Cablegate: Guidance: Middle East Consultations, August 19

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL UNSC KPAL AR BA EG IS JO LE SY
SUBJECT: GUIDANCE: MIDDLE EAST CONSULTATIONS, AUGUST 19

1. (U) This is an action request. USUN may draw from
para. 2 building blocks when making its intervention
during the upcoming Middle East consultations in the
Security Council on August 19.

2. (SBU) Begin building blocks:

I thank Assistant Secretary-General Fernandez-Taranco for
his report.

The United States remains deeply committed to the cause of
peace in the Middle East based on the two-state solution
with Israel and an independent and viable Palestine living
side-by-side in peace and security. President Obama
continues to lead efforts to reach a comprehensive
settlement that includes peace between Israel and the
Palestinians, Israel and Syria, and Israel and Lebanon.
To achieve that comprehensive goal, he has charged
Secretary of State Clinton and Special Envoy Mitchell with
efforts to create the context for the prompt resumption
and early conclusion of negotiations between the parties.

As we seek to move towards peace, all parties have
responsibilities. For Israelis and the Palestinians,
these center on their fulfillment of their previous
commitments and obligations. Israel's obligations include
stopping settlement growth, dismantling outposts, and
improving access and movement for Palestinians in the West
Bank. Palestinian obligations include continuing with
security cooperation and reforms, strengthening the rule
of law, and ending incitement.

There has been some movement toward fulfilling these
responsibilities. Israel has begun to take positive steps
to improve the living conditions of Palestinians and
create circumstances that can lead to the establishment of
a viable state. Over the last several months, it has
removed a number of checkpoints and eased conditions at
others in the West Bank. The Israeli military has also
withdrawn troops to the outskirts of four cities. If
expanded and sustained, these changes should have a
significant impact on Palestinian freedom of movement,
economic development and growth, and the overall quality
of life.

The Palestinians have clearly made progress in their
responsibilities on security. Nearly 2000 Palestinian
security personnel have already completed training in
Jordan and deployed in the West Bank. Another full
battalion of 500 men has recently begun training. These
efforts must continue -- in conjunction with the
invigorated efforts to promote the rule of law -- so that
Palestinians can live in the secure environment that they
deserve and can demonstrate that Palestine will be a
viable and responsible state in the region.

We hope that the recently-concluded Fatah party congress,
which reaffirmed President Abbas's leadership and brought
in a new generation of officials to serve in key
positions, will serve to further these efforts towards
peace.

We are also engaging with the broader Arab world to
encourage Arab states to act in the spirit of the Arab
Peace Initiative and begin the process of normalizing
relations with Israel. They also should aggressively and
tangibly support the Palestinian Authority under President
Abbas.

We now need the Arab states to outline clearly what they
are prepared to do for peace. We are encouraged by calls
in the Arab world -- from Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Morocco,
and the United Arab Emirates -- to support President
Obama's vision of a comprehensive peace by taking steps
toward recognizing Israel's rightful place in the region
in the spirit of the historic Arab Peace Initiative, and
urge Arab states to commit to specific gestures towards
Israel now.

These positive developments make it all the more
imperative that we work together to support the
Palestinian Authority in its nonpartisan, transparent
programs to improve the lives of ordinary Palestinians
throughout the West Bank and Gaza. The World Bank and IMF
have endorsed the Authority's 2009 budget and the
accounting controls it has put in place. On July 24,
Secretary Clinton announced the transfer of 200 million
dollars in direct budget support to the PA, and we commend
the European Union and the government of Saudi Arabia for
their recent generous transfers to the Palestinian
Authority. However, the PA's domestic revenue still is
insufficient to cover all of its needs for Gaza recovery
and to continue security and institutional reforms. We
thus call on other countries, particularly others in the
region that wish to see a strong and viable Palestinian
state, to join us in supporting the PA.

In conjunction with this call for assistance, the United
States continues to urge the government of Israel to
ensure that UN and other humanitarian agencies can carry
out the distribution of necessary humanitarian assistance
unimpeded throughout Gaza. This includes food, fuel and
medical treatment. By ensuring the delivery and
distribution of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, we will
help foster conditions in which a Palestinian state can be
fully realized. The United States is the largest
contributor to UNRWA; its humanitarian operations in Gaza
provide food distribution for 800,000 people and education
for 200,000 children, and run 17 primary health clinics in
Gaza. This year, UNRWA also put on summer camps for
250,000 children to promote tolerance and human rights.
USG assistance through the World Food Program also
provided 2,074 metric tons of food commodities to over
150,000 needy beneficiaries in Gaza. Other USG assistance
to Gaza goes to supporting NGO hospitals and clinics,
including procurement and distribution of medical
equipment and supplies, and providing plastic sheeting for
repairs to damaged buildings, as well as blankets, milk
powder and other nonfood items to Palestinians in need.

All UN member states, including those in the region, must
work to ensure the end of the illicit smuggling of arms
and ammunition into Gaza, lest Hamas restock its arsenal
and spark further conflict. Thus, we support reopening
Gaza's border crossings -- with an appropriate monitoring
regime involving international and Palestinian Authority
participation consistent with UN Security Council
Resolution 1860 and based on the 2005 Agreement on
Movement and Access.

Although some Hamas leaders claim that they are prepared
to cooperate with regional peace efforts, their positions
continue to fall far short of the essential building
blocks of an independent and viable Palestinian state.
Hamas has a responsibility to the Palestinian people to
actually work toward the establishment of a state. If
Hamas is willing to move beyond talk and focus on results,
it will renounce violence and terror, recognize Israel,
and accept previous agreements between the parties,
including the Roadmap. These commitments represent the
bedrock of any negotiations toward peace and the only way to
realize legitimate Palestinian aspirations for statehood.

We look forward to meeting with Arab League ministers and
to a Quartet meeting in New York in September to review
the latest developments in this area. The Quartet remains
the most effective instrument for marshaling the
international community's diplomatic efforts in support of
Middle East peace.

With patient, determined, and persevering diplomacy, we
can help to make a difference and we can assist those in
the region to achieve the peace and stability that people
on all sides long for.

End building blocks.
CLINTON

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