Cablegate: Middle East Issues at Unesco's 175th Executive Board (Fall

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Lucia A Keegan 11/08/2006 02:47:15 PM From DB/Inbox: Lucia A Keegan

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UNCLAS SENSITIVE PARIS 07126

SIPDIS
cxparis:
ACTION: UNESCO
INFO: POL ECON AMBU AMB AMBO DCM SCI

DISSEMINATION: UNESCOX
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: AMB:LVOLIVER
DRAFTED: POL:DROSTROFF
CLEARED: LEGAL:TMPEAY, DCM:AKOSS

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RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 1991

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 007126

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FROM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: UNESCO SCUL IS LE
SUBJECT: MIDDLE EAST ISSUES AT UNESCO'S 175th EXECUTIVE BOARD (FALL
2006) WRAP UP

1. (SBU) SUMMARY With the military conflict between Israel and
Lebanon still very much on the minds of delegates, the UNESCO
Executive Board was set to face the always sensitive issues of
Jerusalem and the Occupied Territories. This time, with the scars of
war still open and emotions running high, a resolution calling for
UNESCO involvement in Lebanese reconstruction was added to the mix.
END SUMMARY

2. (SBU) From the opening days of the conflict and before the Board
meeting began, signals were being sent throughout UNESCO that it was
going to be difficult to reach consensus on a decision, and that the
unwritten rule of keeping the organization from becoming overtly
politicized was in danger. In early August, with hostilities still
going on, the Palestinian observer delegation had organized an
emotional press conference with UNESCO Artist for Peace Marcel
Khalife. This left no doubt that anti-Israeli feelings were running
high at UNESCO. Another program, organized by the Arab Group,
entitled, "Jerusalem, Etat des Lieux", was a daylong seminar focused
on the plight of the Palestinians in Jerusalem who, according to the
speakers, are increasingly besieged under current Israeli policies.
At the same time, UNESCO's emergency evaluation team sent to assess
damage to World Heritage sites in Lebanon after the cease-fire was,
by contrast, a serious effort by the Secretariat to keep the
dialogue balanced and controlled.

3. (SBU) In recent years, Israel has been successfully using UNESCO
as a vehicle to engage as an active player within the international
community. Israel had even won a close race for a seat on the
prestigious World Heritage Committee. However, given the three
problematic resolutions regarding the Middle East, at this fall's
Executive Board, Israel's main goal was to set some firm lines on
its willingness to compromise on basic issues of interest to it.
Israel was particularly upset by the anti-Israeli tone of the
Lebanese resolution, given its previous willingness to compromise on
the resolutions on Jerusalem and the Occupied Territories. The
Israeli delegation fought the Lebanese document and clearly stated
that if it were adopted, even with negotiated text without overt
anti-Israeli language, the result might be an unavoidable rift with
UNESCO after so many years of positive efforts. Behind the scenes,
in the side meeting rooms and hallways of UNESCO, a small number of
delegations, including the US, and the Finnish Ambassador, in his
role as EU president, worked tirelessly to attempt to neutralize the
most contentious language in the three draft resolutions on the
Middle East that were to be brought before the Board on the theory
that since a resolution would definitely be adopted, it should be as
neutral as possible.

4. (SBU) In connection with Jerusalem, Palestinian efforts to expand
the scope of the resolution, to add a "social" element, with
reference to a "living heritage", to the problems within UNESCO's
mandate were blocked successfully. The Jerusalem decision remained
unchanged from the decision adopted by consensus during April's
174th Executive Board. The resolution regarding the Occupied
Territories, despite attempts to dramatically change it to more
fully reflect the deterioration of the situation of the Palestinian
peoples in the Occupied Territories, went forward with only minor
changes from the version adopted at recent Board meetings. Both
resolutions, reviewed and adopted by the PX (Programme and External
Relations Commission), were finally sent to the Executive Board and
adopted without debate. (Note: The US always made it clear that we
would never support the resolution, however, what was at stake was
whether enough anti-Israeli language could be removed so that we
wouldn't be forced to call for a vote.)

5. (SBU) The much anticipated resolution on Lebanon was crafted in
Beirut. Lebanon's Minister of Culture Tarek Mitri made a special
trip to Paris to make a statement during the Board meeting regarding
the situation in Lebanon and to explain why the draft decision was
so important to them. The part of his presentation that used tough
language to condemn Israel was in Arabic. The succeeding parts in
French and English were much more conciliatory and more balanced
than the explanatory note which prefaced the draft decision.
Ambassador Oliver held a 45-minute private meeting with Minister
Mitri regarding the need for a document that was as non-accusatory
as possible towards Israel so that it could attract support from
UNESCO member states.

6. (SBU) After two weeks of intense negotiations and last minute
consultations with high-level decision makers in multiple capitals,
the text was re-worked to eliminate any explicit references to
Israel, and the language was toned down. However, it was clear from
early on that the Israelis would not be able to accept the draft
decision under any circumstances because of the implicit criticism
of Israel.

7. (SBU) The issue went down to the wire, with a negotiated text
introduced at a short PX Commission meeting on Wednesday, October
11th by the PX Chairman. There was no discussion on the document,
but it was formally tabled to enable countries to send back an
official version to their capitals. Many delegations were angered
at the fact that the draft decision had not been properly
translated, and indicated that they would have to consult with their
capitals before indicating whether the language was acceptable or
not. Since the draft decision was still unacceptable to many
countries, including the US and Canada, negotiations continued. The
PX Commission was postponed two more times because of a lack of
agreement on several key aspects of the document.

8. (SBU) The PX Commission opened the day on Friday, October 13th,
before the Plenary, in order to discuss the document that had been
revised during the last minute negotiations. The PX Chairman
introduced the new language and the revised draft decision was
adopted by the Commission with no debate. However, the PX Chairman
said before the adoption that he was aware that there were countries
that could not support the draft decision.

9. (SBU) After the decision was adopted by the Plenary that
afternoon, the US and Canada formally disassociated themselves from
the decision with statements to that effect, which will be put into
the permanent record. Portugal intervened on behalf of EU members
to express the EU's satisfaction with the resolution. Cameroon
spoke on behalf of the Africa Group, also expressing their
satisfaction with the resolution.

10. (SBU) The Israeli Ambassador, David Kornbluth, obliged to leave
before sunset in observance of the Jewish Sabbath, gave his number
two, Daniel Safran, the responsibility of reading Israel's
declaration (in its status as Observer at the Executive Board)
strongly opposing the decision. (Executive Board document references
Jerusalem 175 EX/15; Palestine 175 EX/44 and Add; Lebanon
175/EX/PX/DR.6).

11. (SBU) Comment: It was a close call but UNESCO managed to avoid
the overt politicization of the Human Rights Council and that
characterized so much of UNESCO's work in the years before the US
left the organization. The US statement, though supporting the idea
of UNESCO's providing assistance to Lebanon in its fields of
competence, strongly criticized the anti-Israeli political tone of
the document. What remains to be seen is how Israel will respond to
the Executive Board's decision. End comment.
OLIVER

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