VZCZCXRO7891
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHJM #1984/01 3071839
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 031839Z NOV 09
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6557
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 001984 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE AND IPA; PRM FOR FRONT OFFICE AND 
PRM/ANE; NSC FOR SHAPIRO/KUMAR; JOINT STAFF FOR LTGEN SELVA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2019 
TAGS: PREF PTER PGOV EAID KPAL GZ IS
SUBJECT: UNSCO AND UNRWA DESCRIBE CONTRADICTIONS IN GAZA 
POLICY TO AMBASSADOR SUSAN RICE 
 
Classified By: Consul General Daniel Rubinstein for reasons 1.4 (b,d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary.  In an October 22 meeting with USUN 
Ambassador Susan Rice, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle 
East Peace Process (UNSCO) Robert Serry and UN Relief and 
Works Agency (UNRWA) Director for Gaza John Ging emphasized 
the need to restart essential infrastructure projects in 
Gaza, including shelters and schools.  As a result of the 
Israeli "blockade," both Serry and Ging noted that Hamas now 
controls Gaza's tunnel-driven economy, increasing people's 
dependency on Hamas.  Ging described a population in Gaza 
suffering from massive physical devastation.  He pointed out 
that while Hamas has all the cement it needs to build a new 
checkpoint near Erez, the UN cannot get the cement it needs 
to build a single school.  Serry stressed the need for a new 
strategy on Gaza, suggesting that the current policy has only 
strengthened Hamas' position.  End Summary. 
 
UN Project Proposal on Gaza 
--------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) UNSCO Robert Serry emphasized that the situation in 
Gaza is "unsustainable," and said that a coherent Gaza 
strategy is badly needed.  He described the UN proposal to 
address some of the most critical infrastructure gaps in 
Gaza; the proposal's first phase includes projects suspended 
in 2007 focusing on shelter and school reconstruction that 
could be completed within six months.  UN Secretary General 
Ban Ki Moon communicated the proposal to Israeli Defense 
Minister Barak, but "it has gone nowhere," Serry said.  Serry 
reported that UNSCO staff have had numerous conversations 
with the GOI on UN monitoring procedures and end-use 
assurances.  He is confident that Hamas could not divert 
materials intended for UN projects.  Serry stated that 75 
percent of Gazans are dependent on UN assistance; if Hamas 
interfered, the UN would pull out and the people of Gaza 
would suffer, he said. 
 
Gazans Are Misunderstood 
------------------------ 
 
¶3. (C) UNRWA/Gaza Director John Ging highlighted UNRWA's 
focus on educating Gaza's youth in an effort to stem the 
impact of the conflict on the next Palestinian generation. 
Compared with the adult population, who, Ging said, grew up 
working and trading with Israel, the youth have grown up 
isolated.  He asserted that the people of Gaza are often 
mischaracterized as Hamas supporters.  In fact, one-half of 
the population are under the age of 20 and did not vote in 
the 2005 elections, and one-half of the adults voted for 
Fatah, not Hamas.  Most Gazans, Ging said, do not support 
Hamas' political or religious agenda.  However, the current 
circumstances are creating a new reality on the ground in 
Gaza that needs to be arrested.  Ging pointed to the success 
of UNRWA's "Summer Games" as an example of resounding public 
support for UNRWA and against Hamas' social agenda, as the 
games are secular and allow girls and boys to play sports 
together. 
 
¶4. (C) Ambassador Rice asked Ging to elaborate on what one 
would see inside Gaza today.  Ging replied that one would be 
struck first by the scale of the physical devastation.  Ging 
said that the American International School of Gaza, which 
Palestinian militants had twice unsuccessfully targeted, was 
leveled by the IDF in a matter of minutes. The IDF, he said, 
destroyed Gaza's factories using bulldozers in the last three 
days of the war; the owners of these businesses were Israel's 
associates and friends and had been trading with Israeli 
businessmen for decades, Ging asserted.  The second thing one 
would be struck by upon entering Gaza, Ging said, is the fact 
that Gazans are not expressing hatred or vitriol against the 
Israeli people.  Gazans distinguish between IDF actions and 
the Israeli people.  "Gazans are stuck in a prison, but are 
refusing to act like prisoners," he said. 
 
Current Gaza Policy Is Counterproductive 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C)  Ging stated that "all is not lost, but the 'hostile 
entity' declaration (by the Israeli Cabinet in September 
2007) will become self-fulfilling if we don't turn it 
around."  Gazans are now dependent on Hamas for work due to 
economic stagnation and the rise of the tunnel economy.  With 
1,500 tunnels openly operating between Gaza and Egypt, he 
said, Hamas is able to acquire any materials it needs.  For 
example, Hamas is building a checkpoint within binocular 
sight of the Erez checkpoint with bags of cement and iron 
 
JERUSALEM 00001984  002 OF 002 
 
 
bars.  Meanwhile, Ging said, he is unable to acquire cement 
to build a single school.  UNRWA would work with contractors 
who are well known to, and cleared by, the GOI to implement 
reconstruction projects, he added. 
 
¶6. (C) Serry stressed that this is why a Gaza strategy is 
needed -- "we must enable economic recovery by working with 
the private sector."  Serry expressed hope that the GOI will 
soon respond with some easing of access, since winter is 
approaching.  Israel, he said, "will look very bad" if Gazans 
continue to live without windows or underneath collapsed 
structures.  He noted that the Israeli Coordinator for 
Government Activities in the Territories had approached him 
that same day about permitting glass for windows into Gaza. 
Serry said that from the beginning, UNSCO has worked closely 
with PM Fayyad, and the UN has the PA's full support for its 
initiatives in Gaza. 
 
¶7. (C) Israel's decision to ease access into Gaza, Serry 
noted, should be done in a way that gives the PA credit.  If 
it is done instead in response to the release of captured IDF 
soldier Gilad Shalit, the credit will go to Hamas.  Serry 
asked the USG to consider the UN as part of the solution in 
Gaza once there is a strategy.  The UN relationship with 
Israel, he noted, is difficult, and the Goldstone report did 
not make it easier.  If Shalit is released, Serry said he 
wants the UN to be a part of the release in order to prove 
the value of the UN to the Israeli people. 
 
Hamas' Position in Gaza is Strong 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (C) Ging said that Hamas leaders in Gaza are "very 
relaxed," getting stronger and richer every day as a result 
of the blockade.  From "day two" after December 2008-January 
2009 IDF combat operations against Hamas in Gaza ended, 
weapons were coming in, Ging added.  Serry reported that 
UNSCO maintains contact with Hamas "out of necessity."  In 
their contact, Serry said, Hamas has shown no readiness to 
end the conflict with Israel.  The Hamas leadership's demands 
remain:  a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with a full 
release of prisoners, a return of all refugees to their homes 
in Israel, and approval of a peace agreement by referendum. 
 
¶9. (C) Serry said Hamas is presenting itself as a moderate 
alternative to militant Sunni Islamists and, in doing so, 
strengthening its claim of leading the Palestinian national 
movement.  Serry believes that as long as there are no 
serious negotiations, Hamas is under no real pressure to make 
compromises.  Negotiations would force them to choose whether 
to join the process or not, he added. 
 
¶10. (C) Serry noted that Hamas leaders in Gaza are very 
interested to hear about developments in the U.S. 
Administration and Quartet principals.  UNSCO Political 
Advisor Robert Dann said that on some level, Hamas is a 
reliable interlocutor, but they are very passive.  Dann 
stated that Hamas leaders do not believe there is a living 
Israeli politician who would end the occupation. 
 
¶11. (U) Ambassador Rice cleared this cable. 
 
RUBINSTEIN