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UNCLAS STATE 086157 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL UNSC KPAL AR BA EG IS JO LE SY
SUBJECT: GUIDANCE: MIDDLE EAST CONSULTATIONS, AUGUST 19 
 
¶1. (U) This is an action request.  USUN may draw from 
para. 2 building blocks when making its intervention 
during the upcoming Middle East consultations in the 
Security Council on August 19. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Begin building blocks: 
 
I thank Assistant Secretary-General Fernandez-Taranco for 
his report. 
 
The United States remains deeply committed to the cause of 
peace in the Middle East based on the two-state solution 
with Israel and an independent and viable Palestine living 
side-by-side in peace and security.  President Obama 
continues to lead efforts to reach a comprehensive 
settlement that includes peace between Israel and the 
Palestinians, Israel and Syria, and Israel and Lebanon. 
To achieve that comprehensive goal, he has charged 
Secretary of State Clinton and Special Envoy Mitchell with 
efforts to create the context for the prompt resumption 
and early conclusion of negotiations between the parties. 
 
As we seek to move towards peace, all parties have 
responsibilities.  For Israelis and the Palestinians, 
these center on their fulfillment of their previous 
commitments and obligations.  Israel's obligations include 
stopping settlement growth, dismantling outposts, and 
improving access and movement for Palestinians in the West 
Bank.  Palestinian obligations include continuing with 
security cooperation and reforms, strengthening the rule 
of law, and ending incitement. 
 
There has been some movement toward fulfilling these 
responsibilities.  Israel has begun to take positive steps 
to improve the living conditions of Palestinians and 
create circumstances that can lead to the establishment of 
a viable state.  Over the last several months, it has 
removed a number of checkpoints and eased conditions at 
others in the West Bank.  The Israeli military has also 
withdrawn troops to the outskirts of four cities.  If 
expanded and sustained, these changes should have a 
significant impact on Palestinian freedom of movement, 
economic development and growth, and the overall quality 
of life. 
 
The Palestinians have clearly made progress in their 
responsibilities on security.  Nearly 2000 Palestinian 
security personnel have already completed training in 
Jordan and deployed in the West Bank.  Another full 
battalion of 500 men has recently begun training.  These 
efforts must continue -- in conjunction with the 
invigorated efforts to promote the rule of law -- so that 
Palestinians can live in the secure environment that they 
deserve and can demonstrate that Palestine will be a 
viable and responsible state in the region. 
 
We hope that the recently-concluded Fatah party congress, 
which reaffirmed President Abbas's leadership and brought 
in a new generation of officials to serve in key 
positions, will serve to further these efforts towards 
peace. 
 
We are also engaging with the broader Arab world to 
encourage Arab states to act in the spirit of the Arab 
Peace Initiative and begin the process of normalizing 
relations with Israel.  They also should aggressively and 
tangibly support the Palestinian Authority under President 
Abbas. 
 
We now need the Arab states to outline clearly what they 
are prepared to do for peace.  We are encouraged by calls 
in the Arab world -- from Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Morocco, 
and the United Arab Emirates -- to support President 
Obama's vision of a comprehensive peace by taking steps 
toward recognizing Israel's rightful place in the region 
in the spirit of the historic Arab Peace Initiative, and 
urge Arab states to commit to specific gestures towards 
Israel now. 
 
These positive developments make it all the more 
imperative that we work together to support the 
Palestinian Authority in its nonpartisan, transparent 
programs to improve the lives of ordinary Palestinians 
throughout the West Bank and Gaza.  The World Bank and IMF 
have endorsed the Authority's 2009 budget and the 
accounting controls it has put in place.  On July 24, 
Secretary Clinton announced the transfer of 200 million 
dollars in direct budget support to the PA, and we commend 
the European Union and the government of Saudi Arabia for 
their recent generous transfers to the Palestinian 
Authority.  However, the PA's domestic revenue still is 
insufficient to cover all of its needs for Gaza recovery 
and to continue security and institutional reforms.  We 
thus call on other countries, particularly others in the 
region that wish to see a strong and viable Palestinian 
state, to join us in supporting the PA. 
 
In conjunction with this call for assistance, the United 
States continues to urge the government of Israel to 
ensure that UN and other humanitarian agencies can carry 
out the distribution of necessary humanitarian assistance 
unimpeded throughout Gaza.  This includes food, fuel and 
medical treatment.  By ensuring the delivery and 
distribution of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, we will 
help foster conditions in which a Palestinian state can be 
fully realized.  The United States is the largest 
contributor to UNRWA; its humanitarian operations in Gaza 
provide food distribution for 800,000 people and education 
for 200,000 children, and run 17 primary health clinics in 
Gaza.  This year, UNRWA also put on summer camps for 
250,000 children to promote tolerance and human rights. 
USG assistance through the World Food Program also 
provided 2,074 metric tons of food commodities to over 
150,000 needy beneficiaries in Gaza.  Other USG assistance 
to Gaza goes to supporting NGO hospitals and clinics, 
including procurement and distribution of medical 
equipment and supplies, and providing plastic sheeting for 
repairs to damaged buildings, as well as blankets, milk 
powder and other nonfood items to Palestinians in need. 
 
All UN member states, including those in the region, must 
work to ensure the end of the illicit smuggling of arms 
and ammunition into Gaza, lest Hamas restock its arsenal 
and spark further conflict.  Thus, we support reopening 
Gaza's border crossings -- with an appropriate monitoring 
regime involving international and Palestinian Authority 
participation consistent with UN Security Council 
Resolution 1860 and based on the 2005 Agreement on 
Movement and Access. 
 
Although some Hamas leaders claim that they are prepared 
to cooperate with regional peace efforts, their positions 
continue to fall far short of the essential building 
blocks of an independent and viable Palestinian state. 
Hamas has a responsibility to the Palestinian people to 
actually work toward the establishment of a state.  If 
Hamas is willing to move beyond talk and focus on results, 
it will renounce violence and terror, recognize Israel, 
and accept previous agreements between the parties, 
including the Roadmap.  These commitments represent the 
bedrock of any negotiations toward peace and the only way to 
realize legitimate Palestinian aspirations for statehood. 
 
We look forward to meeting with Arab League ministers and 
to a Quartet meeting in New York in September to review 
the latest developments in this area.  The Quartet remains 
the most effective instrument for marshaling the 
international community's diplomatic efforts in support of 
Middle East peace. 
 
With patient, determined, and persevering diplomacy, we 
can help to make a difference and we can assist those in 
the region to achieve the peace and stability that people 
on all sides long for. 
 
End building blocks. 
CLINTON