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 02 TEL AVIV 002056 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/26/2016 
TAGS: ECON EFIN EAID KWBG KPAL ETRD IS ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS HUMANITARIAN AID
SUBJECT: GOI STILL UNSURE ABOUT TRANSFER OF MONEY FOR 
MEDICAL AID 
 
REF: TEL AVIV 2011 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Gene A. Cretz for reasons 1.4 b and d. 
 
This cable has been cleared by ConGen Jerusalem. 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  (C) The GOI has not yet decided how to effect the 
transfer of NIS 50 million for humanitarian medical aid to 
the Palestinians from the PA customs revenue it is holding. 
Officials claim to fear that the transfer, done outside the 
aegis of the Paris Protocol, would not be recognized as 
legitimate by a future PA government, which could demand that 
the GOI return the money.  The GOI is seeking U.S. assurances 
that the U.S. would support it in resisting such a demand. 
In light of this problem, the GOI also wants to somehow 
document that the revenue deduction came about as a result of 
a Palestinian request, but has still not decided if it wants 
Palestinian President Abbas to officially make such a 
request.  In a separate meeting, Abbas told ConGen 
Jerusalem's Consul General that GOI expenditures on medicine 
for Palestinians should be coordinated with his office. 
Comment:  This could offer an opening to the resolution of 
the issue.  End comment.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (C) In a follow-up to the Charge's discussion with FM 
Livni's Chief of Staff, Jakub Dayan (see reftel), Benny Ayal, 
Senior Advisor to the Minister of Finance and Rani 
Loebenstein, Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Finance DG 
told Deputy Economic Counselor on May 26 that the GOI is 
still unsure how to effect the transfer of NIS 50 million 
(about USD 11 million) worth of medical aid to the 
Palestinians.  The plan is to deduct the money in stages from 
the approximately NIS 750 million in Palestinian customs 
revenue being held by Israel and give it to the World Health 
Organization (WHO), which would use it to buy the supplies 
and transfer them.  So far, there have only been very 
preliminary discussions with the WHO on the issue.  The 
problem, from the Israeli perspective, is that the Paris 
Protocol covers the issue of Israel deducting money to pay 
for electricity, water, and health care for Palestinians in 
Israeli hospitals, but does not provide for deducting money 
for this type of humanitarian assistance.  Israeli officials 
claim that they are therefore concerned about the possibility 
that a future Palestinian government might demand return of 
the money, since it would have been spent entirely at 
Israel's discretion and not under any recognized protocol. 
 
¶3.  (C) Loebenstein said that the GOI's concerns about making 
the deduction would be eased if it could depend on the U.S. 
to back the action in any future dispute on the issue with 
the Palestinians.  In addition, the GOI would like to get 
some sort of Palestinian request for the medical aid on the 
record.  However, he said emphatically that the issue of 
whether or not to ask Palestinian President Abbas to make 
such a request is extremely sensitive, and would require the 
highest levels of the GOI to make fundamental decisions on 
their views of the President and his usefulness as an 
interlocutor for the GOI.  So far, these decisions have not 
yet been made, and Loebenstein strongly requested that the 
U.S. not approach Abbas or any other Palestinians on the 
issue until they are.  (Note:  Mahmud Abbas raised the issue 
of transfer of money for the purchase of humanitarian medical 
aid with ConGen Jerusalem's Consul General on May 23 and made 
the point that GOI expenditures on medicine for Palestinians 
should be coordinated with his office.  Abbas' other concern 
was that the GOI not spend the money on expensive Israeli 
medicine, but rather purchase less expensive supplies on the 
Palestinian economy.  End note.) 
 
¶4.  (C) Loebenstein added that the GOI is also concerned that 
deducting money from the customs revenues for this particular 
humanitarian issue would set a precedent which would result 
in further requests, some of which may be less reasonable. 
The GOI is concerned that, having already gone beyond the 
provisions of the Paris Protocol, it would find itself in a 
more difficult position to resist additional requests. 
 
¶5.  (C) Loebenstein also voiced the general concern that if 
the EU succeeds in figuring out a way to pay PA salaries, and 
Israel starts using the customs revenues for general 
humanitarian assistance, the economic pressure on the 
Hamas-led PA government would ease considerably, if not end 
completely.  The GOI is also taking this into account in its 
deliberations on the issue. 
 
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