VZCZCXYZ0002
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #8850 0842117
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 252058Z MAR 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 028850 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS, UNSC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: UNSC PREL IS LE SY KPAL
SUBJECT: GUIDANCE: MIDDLE EAST CONSULTATIONS, MARCH 25 
 
¶1. (SBU) This is an action message.  USUN is authorized to 
draw from the elements in paras 2 and 4 below as a basis 
for its participation in Security Council consultations on 
the Middle East scheduled for March 25, and for its public 
statements on the consultation. 
 
¶2. (U) Elements for presentation: 
 
-- Mr. President, let me thank Under-Secretary Lynn Pascoe 
for his informative report. 
 
-- The Under-Secretary has given us much to discuss, and 
from the outset, we must consider the humanitarian 
situation in Gaza.  The United States is deeply committed 
to relieving the immediate suffering of people there. But 
we are also determined to aggressively work for a lasting 
peace that provides a stable and prosperous future for 
Israelis and Palestinians alike.  Our response to the 
urgent needs in Gaza cannot be separated from our broader, 
long-term efforts to achieve a comprehensive peace. 
 
-- To date, the United States has contributed more than 
$66 million to provide food, water, medicine, and shelter 
for the people of Gaza.  At the March 2 donors' conference 
in Sharm el Sheikh, Secretary Clinton announced our 
intention support the Palestinian Authority and Gaza 
recovery with up to $900 million in assistance.  This 
pledge, designed in coordination with the Palestinian 
Authority and to be submitted to the United States 
Congress, will deliver assistance to the people of Gaza 
and further the development of the West Bank 
 
-- The United States is working with President Abbas and 
the Palestinian Authority to address critical 
humanitarian, budgetary, security, and infrastructure 
development needs.  Direct budget support to the 
Palestinian Authority offers one of the quickest ways to 
meet these needs.  The PA spends more than 50 percent of 
its recurrent budget in Gaza, for instance, and PA 
employees in Gaza's hospitals and schools continue to 
provide essential services to the people of Gaza under 
often extreme conditions.  Through our assistance and 
support for the Palestinian Authority, we aim to foster 
the conditions in which a Palestinian state can be created 
-- a state at peace with Israel and its neighbors and 
accountable to its people -- of which Palestinians 
everywhere can be proud.  This is the Palestinian state we 
all envision and which we all have an obligation to help 
create. 
 
-- We are engaging with the Government of Israel on a 
daily basis about the volume and range of humanitarian 
items and humanitarian workers entering Gaza.  We 
encourage Israel to make it easier to bring humanitarian 
goods into Gaza and to ease restrictions on urgently 
needed items, including critical building supplies.  As 
part of a lasting cease-fire, Gaza's border crossings 
should be opened to permit the robust flow of aid and commerce, 
with an appropriate monitoring regime joined by both the 
international community and the Palestinian Authority. 
 
-- I also wish to express our deep appreciation to 
President Mubarak and the government of Egypt for their 
persistence in promoting a durable ceasefire in Gaza and 
southern Israel and in hosting Palestinian reconciliation 
talks.  The United States values Egypt's leadership in the 
region and its support for peace.  We support its efforts 
to forge a Palestinian unity government that can be a 
genuine party to peace, and can realize the Palestinian 
people's legitimate aspirations for an independent and 
viable state by recognizing Israel, renouncing violence, 
and accepting previous agreements and obligations. 
 
-- The smuggling of weapons into Gaza and Hamas' continued 
rocket attacks against southern Israel constitute a serious and 
immediate threat to regional peace and security, putting 
innocent lives at risk and threatening to set off another 
deadly round of violence.  Working with our partners in the 
region and beyond, the United States is committed to moving 
forward quickly with new mechanisms to block this arms 
trafficking.  We welcome the Program of Action agreed in London 
on March 13 by nine 
nations -- Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, 
Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United 
States. 
 
-- Consistent with existing UN Security Council 
resolutions, as well as counterterrorism and 
nonproliferation conventions and regimes, this initiative 
will strengthen the international community's ability to 
support a durable cease-fire.  It provides a comprehensive 
platform for enhanced cooperation in information and 
intelligence sharing; diplomatic engagement; and military 
and law enforcement activities.  Participating countries 
will meet on a regular basis and have agreed that the 
initiative would be open to others who wish to join. 
 
-- It is the policy of the United States to move quickly 
and actively to seek a lasting peace between Israel and 
the Palestinians.  With Special Envoy Mitchell leading our 
efforts, we are engaged in determined and vigorous 
diplomacy.  Lasting peace requires more than a cease-fire, 
however.  We urge all parties to respect their obligations 
under the Roadmap and refrain from any activities that do 
not help the cause of peace in the Middle East. 
 
-- We have made clear to Israel that settlement activity is 
unhelpful, and we call on Israel to dismantle outposts 
erected since March 2001.  We also call on the Arab states, 
building on the Arab peace initiative, to reach out to Israel to 
demonstrate in both word and deed that Israel has a permanent 
and secure place in the region. 
 
