VZCZCXYZ0015
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRO #0041/01 0141605
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 141605Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY ROME
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1454
INFO RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN PRIORITY 1889
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1551
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 4496
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 1853
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 2503
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV PRIORITY 0995
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 1973
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 0468
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0954
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY 4729

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 000041 
 
SIPDIS 
 
WASHINGTON FOR USAID 
NEA/IPA: LENTZ 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/13/2019 
TAGS: KCRS EAID EFIN PREC
SUBJECT: ITALY CONVENES G8 MEMBERS ON GAZA AID, PLEDGES $1M 
 
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Elizabeth Dibble 
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1.    (C) Summary: On 9 January Italy convened a meeting of 
local G8 diplomatic representatives to discuss coordination 
of humanitarian aid to Gaza.  Italy announced a pledge of 
approximately $1m in emergency aid and asked others for a 
summary of their recent humanitarian activities. This meeting 
appears to be the first convened under the aegis of Italy's 
G8 Presidency.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.    (C) Luigi Vignali, head of the Coordination Unit of the 
Italian MFA's Secretariat General, convened the first meeting 
under the new Italian Presidency in order to discuss 
coordination of aid to Gaza.  The Italians gave only 24 hours 
notice to locally stationed G8 participants, so many were not 
prepared for an extensive exchange of information.  Vignali 
said the purpose of the meeting was to 1) identify the most 
efficient channels for disbursing aid, 2) spotlight new 
humanitarian needs, 3) avoid duplication of effort, and 4) 
share information on best practices.  Vignali added that 
developments on the ground were likely to warrant additional 
G8 meetings on the Palestinian aid issue during the Italian 
presidency. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - 
G8 Pledges for Gaza 
- - - - - - - - - - 
¶3.    (C) Italy announced a pledge of approximately $1m in 
emergency aid to Gaza in response to recent hostilities. 
Econoff and Poloff circulated a white paper detailing USG aid 
to Gaza.  Some discussants noted contributions to the UN 
flash appeal for Gaza, announced 31 December, in addition to 
previously scheduled non-emergency Palestinian aid.  Germany 
said it had provided 11 million euros for Gaza, of which 1 
million euros were for the flash appeal and 2 million euros 
were pledged to the International Committee of the Red Cross 
(ICRC) on 7 January.  France stated that it had offered 3 
million euros for Gaza, Canada said it had recently pledged 
3.4m USD and Japan said its Gaza aid totaled $10m, though it 
was unclear if these nations' funds had been given after the 
outbreak of recent hostilities.  The United Kingdom pledged 
6.8m pounds sterling (approximately $10m USD), of which 4m 
pounds sterling were for the flash appeal.  Russia did not 
commit to a figure, but offered to circulate a white paper at 
a later date.  Sergey Patronov, the Russian representative, 
also said that Russia had successfully evacuated over 200 
Russian, Canadian and third-country nationals from Gaza by 
air.  Anguel Beremliysky, the European Commission 
representative in Italy, said that of the 73m euros spent in 
2008 by the EC for the Palestinians, approximately 40m euros 
were allocated for Gaza, and that 3m euros in emergency funds 
for Gaza had been pledged on 4 January. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Italy's Aid Priorities during Its G8 Presidency 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
¶4.    (C) Italian G8 Sous Sherpa, Guido La Tella said that 
Italy would continue to use the G8 apparatus to respond to 
humanitarian crises as they arose, since the "biggest chunk" 
of international aid spending comes from G8 member states. 
La Tella said that ensuring food security and fighting 
malnutrition would be priorities over the coming year.  He 
also identified water as an area of special import, saying 
that as a scarce resource it could be the source of conflict. 
 Finally, La Tella advocated a "whole of country" approach to 
development, in which bi-lateral aid, private sector 
donations, multi-lateral aid and other sources of funding 
worked in concert to speed development. 
 
¶5.    (C) Comment: This meeting on Gaza aid may be part of an 
Italian effort to make up for cuts in its own humanitarian 
aid budget by "coordinating" the largesse of others.  La 
Tella repeatedly advocated a "more structured" mechanism 
within the G8 context -- which he did not define -- for 
coordinating aid.  Several of the participants politely 
questioned the reasoning for Italy's attempt to coordinate 
humanitarian aid to Gaza in Rome with the G8 countries' 
diplomats and not through other, well established forums such 
as the UN and EU.  The Italians stated that they did not want 
to duplicate work being done elsewhere and noted that this 
forum was just an "introductory" meeting and that the overall 
purpose of the group's future meetings may be further 
refined.  This left the group with more questions than 
answers about the role Italy seems to want to play.  We will 
want to steer GOI thinking early on, as the Italians are 
already showing a penchant for using their G8 presidency to 
take on work that is more effectively done by others.  End 
Comment. 
SPOGLI