This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TEL AVIV 000989 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/IPA, PRM FOR ACTING A/S GREENE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/08/2016 
TAGS: IS PGOV PREF PREL SZ ISRAELI SOCIETY ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS GOI EXTERNAL
SUBJECT: EMBLEM: GOI STANDS STILL; ICRC DELEGATION CONCERNED 
 
REF: SECSTATE 33441 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard H. Jones for reasons 1.4 (b,d). 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY: MFA Deputy Director General (DDG) Aharon 
Leshno Yaar told PRM Director for Asia and the Near East 
Richard Albright March 2 that the GOI plans to delay 
implementing the December agreement between Magen David Adom 
(MDA) and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS).  ICRC 
Head of Delegation Dominik Stillhart told Albright March 3 
that he believes GOI officials are concerned that moving too 
soon to implement the agreement might afford the Palestinians 
several months to press for further concessions.  Stillhart 
warned that failure to fulfill the agreement before the June 
diplomatic conference (reftel) will provide undecided states 
an excuse not to support the next steps required for MDA 
accession into the Movement.  While delaying movement on the 
agreement, the GOI reported progress on another front related 
to the emblem.  MFA Director for International Organizations 
(IO) Daniel Meron told poloff on March 3 that the MFA had 
begun working with the ICRC to build a primary healthcare 
facility for the Druze community in the Golan Heights. 
According to Stillhart, however, the status of the MDA-PRCS 
agreement will have a far greater impact on the June 
conference than will progress in the Golan Heights.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
GOI STATED POSITION: NO RUSH TO IMPLEMENT AGREEMENT 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶2.  (C) "Our lesson from the (December) Geneva conference," 
MFA DDG Aharon Yaar told Richard Albright, "is that it 
doesn't matter if we sign an agreement with the Palestinians; 
we will still face opposition, and we'll never please the 
Syrians."  Albright responded that the MDA-PRCS agreement 
helped pave the way at the conference for a majority vote in 
favor of adopting the Third Additional Protocol.  Yaar 
replied that, nonetheless, the upcoming Israeli national 
elections will force the GOI to wait until May to begin 
serious preparations for the June diplomatic conference. 
 
¶3.  (C) Yaar said that leaders of MDA and PRCS have met 
several times, and have made progress facilitating at the 
GOI-controlled Allenby Bridge the transfer of critically ill 
patients seeking treatment at Jordanian hospitals.  In a 
follow-up March 3 telcon with poloff, MFA IO Director Daniel 
Meron claimed that a senior IDF commander has issued a 
general directive instructing all checkpoints to grant 
priority access to PRCS ambulances.  When pressed for 
details, however, Meron said that he could not yet report the 
specifics of the directive, the identity of the IDF officer, 
or the date of its issuance.  Meron still could not provide 
this information as of March 7. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
ICRC VIEW OF GOI POSITION: DELIBERATE DELAY 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C) ICRC Head of Delegation Dominik Stillhart told 
Albright on March 3 that he believes GOI officials are 
concerned that moving too soon to implement the agreement 
might afford the Palestinians several months to press for 
further concessions.  "It is a question of timing," Stillhart 
said.  "The Israelis will do something, but only just before 
the conference."  Stillhart added that opposition from the 
IDF, the Prime Minister's Office, and the Ministry of Health 
has slowed progress on implementing the agreement.  While the 
MFA, Stillhart said, might like to move forward with 
implementation, any decision will be taken by the Prime 
Minister.  As a result, he asserted, "Israel will move only 
under heavy pressure.  Without pressure, there will not be 
sufficient critical mass within the government." 
 
¶5.  (C) Stillhart said he believes that Arab governments will 
pay close attention to GOI implementation of the MDA-PRCS 
agreement.  In particular, according to Stillhart, they will 
examine three central elements of the agreement: 
 
(1) fast access through IDF checkpoints for PRCS ambulances 
entering East Jerusalem; 
(2) fast access through IDF checkpoints for PRCS ambulances 
traveling inside the West Bank; 
(3) permission to station PRCS ambulances in East Jerusalem. 
 
