GERMANS APPEAR SET TO ABSTAIN ON PALESTINIAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L BERLIN 000217 SIPDIS STATE FOR IO/HR CMUSSER E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2020 TAGS: IO PHUM UNGA GM SUBJECT: GERMANS APPEAR SET TO ABSTAIN ON PALESTINIAN GOLDSTONE RESOLUTION REF: STATE 15722 Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Stanley Otto for reasons 1.4 (b/d) ¶1. (C) POLOFF delivered the reftel demarche to the German MFA UN Human Rights Section, Herr Georg Klussmann. Klussmann said that based on the Palestinian's current draft resolution, which no longer calls for a date for the Swiss to convene a conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to address this, it had been agreed by the Director of the 3rd Political Division Michaelis and the Director General for UN Affairs Freiherr von Ungern-Sternberg that the path of least harm would be for Germany to abstain. ¶2. (C) Comment: The German MFA appears to be trying to walk a fine line between trying to be supportive of Israel but concerns that a "no" vote could somehow weaken Palestinian Authority President Abbas. End comment. Murphy