This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 000045

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/04/2014
TAGS: ECON PREL MASS PL IS GOI EXTERNAL
SUBJECT: (C) PM'S ADVISOR ON RENEWED REPARATIONS CLAIMS
AGAINST GERMANY, RESTITUTION CLAIMS AGAINST POLAND

Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Gene A. Cretz for reasons 1.4 (b
) and (d).

OutGoing Cable Acknowledgement


¶1. (C) Summary: A GOI working group charged with developing a
five-year plan on Holocaust-era reparations, pensions and
restitution is considering a recommendation that the GOI ask
Germany for about $500 million -- possibly in the form of new
German-made submarines -- in compensation for what the GOI
says is that portion of the 1953 German-Israeli reparations
agreement that had been attributed to East Germany, but never
paid. xxxxxxxxxxxx (strictly protect), contended that such a GOI claim would not violate any "closure" agreements about Holocaust-era
claims because it would be based on the unfulfilled portion
of a preexisting agreement. The working group also expects
to call for renewed GOI efforts to resolve Holocaust-era
pension issues within five years and to settle all unresolved
property and asset issues. End summary.

¶2. (C) xxxxxxxxxxxx
informally previewed elements of the GOI,s not-yet-adopted
&five-year action plan8 on Holocaust-era reparations,
pensions and restitution, in a December 8 meeting with
emboff. (Strictly protect xxxxxxxxxxxx.) He
emphasized that the action plan, which includes renewed
claims against Germany and Poland, is still in draft, and is
being vetted with major Holocaust survivor organizations. It
has not yet, therefore, gone forward to the GOI,s newly
created Ministerial Commission on Restitution for Jewish
Rights and Property, nor to the full GOI, for review and
adoption as official policy.

¶3. (U) The text of the GOI Cabinet decision that
established the Commission is at:
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/government/communiq ues/2003
/cabinet communique - 28-dec-2003.htm

------------------------------
Draft GOI Approach/Action Plan
------------------------------

¶4. (C) xxxxxxxxxxxx said that xxxxxxxxxxxx and
Nimrod Barkan, head of the MFA's World Jewish Affairs Bureau,
was tasked in late 2003 with drafting and submitting to the
Ministerial Commission a &five-year plan of action8 on
Holocaust restitution and related issues. The draft, which
is nearing completion, could be put forward to the
Ministerial Commission as early as January/February 2005, xxxxxxxxxxxx
said. The report is likely to recommend that the GOI:

-- Work to close all outstanding Holocaust-era reparations
issues within the next five years, including, in particular,
what xxxxxxxxxxxx said is a still-unpaid sum from the 1953 West
Germany)Israel agreement.

-- Work to complete all issues related to Holocaust-era
pensions within the next five years, while survivors are
still living.

-- Continue the strongest possible diplomatic action on all
fronts to secure full restitution of property and assets,
including heirless property and assets. xxxxxxxxxxxx said that no
time limit would apply to this effort, and that the GOI would
continue work on the issue until it accounts for every asset.
(Note: In previous discussions and e-mails, xxxxxxxxxxxx indicated to
Emboff and EUR/OHI that his draft paper would also include a
recommendation for the GOI to press for restitution for
Jewish property and assets in Arab lands from which Jews
fled.)

-------------------------------------------
Likely Israel Bilateral Approach to Germany
-------------------------------------------

¶5. (C) Regarding Germany, xxxxxxxxxxxx noted that, according to the
working group,s research, Israel is still due money from its
1953 Holocaust reparations agreement with West Germany. He
said that the amount is one-third of the $845 million agreed
to in the deal, and represents an amount that West Germany
reportedly said East Germany would be responsible for paying,
but that East Germany never paid. Most of the amount paid to
Israel under the 1953 agreement was in the form of goods
transferred from West Germany to Israel. In this case,
Israel is considering a request for military goods, probably
two submarines, worth about $500 million, he said. (Note:
xxxxxxxxxxxx was undoubtedly referring to Dolphin-class submarines,
three of which the GOI received in the early 1990s from
Germany. The model now sought by the Israeli Navy costs
about $350-500 million per submarine.)

¶6. (C) &This does not constitute a new claim,xxxxxxxxxxxx took
pains to point out. Rather, he argued, it stems from
incomplete implementation of an existing agreement, and, as
such, should not come under the terms of any agreement with
the United States not to raise new reparations claims against
Germany. He noted that he reviewed his analysis with Amb.
Stuart Eizenstat, the former U.S. special envoy for
Holocaust-era property claims, when Eizenstat visited Israel
in November. According to xxxxxxxxxxxx Eizenstat concurred that
nothing in the U.S. closure agreement with Germany in 2000
would preclude Israel from independently seeking redress of
an issue stemming from a preexisting agreement. xxxxxxxxxxxx said he
hoped that the U.S. would not do anything that could be seen
as opposing or undermining Israel,s bilateral approach to
Germany. xxxxxxxxxxxx agreed to emboff's request to keep the embassy
and U.S. Special Envoy O'Donnell apprised of working group
deliberations and other matters of potential U.S. interest,
and to brief the Ambassador on the restitution plan as it
nears completion.
-----------------------------------
Future Work: Poland and Arab States
-----------------------------------

¶7. (C) Finally, xxxxxxxxxxxx noted that Poland would likely be the
next area of focus of the GOI restitution efforts, and that
the GOI would work in close coordination with the World
Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) and the other main
survivor and restitution bodies in Israel and abroad. All of
the above are in addition to the GOI Ministerial Committee,s
continuing research into expanding pursuit of restitution
claims for Jewish property and assets from Arab lands.

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