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Viewing cable 09STATE55527, DEMARCHE REQUEST: U.S. OBJECTIVES FOR THE AD-HOC

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09STATE55527 2009-05-29 21:21 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Secretary of State
VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #5527 1492134
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 292121Z MAY 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 0000
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 0000
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 0000
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN PRIORITY 0000
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 0000
RUEHKU/AMEMBASSY KUWAIT PRIORITY 0000
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0000
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID PRIORITY 0000
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 0000
RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 0000
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 0000
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0000
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 0000
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 0000
RUEHSM/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM PRIORITY 0000
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV PRIORITY 0000
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0000
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 0000
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 0000
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
UNCLAS STATE 055527 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID KPAL PGOV PREL WBG EU IS
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE REQUEST: U.S. OBJECTIVES FOR THE AD-HOC 
LIAISON COMMITTEE MEETING, JUNE 8 
 
1. This is an action request.  Please see paragraph 3. 
 
2. Summary: The Department requests that action addresses 
inform appropriate government officials of USG support for 
the June 8 meeting in Oslo of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee 
(AHLC), the principal policy-level coordinating mechanism for 
donor assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA).  Despite 
billions pledged at the March 2 donors' conference in Sharm 
al-Sheikh, direct budget support for the PA in 2009 has 
failed to meet the PA's need and, as a result, the PA faces 
acute deficits that threaten its political and financial 
viability.  The U.S. will use the AHLC to: emphasize the need 
for donors to provide immediate budgetary support for the PA; 
outline practical ways for donors and the parties to 
encourage economic growth by developing the Palestinian 
private sector; encourage increased access for goods into 
Gaza to support early recovery efforts; and stress the need 
for donors to develop assistance in coordination with the 
PA's Palestinian Reform and Development Plan (PRDP) and plan 
for Gaza recovery.  End summary. 
 
3. Action Request: The Department asks that Posts seek 
meetings with the appropriate host country officials to 
convey the objectives outlined below. 
 
4. Objectives: 
 
-- Emphasize that the US supports Norwegian efforts to 
convene the AHLC at this time.  The meeting will be an 
important opportunity for donors to demonstrate support for 
the new PA government and encourage concrete measures to 
improve Palestinian livelihoods. 
 
-- Note that the US supports the idea of a sub-Ministerial 
meeting, and encourages governments to send experts who are 
prepared to discuss concrete ways to meet the PA's financial 
needs and develop the Palestinian economy. 
 
-- Share the primary USG goals for the AHLC: mobilize direct 
budget assistance for the PA; focus donors on supporting the 
PRDP and the PA's plan for Gaza recovery; and identify 
practical means to overcome obstacles to the effective 
delivery of donor assistance and Palestinian economic growth. 
 
-- Emphasize the need to provide immediate budget assistance 
to the PA to meet a monthly recurring deficit of 
approximately $120 million.  Note that the U.S. is working 
with Congress to secure approval for $200 million in budget 
support that was part of pledge made by the Secretary at 
Sharm al-Sheikh. 
 
-- Stress that the AHLC's focus is coordinating donors to 
address economic and financial issues.  The AHLC is not a 
forum for discussing political issues that are the subject of 
negotiations. 
 
-- Convey that the Administration and Senator Mitchell remain 
deeply engaged on the political track to foster the 
conditions for a two-state solution to the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict as part of a comprehensive 
regional peace. 
 
5. Posts should report initial host country responses by June 
5.  Please contact Andrew Lentz, Desk Officer for Palestinian 
Economic Affairs, by email at lentzan@state.gov if you have 
any questions or requests for additional background. 
 
Background 
- - - - - - - - - - - 
 
6. Norway, as chair of the AHLC, has called for a meeting at 
the "high official level."  Tom Goldberger, Director of the 
Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs in the NEA Bureau, 
is leading the U.S. delegation to the AHLC.  The delegation 
will be comprised of representatives from State, USAID, and 
the Department of the Treasury.  The intention of this AHLC 
is to provide subject matter experts from the donor 
community, the Palestinian Authority and the Government of 
Israel (GOI) with the opportunity to engage in substantive 
discussions about ways to facilitate the effective 
coordination and delivery of donor assistance.  PA Prime 
Minister Salam Fayyad is expected to address the meeting but 
not participate in the proceedings. 
 
7. The AHLC is intended to provide a forum for dialogue among 
major donors, the PA, the GOI, IFIs, and the UN regarding 
assistance activities that promote Palestinian economic 
development.  As a donor coordinating mechanism, the AHLC 
promotes assistance efforts of individual donors, reviews 
pledges made by individual donors, and monitors developments 
in the Palestinian economy as a whole.  The AHLC is not a 
venue for the discussion of political or final status issues. 
 
8. The U.S. will use the AHLC to emphasize the need for 
donors to provide immediate budgetary assistance to the PA. 
The PA faces a severe budget crisis as donors have failed to 
meet the PA's needs during the first four months of 2009. 
Absent increased flows of assistance over the next few 
months, the PA will risk defaulting on its obligations.  The 
PA already is unable to fund government operations, putting 
at risk reform efforts, security operations, and 
institutional development.  The PA has accumulated millions 
in bank debt to help cover its deficits, accrued more than 
$30 million in arrears to private sector providers, and, in 
one instance, postponed the payment of civil servant salaries 
by two weeks.  The Administration has requested $200 million 
in the 2009 Supplemental for direct budget support.  We are 
encouraging donors to frontload their assistance until ours 
is ready. 
 
9. The U.S. also will emphasize the need to support the PA's 
priorities for economic development and private sector growth 
in the West Bank and Gaza.  Donors pledged $7.7 billion for 
three years (2008-2010) in support of the PRDP and West Bank 
development at the 2007 Paris Donors' Conference; donors 
pledged more than $4.8 billion (including recommitments of 
Paris pledges) at the March 2, 2009 donors' conference in 
Sharm al-Sheikh for both the development of both the West 
Bank and Gaza.  Most of this assistance has not yet 
materialized, however. 
 
10. The West Bank economy remains hobbled due to Israeli 
restrictions on access and movement both within the West Bank 
and between the West Bank and Israel.  While there have been 
some removal of checkpoints and roadblocks, the overall web 
of restrictions stifles private sector development.  The USG 
has initiated a number of programs to stimulate private 
sector growth, such as a loan guarantee program for small 
business development, but restrictions on imports/exports and 
impediments to the movement of goods and people continue to 
impede development of most sectors.  The reconstruction of 
Gaza depends upon a stable ceasefire, the stopping of 
smuggling and the firing of rockets into Israel, as well as 
the loosening of restrictions on access and movement.  The 
U.S. does not intend to use the AHLC to present a laundry 
list of obstacles and hurdles to development, however, and 
encourages other AHLC members to follow our lead.  Instead, 
the U.S. hopes to focus donors and the parties on concrete 
measures to support initiatives that will spur private sector 
growth and fulfill priorities in the PRDP and Gaza recovery 
plan. 
CLINTON