¶6.  (C) For each of these issues, Stillhart said, the GOI 
faces a different obstacle to implementation. 
(1) Stillhart said that MDA, PRCS, and the GOI Civil 
Administration have begun seriously addressing fast access to 
East Jerusalem; they have already identified and registered 
six ambulances and 30 staff.  While it is possible, according 
to Stillhart, that the GOI will soon agree to this demand, 
Stillhart also claimed that a lack of will within senior 
ranks of the IDF may hamper its actual implementation. 
 
(2) By contrast, Stillhart said, the IDF has expressed a 
willingness to accelerate PRCS access through checkpoints 
inside the West Bank, but appears to lack the organizational 
discipline to enforce this directive at the local level. 
Stillhart said he believes that the soldiers at checkpoints 
simply "do not take this issue seriously." 
 
(3) The plan to station PRCS ambulances in East Jerusalem 
faces more significant political opposition than do the other 
two issues, according to Stillhart.  He said GOI officials 
and elected representatives continue to resist a permanent 
presence for the PRCS in East Jerusalem. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
ICRC: GOI POSITION A CAUSE FOR CONCERN 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C) Stillhart argued that the GOI's "go slow" approach to 
the MDA-PRCS agreement in the run-up to the June conference 
will provide undecided states a ready excuse not to support 
the next steps required for MDA accession into the Movement. 
Stillhart said MDA opponents will focus most intently on the 
issue of stationing PRCS ambulances in East Jerusalem.  The 
Palestinians, he explained, need ambulances in East Jerusalem 
because MDA ambulances get stoned when they enter Arab areas. 
 Without local emergency services, East Jerusalem patients 
currently experience delays when PRCS ambulances get stopped 
or turned around at IDF checkpoints, according to Stillhart. 
Stillhart said that 16 Palestinian women gave birth in taxis 
in East Jerusalem during 2005 because ambulances could not 
reach them in time, but added that he believes no one has 
died as a result of delays.  "It's only 16 women out of 
thousands that gave birth last year," Stillhart said, "but it 
never happens in Israel."  Albright asked Stillhart whether 
the Palestinians plan to publicize data illustrating the 
impact of delayed access to emergency services.  Stillhart 
said that he does not think Palestinians or others have ever 
presented statistics such as these in public settings. 
 
¶8.  (C) Stillhart also reported that ICRC President Jakob 
Kellenberger noted mounting opposition to MDA accession into 
the Movement among Arab national societies at a meeting in 
Abu Dhabi in February.  Because of this increasing hostility, 
Stillhart said, "We worry that if nothing happens in the next 
few weeks (to implement the MDA-PRCS agreement), then actions 
may not have an impact later."  The MDA and PRCS societies 
would like to make progress, according to Stillhart.  "The 
societies are not the problem," he asserted.  "It's the 
Israeli government." 
 
----------------------------- 
PROGRESS IN THE GOLAN HEIGHTS 
----------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (C) Meron told poloff March 3 that the MFA has commenced 
discussions with the ICRC to build a primary healthcare 
facility for the Druze community in the Golan Heights.  The 
project stems from a proposal contained in ICRC reports of 
2002 and 2005 about health care provision to the Druze 
population in the Golan Heights.  The Syrians raised this 
issue in the December diplomatic conference.  Meron stressed 
that the GOI wants to work on this project with the ICRC, but 
not with the Swiss government.  The Swiss, Meron said, "will 
make it into a political issue, while the ICRC will keep it 
on a humanitarian basis."  While the negotiations on a Golan 
medical clinic represent progress, Stillhart told Albright, 
the status of the MDA-PRCS agreement will have a far greater 
impact on the June conference. 
 
********************************************* ******************** 
Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv 
 
You can also access this site through the State Department's 
Classified SIPRNET website. 
********************************************* ******************** 
JONES