VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHJM #2060/01 1421351
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 221351Z MAY 06
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2271
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC PRIORITY

UNCLAS JERUSALEM 002060 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE, NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/LOGERFO, PRM FOR 
FRONT OFFICE, IO FOR FRONT OFFICE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PREF PGOV KWBG KPAL KDEM IS
SUBJECT: UNRWA OFFICIALS OUTLINE CONTACT POLICY WITH PA, 
PLANS FOR INTERNAL REFORMS 
 
 
¶1.    (SBU) Summary.  During a May 12 meeting with IO 
Assistant Secretary Kristen Silverberg, UNRWA Deputy 
Commissioner-General Filippo Grandi said that his agency 
would maintain "minimal" contact with the Hamas-led 
Palestinian Authority.  Grandi argued that some technical 
interaction is necessary to ensure the safety of UNRWA 
personnel operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.  On 
UNRWA's internal reforms, Grandi reported that UNRWA will 
release next month a draft document outlining a series of 
reform measures to its Advisory Commission.  Grandi welcomed 
"creative ideas" to increase vetting of beneficiaries who 
would be supported by the agency's expanded emergency 
programs, which he expected to double in monetary terms to 
USD 190 million this year.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.    (SBU) IO A/S Silverberg on May 12 met with UNRWA Deputy 
ComGen Filippo Grandi, Acting UNRWA General Counsel Scott 
Custer, and the Director of UNRWA's Audit and Inspection 
Department, Mukesh Arya, at UNRWA's West Bank Field Offices 
in Jerusalem.  IO DAS Mark Lagon, Amman-based RefCoord Claire 
Kaneshiro, and ConGen Poloff (notetaker) participated in the 
meeting. 
 
Grandi: UNRWA To Maintain Minimal 
Contact With Hamas-led PA 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶3.    (SBU) Grandi noted that the PLO remained UNRWA's 
primary contact on Palestinian refugee issues through the 
PLO's refugee department.  However, UNRWA, out of operational 
necessity, would need to maintain some minimal contact with 
officials from the PA ministries.  A/S Silverberg responded 
that contact should be minimized and focused on the technical 
level only, adding that UNRWA Commissioner-General Abu Zayd's 
meeting last month with a Hamas cabinet minister had raised 
serious concerns.  Grandi assured A/S Silverberg that UNRWA 
would maintain only those relations that will ensure that 
UNRWA employees can work safely and efficiently in 
Palestinian refugee camps.  UNRWA would handle this situation 
carefully, given the "sensitivities" on all sides, Grandi 
said. 
 
Reform Process Ongoing 
---------------------- 
 
¶4.    (SBU) Grandi noted that UNRWA, with the help of an 
externally-funded (Canada, Switzerland) consultant would 
launch a substantial reform program designed to overhaul the 
agency's management structure and introduce significant 
reforms to its human resources and planning systems over the 
next three years.  Grandi indicated that a draft reform plan 
would be available for donors to review in early June.  A/S 
Silverberg noted that Congress is seeking more transparency 
from UNRWA and that UNRWA should be proactive in addressing 
congressional concerns.  Grandi responded that the reform 
program would help address congressional concerns by helping 
the agency prioritize its needs and produce comprehensible 
budgets. 
 
¶5.    (SBU) Grandi said he wants to improve UNRWA's capacity 
to plan and monitor its emergency programs, adding that UNRWA 
had secured UK funding to help it conduct an external review 
of the agency's existing emergency interventions.  Additional 
critical internal reforms -- such as re-grading the positions 
of UNRWA's 26,000 local employees to eliminate long-standing 
inconsistencies -- are also on his agenda. 
 
Emergency Appeal to Double in Size 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶6.    (SBU) On the growing humanitarian needs in the West 
Bank and Gaza, Grandi noted that UNRWA is facing a series of 
challenges as it attempted to ramp up assistance to cover a 
greater number of refugees applying for assistance. 
Deteriorating economic conditions have resulted in a growing 
number of applications for emergency assistance, especially 
in Gaza.  While the situation is dire, Grandi said that he 
wants to avoid perceptions that he is "crying wolf."  He 
nonetheless expected a protracted crisis. 
 
¶7.    (SBU) He confirmed that UNRWA planned to maintain its 
current mix of interventions (food aid, temporary job 
creation, and direct cash aid) but would significantly expand 
the scale of those programs.  He noted that UNRWA is still 
calculating the cost of those expanded programs, but 
predicted that the agency would revise its emergency appeal 
to USD 190 million, roughly double its original 2006 appeal. 
 
Asked about UNRWA's selection criteria for its cash 
assistance programs, Grandi explained that they are based on 
socio-economic factors (single-parent households, unemployed, 
and the disabled).  UNRWA's social workers conduct regular 
end-use checks, but each social worker already handled a 
caseload of 250 families which made frequent home checks 
impossible.  Grandi said that UNRWA is already appealing for 
resources to expand its social worker program to ensure the 
quality of the emergency assistance program. 
 
¶8.    (SBU) Grandi said that UNRWA is open to suggestions on 
how to vet the large number of refugees applying for 
emergency aid.  He noted that the USG-funded Operational 
Security Officers (OSO) program -- meant to secure the 
integrity of the UNRWA installations -- has done a good job 
in the West Bank and Gaza camps and might represent an 
adequate model to report political activities that may occur 
in UNRWA schools.  Grandi hoped to use the OSO program as an 
additional monitoring tool.  A/S Silverberg noted that 
monitoring activities on the part of UNRWA are critical to 
alleviating international donor concerns over the integrity 
of UNRWA services. 
 
Some Positive Developments 
In Lebanon Refugee Camps 
-------------------------- 
 
¶9.    (SBU) Grandi said that there have been positive 
developments in Lebanon with respect to the Government of 
Lebanon's attitude toward the Palestinian refugee camps.  The 
Lebanese Prime Minister had recently chaired a meeting of 
foreign ambassadors in which he welcomed contributions to 
UNRWA.  Grandi said that the Prime Minister is ready to 
present legislation to the Lebanese parliament that would 
enable refugees to work outside the camps.  Other measures 
under consideration included proposals to ban the display of 
weapons outside of the camps.  Grandi noted his "shock," 
however, at the dangerous and violent conditions he observed 
inside the Shatila Refugee Camp during a recent visit. 
 
¶10.   (U) A/S Silverberg cleared this cable. 
 
WALLES