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RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1576
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RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0001
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 4324

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIRUT 000184 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PASS TO INL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2020 
TAGS: PREF PREL PTER KPAL LE
SUBJECT: INL A/S JOHNSON PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR ISF REFORM 
 
REF: BEIRUT 113 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Michelle Sison for reasons 
1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: INL Assistant Secretary David Johnson assured 
MGen Rifi, the head of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces 
(ISF), of continued U.S. support to improve the effectiveness 
and efficiency of the Lebanese police so they can exercise 
their authority in all of Lebanon.  Gen. Rifi acknowledged 
improvements in this regard but insisted that security 
cooperation with the U.S. in fighting terrorists also be a 
factor in gauging success of U.S. assistance to the ISF.  A/S 
Johnson met with UN officials, who raised concerns that the 
INL plans to build an ISF police station in the Nahr al-Barid 
Palestinian camp remains a risky venture unless Lebanese 
government dialogue with the local community addresses 
widespread misconceptions and expectations about government 
intentions to police Palestinian camps using community 
policing techniques.  Deputy UN Special Coordinator for 
Lebanon Jack Christofides outlined to A/S Johnson a common 
donor position on border control that was presented to Prime 
Minister Hariri on February 2 (septel).  The common donor 
position seeks a show of greater urgency on the part of the 
Lebanese government in securing its borders -- a key 
requirement of UNSCR 1701 -- through the appointment of a 
senior level "border czar" to oversee the development of a 
comprehensive border plan and its implementation.  End 
Summary. 
 
ISF IMPROVED BUT STILL NEEDS HELP 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) The visiting A/S Johnson and the Ambassador 
participated in the January 11 graduation of three ISF 
training classes -- 286 cadets who graduated from the 12th 
and 13th iteration of the Basic Cadet Course and 21 
lieutenants who completed an extensive train-the-trainers 
course in community policing.  Following the graduation 
ceremony, A/S Johnson and the Ambassador joined the ISF 
Director General, MGen Ashraf Rifi, in reviewing progress in 
the INL-funded refurbishment of the ISF Training Academy. 
They then participated in a briefing for the ISF general 
staff on community policing presented by two newly minted ISF 
community policing trainers. 
 
¶3. (C) At a subsequent meeting, Rifi told A/S Johnson that 
while some groups are still opposed to ISF policing (Note: an 
apparent reference to Hizballah and the Palestinians.  End 
note.), the situation is improving.  Hizballah is now asking 
for ISF assistance in fighting crime in South Beirut, Rifi 
said, and cooperated with the ISF in the "100% eradication" 
of hashish in the Bekaa Valley.  He thanked the USG for its 
support to the ISF, citing the extensive INL training and 
equipping programs.  U.S. assistance is being well spent, he 
assured Johnson, and the 480 patrol vehicles on Lebanon's 
streets are a visible sign of American support.  The recent 
emphasis on community policing training, developed primarily 
for the Nahr Al-Barid Palestinian refugee camp, has convinced 
the ISF of the merits of the approach.  Community policing 
will be implemented in the entire ISF, Rifi asserted. 
Command, control and communications deficiencies remain 
critical and the ISF is looking forward to USG assistance in 
this realm.  Give us more help to fight terrorism, crime, and 
narcotics, he continued. 
 
¶4. (C) A/S Johnson commended the partnership between the ISF 
and the USG and assured Rifi of continued U.S. support to 
help expand the ISF presence into areas previously closed to 
Lebanese security agencies.  The ISF is demonstrating this 
partnership in sharing some of the cost of the Training 
Academy refurbishment, and excellent maintenance of INL 
provided equipment.  Johnson pledged to help build the 
communications system.  The Ambassador also highlighted the 
importance of the ISF in strategic security cooperation, an 
issue of great importance to PM Hariri and President Sleiman. 
 
