions in Gaza.
CUNNINGHAM