-- The U.S. will engage to help support the parties as 
they make progress toward a comprehensive peace between 
Israel and all its neighbors that respects Israel's 
rightful place in the community of nations and includes 
two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in 
peace and security. 
 
-- President Obama, Secretary Clinton, and Ambassador Rice 
have stated their desire for principled, sustained 
engagement in the Middle East.  As the President has 
noted, the United States intends to pursue engagement with 
all countries in the region, including Syria.  On March 7, 
U.S. officials traveled to Damascus to build on previous 
discussions in Washington.  We are hopeful that Syria can 
play a constructive role in the region by supporting, for 
example, Palestinian reconciliation based on PLO commitments; a 
secure, stable, Iraq; and free and fair parliamentary elections 
in 
Lebanon. 
 
-- Before closing, let me add several essential points 
about the situation in Lebanon.  Sadly, these are also 
related to the unremitting threat of violence. 
 
-- The United States condemns the attack on Monday that 
killed Kamal Medhat, advisor to the PLO's representative 
in Lebanon, and his bodyguards.  We call on all parties to 
respect the rule of law and renounce the use of violence. 
My government supports the Lebanese government in its 
efforts to provide security and ensure that the 
perpetrators of this attack are brought to justice. 
 
-- We also remain particularly concerned about Hizballah's 
continuing efforts to rearm.  In Lebanon as in Gaza, arms 
smuggling is a continuing threat to peace and security in 
the region.  Lebanese civilians will have real security 
only when Hizballah, the Popular Front for the Liberation 
of Palestine - General Command, Fatah el-Intifada, and 
other militias disarm.  The government of Lebanon must be 
the sole military authority in Lebanon. 
 
-- The United States continues to press all parties to 
support the conduct of free, fair, and transparent 
parliamentary elections in Lebanon, unmarred by political 
violence.  The shape and composition of Lebanon's next 
government should be decided by the Lebanese themselves, 
for Lebanon, free from outside interference. 
 
-- Finally, we are encouraged by the March 1 opening of 
the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in The Hague, and we are 
confident that the Tribunal will bring to justice those 
who financed, planned, and perpetrated the assassinations 
of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and others.  The 
rise of the Tribunal illustrates Lebanon and the 
international community's shared determination to end the 
era of impunity for political assassinations in Lebanon. 
The United States will continue to support the Tribunal, 
and we encourage all those committed to promoting justice 
in Lebanon to do so as well. 
 
End Elements. 
 
¶3. (SBU) U/S Pascoe is not likely to discuss allegations 
of Israeli human rights abuses or war crimes during his 
briefing to the Council.  However, several Council 
members, in particular Libya as Council President, may 
raise this issue.  Mission may draw from the elements at 
para 4 in a right of reply to these statements.  In the 
event some speakers use extremely offensive and 
intentionally inflammatory language, Mission may vacate 
the chair, and may coordinate with like-minded delegations 
who may wish to join us. 
 
¶4. (U) Elements for a Right of Reply: 
 
-- Israel's intervention in Gaza came in response to 
thousands of rockets fired by Hamas and other terrorist 
groups intentionally targeting civilian communities in 
Israel.  Hamas carries out these terrorist attacks near 
the Palestinian civilian population or in its midst, and 
it reportedly uses civilians as human shields. 
 
-- The death or injury of civilians caught in armed 
conflicts is always a tragedy, but in attacks against legitimate 
military targets, it is not necessarily evidence of a violation 
of international law. The Israeli government is investigating 
the circumstances of civilian deaths in the recent conflict in 
Gaza, including allegations that its soldiers may have committed 
abuses. 
Israel has also been cooperating with the United Nations 
Board of Inquiry in its investigation.  We applaud it for 
taking this responsible approach. 
 
Only if raised: 
 
-- We are aware of the Gaza testimonies of Israeli 
soldiers published by the Oranim College military 
academy.  The Israeli army has stated that it will 
investigate the soldiers' accounts.  Defense Minister 
Barak has announced that the findings would be taken 
seriously. 
 
-- We have seen Special Rapporteur Falk's report.  We note 
that it contains no new factual information with respect 
to events in Gaza and southern Israel.  Dr. Falk himself 
states quite plainly in the report that he has not 
conducted an investigation into the facts.  As we have 
noted many times, we remain concerned by the Special 
Rapporteur's unbalanced mandate, which singles out only 
Israel for scrutiny.  There are for example, only three 
lines in the entire 26-page report criticizing Hamas' 
terrorist rocket attacks.  Inaccurate, incomplete, and 
one-sided reporting does nothing to advance the cause of 
peace and a two-state solution to this tragic conflict. 
 
-- We were appalled to hear the reports of some shocking 
t-shirts ordered by some Israeli soldiers.  We are glad to 
hear that the Israeli Defense Forces have condemned these 
t-shirts and announced that disciplinary action would be 
taken against troops wearing them. 
 
End Elements. 
CLINTON