VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGV #0864/01 2821249
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 091249Z OCT 09
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9635
INFO RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV IMMEDIATE 4636
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM IMMEDIATE 0899
RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 3150

C O N F I D E N T I A L GENEVA 000864 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR IO/HR, IO/GS, NEA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/08/2019 
TAGS: PREL UNCTAD UNHRC
SUBJECT: GOLDSTONE REPORT BACKLASH - SPECIAL SESSION AND 
MORE 
 
REF: A. GENEVA 783 
     ¶B. GENEVA 832 
     ¶C. GENEVA 839 
     ¶D. GENEVA 845 
     ¶E. GENEVA 782 
 
Classified By: CDA Lawrence Richter, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Fallout from the Goldstone report and the 
possibility of a Human Rights Council (HRC) special session 
on the matter (as early as next week) has led to a hardening 
of positions by both the Palestinian and the Israeli Missions 
in Geneva, leaving even less room than before for a 
constructive approach by either side.  The Charge' met with 
Palestinian Authority PermRep Ibrahim Khraishi on October 8 
to discuss the narrow issue of Israel's bid to join UNCTAD's 
Group B regional group, and received an earful about the 
Israeli PermRep having destroyed any trust by press 
declarations saying the Palestinian PermRep had bowed to U.S. 
pressure by delaying consideration in the HRC of the 
Goldstone report.  Khraishi said those events, plus Israel's 
opposition to Palestine's WTO accession (not to mention 
possible Israeli war crimes), made any cooperation or 
concession to Israel impossible now.  On October 9, Charge' 
met with Israeli PermRep Yaar, who echoed the view that in 
UNCTAD, ITU, the WTO and the HRC, Israel is in no position to 
budge an inch, and we should not expect Israel to be 
forthcoming with the Council about its investigations into 
the allegations contained in the Goldstone report.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
CURRENT SITUATION IN UNCTAD 
--------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 
operates by regional groups, and the group of states that 
includes the EU and JUZCANZ, Group B, invited Israel in 
December 2008 to join its regional grouping, and requested 
the UNCTAD Secretariat make arrangements for Israel to be 
considered a member of Group B for electoral purposes.  Three 
successive UNCTAD Trade and Development Board Presidents 
(Bangladesh, Indonesia, and now Luxembourg) have passed on 
the request, and UNCTAD has yet to act on it. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Following indications that some countries, acting 
on Palestine's behalf, would seek to again block action on 
Israel in UNCTAD, the Charge and EconCouns met with 
Ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi, Permanent Observer of Palestine 
to the UN, and his Deputy, Imad Zuhairi, on October 8, to 
solicit their views on the matter. 
 
TRADE AND HUMAN RIGHTS CLOUD FUTURE 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C) An obviously agitated Khraishi spent the first 
several minutes of the meeting discussing the events related 
to HRC of the last few days and of his dismay that the 
Israeli PermRep had "lied" by telling the press that Khraishi 
had reached an agreement with him to delay the HRC action on 
the Goldstone report.  (Note:  We do not have the direct 
quote Khraishi referenced; however Israeli Ambassador Ronny 
Yaar was quoted in the press saying that the deferral was 
"proof that their (Israel's) strategy of not cooperating 
(with the Goldstone Mission) was correct."  End note.) 
 
¶5.  (C) Khraishi said that until a few days ago they would 
not have opposed Israel's move to Group B; however there was 
no way the Palestinian Authority could be of any help to 
Israel now given the changed circumstances - namely, its 
PermRep's actions to discredit Khraishi by laying blame on 
him for the delay in the Human Rights Council of action on 
the Goldstone report.  Khraishi said he was prepared to 
resign and that he had discussed future action with 
Palestinian President Abbas on Wednesday in Rome.  Until 
there is a comprehensive settlement, Palestine is not 
interested in any more incremental agreements to try to build 
trust with Israel.  He said the most damaging aspect of the 
current media storm over the Goldstone report is the loss of 
any trust he had with the Israeli PermRep.  The UNCTAD 
regional group membership issue is "just a penny" compared to 
the WTO and war crimes issue, but Palestine is not prepared 
to give anything more to Israel at this point, he emphasized. 
 
 
¶6.  (C) Zuhairi reiterated that now is not the time for 
Israel to try to advance its membership change in UNCTAD.  In 
response to the specific question of whether they would allow 
 
the Israeli UNCTAD change to occur if Israel supported 
Palestinian accession in WTO, he said they would do so 
immediately.  But he also noted that Israel as occupying 
power has to make much larger concessions than the 
Palestinians. 
 
