KADIMA NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE ON WHETHER TO JOIN

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 002846 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/29/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV IL SUBJECT: KADIMA NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE ON WHETHER TO JOIN COALITION GOVERNMENT REF: TEL AVIV 2813 Classified By: A/DCM DAVID BURNETT, REASONS. 1.4(b)(d). ¶1. (C) Summary: Prime Minister Netanyahu met December 28 with Kadima head Tzipi Livni to discuss the possibility of Kadima joining a coalition government, and Kadima held an internal meeting to review its options. Kadima MKs Ronit Tirosh and Otniel Schneller, who are both identified in press reports as part of the faction interested in splitting from the party, told Embassy contacts December 29 that Kadima must join the government in order to further Israel's national interest and enable Abu Mazen to join negotiations. Schneller, who is one of the prominent Kadima opponents of Livni's refusal to join the coalition, said the coalition must have more centrist elements in order to get a serious peace process going. End summary. ¶2. (C) As reported reftel, the Israeli media has been reporting in detail on Prime Minister Netanyahu's efforts to splinter opposition party Kadima and recruit some of its members into his coalition government. Contrary to some of those press reports, Kadima MK Ronit Tirosh told Ambassador December 28, she and most of the other potential Kadima defectors had never initialled any agreement to leave the party. Tirosh, who had been a supporter of Shaul Mofaz in the party primary, thought Kadima should join the Netanyahu government. According to Tirosh, all the members of the potential splinter group, with the exception of Eli Aflalo, believed that Kadima should enter the government under conditions that would allow them to be "co-partners" in peace talks with the Palestinians. (Note: So far, Aflalo has stuck to his December 23 announcement that he intends to leave Kadima.) ¶3. (C) Kadima MK Otniel Schneller echoed Tirosh's comments in a separate conversation with A/DCM December 29. Schneller said that the main point is that Israel's national interest requires a unity government in order to enable Abu Mazen to join negotiations. Abu Mazen wants to resume talks from the point at which they ended with Olmert, but this will not happen. Schneller said that there were steps that Netanyahu could take that would enable Abu Mazen to enter negotiations, but they would result in splitting the current coalition (he did not elaborate). Schneller highlighted that the real problem is that Livni remains opposed to joining Netanyahu, apparently under any conditions. In his view, Netanyahu does not need to offer Kadima more ministerial positions, but rather a genuine partnership in managing negotiations. If he does so, either Livni will have to go along, or Kadima will split. In Schneller's view, the coalition must have more centrist elements in order to get a serious peace process going. CUNNINGHAM