ISF POLICING IN CAMPS STILL A HIGH RISK VENTURE 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶5. (C) A/S Johnson and the Ambassador met with Deputy UN 
Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jack Christofides and 
ambassadors from key donor countries (the UK, EU, Germany and 
Denmark) to discuss possible U.S. assistance in securing the 
borders of Lebanon.  Christofides outlined to A/S Johnson a 
common donor position on border control that was presented to 
Prime Minister Hariri on February 2 (septel).  The common 
donor position seeks a show of greater urgency on the part of 
the Lebanese government in securing its borders -- a key 
requirement of UNSCR 1701 -- through the appointment of a 
senior level "border czar" to oversee the development of a 
comprehensive border plan and its implementation.  Later on 
January 11, A/S Johnson and the Ambassador met with Charles 
Higgins, the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) 
Project Manager for the Nahr al-Barid camp, which was largely 
destroyed by a three-month battle between Palestinian 
extremists and the Lebanese security forces in May 2007. 
Following those events, the Lebanese government announced its 
intention to begin civilian policing inside the Palestinian 
camps (something it had not done since 1969) with Nahr 
Al-Barid as the pilot project.  In 2005, the GOL initiated a 
dialogue process with the Palestinians to address the lack of 
basic civil rights of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, who 
are generally not permitted to work, own property or operate 
businesses. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The USG has provided over half of the funding to 
rebuild Nahr al-Barid, a substantial portion of emergency 
humanitarian assistance to the displaced refugees, and INL 
has pledged to construct a police station in the camp with 
extensive community policing training for the ISF officers 
assigned there.  Higgins explained that the Palestinians were 
wary, suspicious and, in many cases, unwilling to be policed 
by the ISF.  Rumors about Lebanese government intentions are 
rife (e.g., that community policing is geared to turn the 
Palestinians into informants or that the UN housing 
construction in the camp is for a planned tourist resort and 
not for the Palestinians) and divisions within the 17 
Palestinian groups within the camp have created a tense 
situation.  The national dialogue process was viewed as a 
failure by many Palestinians in the camp who rejected their 
Beirut-based interlocutors with the Lebanese government as 
unrepresentative of the community. 
 
¶7. (C) The November 26, 2009 resignation of Amb. Khalil 
Makkawi, Chairman of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue 
Committee (LPDC) (accepted by the PM effective January 31, 
2010) has left another void in an already deficient process, 
explained Higgins.  In the meantime, the Lebanese Armed 
Forces (LAF) were erecting barricades around the nearby 
Baddawi camp where over 10,000 of the refugees displaced from 
Nahr al-Barid currently live.  The Palestinians, he said, 
fear that the LAF intends to implement the tight checkpoints 
in Beddawi that currently exist in Nahr al-Barid.  These 
checkpoints have almost completely stifled commerce within 
the camp, where unemployment is over 80%.  Tensions are high, 
said Higgins, and it would foolish for the U.S. to build the 
police station or the ISF to begin policing without prior 
extensive outreach and dialogue with the community.  If ISF 
policing fails in Nahr al-Barid, he noted, it cannot work in 
any of the other Palestinian camps.  UNDP Chief of Staff Nick 
Hartman, also present at the meeting, said that the UNDP has 
fully funded the LPDC, and that PM Hariri has asked that the 
UN-hired Maya Majzoub, the LPDC head in Sidon, to replace 
Makkawi.  (Note:  Her appointment became effective February 
¶1.  End note.)  Higgins also asserted that UNRWA intended to 
convene another donor conference for the reconstruction of 
Nahr al-Barid sometime in mid-year, probably in Beirut. 
 
OTHER MEETINGS 
-------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU)  A/S Johnson and the Ambassador also met with Nick 
Hartman, UNDP Chief of Staff in Lebanon, for an update on a 
UNDP regional anti-corruption project to which the INL has 
contributed over $2.2 million since 2006.  A/S Johnson told 
Hartman that the U.S. seeks to have the UNDP move beyond 
meetings and would like to see actual anti-corruption 
mechanisms developed in the Arab countries.  A/S Johnson met 
as well with the INL-funded contractors implementing the 
Lebanon Police Support Program.  He thanked the over 40 
assembled U.S. instructors and contractors and over 70 
Lebanese staff for their contribution to the success of the 
INL Lebanon program. 
 
¶9. (U) There was extensive media interest in the visit.  Five 
Lebanese television news programs aired coverage of the ISF 
graduation ceremony and A/S Johnson had a media pull-aside 
with Murr Television (MTV).  He conducted a long interview 
with the An-Nahar newspaper which ran on January 14. 
 
¶10. (U) Assistant Secretary Johnson has cleared this cable. 
SISON