ISRAEL: NO DEAL ON ANYTHING 
--------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C) On October 9, the Charge' met with Israel PermRep 
Yaar and Israeli Political Counselor Walid Abu-Haya to 
follow-up on discussions with the Palestinians of the day 
before.  Yaar stated that Israel is having problems with the 
Palestinians in a multitude of international organizations. 
For example, he had tried to set up a meeting between 
Ministers of Communications attending the ITU Telecom World 
2009 on a spectrum issue, but that had proven impossible 
(Note: he did not state why the meeting could not be set-up. 
End note.).  At the Universal Postal Union (UPU), Director 
Eduard Dayan had visited Yaar this week about a Palestinian 
issue which will be taken up at UPU's upcoming Council 
meetings in Bern, and which Yaar had hoped would be settled 
by an Israeli offer to meet with the responsible Palestinian 
official.  At the WTO, he said Israel shares U.S. opposition 
to observer status for the Palestinian delegation.  At 
UNCTAD, Israel will postpone action on its Group B membership 
bid, but Yaar expressed his disbelief and dismay of the 
principle that the "PLO" (in his words) could block a 
sovereign decision among member states.  He objected to any 
linkage between the issues, yet intimated that prior to this 
week he had been considering asking the U.S. to propose a 
swap of some kind between the Palestinian observer status at 
the WTO and Israeli membership in Group B of UNCTAD. 
 
¶8.  (C) Yaar said the Goldstone report is no longer the real 
issue; the issue is that "words are cheap" for Palestinians 
and that the Council is a "toy for the Arabs."  There is 
absolutely no support in Israel to make any cooperative 
gestures or any other deal with the Palestinians. If a 
special session is held, Yaar said he would not even mention 
the Goldstone report, but would focus all his attention on 
the politicization of the Council on this matter and that the 
real issue at stake was the peace process. 
 
¶9.  (C) Asked what Israel's position would be regarding 
investigations into allegations contained in the report (as 
Yaar had discussed in recent meetings with A/S Posner and 
Legal Advisor Koh), Yaar said there had been some discussion 
in Jerusalem about briefing the President of the Council and 
the High Commissioner on Israeli investigations; however, 
there "was no more appetite" in Jerusalem because Israel felt 
it was under attack and it could not be seen as responding to 
such pressure. 
 
LATEST WORD ON SPECIAL SESSION 
------------------------------ 
 
¶10.  (C) French PolOff informed us on October 9 that the 
Palestinians intended to hold the special session early or 
mid next week, possibly to coincide with the UNSC October 14 
discussion of the matter.  They will apparently use the same 
draft resolution text from the HRC 12 session (last week's 
text) as the starting point for the resolution that will come 
out of the special session, and they would add language 
concerning events occurring in Jerusalem over the past week 
(no further details).  The Swedish Presidency is to discuss 
the matter with the Palestinians, although the EU does not 
yet have a common position on the issue. (Note: we are trying 
to reach the Palestinians to obtain confirmation of these 
points.  End note.) We expressed our concern to the 
Secretariat and several European delegations about holding a 
special session.  While they agree in priniciple, if the 
Palestinians or the OIC collect 16 member state signatures, 
the session will take place despite our objections.  Abu-Haya 
called Polcouns at the time of sending this cable to inform 
us that Prime Minister Netanyahu asked S/E Mitchell for U.S. 
support in approaching the Palestinians and Pakistanis to 
prevent a special session from occurring. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶11.  (C) The Goldstone report has become a flash point and 
the events in Geneva over this past week show just how 
entrenched both parties have become in their positions.  An 
increasing number of issues have become inter-linked, and 
neither party is currently willing to take any step to 
 
decouple any issue.  The worsening tone between Israeli and 
Palestinian delegations is symptomatic of a larger problem: 
trust between the two sides is eroding, making them unwilling 
to take any step that might be construed as a concession. 
Consequently, it will put the U.S. in a more difficult 
position to achieve breakthroughs on any of these issues.  It 
also decreases the chances of achieving a consensual approach 
to the Council's handling of the Goldstone report, which in 
turn increases the risk of a very problematic resolution or 
one that isolates the United States as the lone no vote.  End 
Comment. 
RICHTER