person:christoph heusgen

Missile boat crisis ends as Germany gives Israel $382 million discount Agreement is a reversal of Berlin’s earlier decision to withhold the discount because of Israel’s settlement construction.
By Barak Ravid | Oct. 19, 2014 | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.621447

A crisis between Israel and Germany over missile boats required to protect Israel’s offshore gas fields has ended after Berlin agreed to slash €300 million (about $382 million) off the cost, officials on both sides said. They are expected to initial an agreement for the boats within weeks.

The talks between Israel and Germany to purchase three fast missile boats to protect the gas rigs off Israel’s shore began a year ago. Haaretz reported that the deal was worth about €900 million.

Israel asked for a 30 percent reduction on the price, like it had received in previous deals on German submarines. The German discount, tantamount to a grant of hundreds of millions of euros, was part of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s policy to bolster Israel’s security.

In the beginning of May, about two weeks after the talks between Israel and the Palestinians stalled, German’s national security adviser Christoph Heusgen told his Israeli counterpart Yossi Cohen that Israel would not receive the discount and would have to pay their full price.

Heusgen said that following the breakdown in the peace talks with the Palestinians and the harsh criticism in Germany of Israel’s construction in the settlements, the Bundestag would not approve a grant of hundreds of millions of euros to subsidize the boats.

The German decision deepened the crisis that has been developing between the two states over the past five years, due to the tense relations between Merkel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The low-key talks were jumpstarted at the end of June when Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman visited Berlin and met German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. According to a senior Foreign Ministry official in Jerusalem, Steinmeier told Lieberman “don’t worry, it will be o.k.,” and Lieberman left the meeting optimistic about the possibility of getting the missile boats deal back on track.

The talks continued intensively for three months after the meeting between a small group of senior officials on both sides - Lieberman and Steinmeier, Israeli ambassador to Germany Yaakov Hadas and Germany’s ambassador to Israel Andreas Michaelis, national security advisor Yossi Cohen and his German counterpart Christoph Heusgen, as well as Finance Minister Yair Lapid and his counterpart Wolfgang Schäuble.

Israeli officials who asked to remain anonymous said there were several factors which led to the German decision to give Israel the grant despite the criticism over the failure in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and the continued construction in the settlements.

One official said Lieberman deserves most of the credit, for forging close cooperation with Steinmeier, who pushed to advance the deal in Germany. “Lieberman dealt with the issue incessantly,” the official said. “He played a very positive part and managed to enlist many German officials to advance the issue.”

Another official said Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s visit in Berlin for talks with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was extremely helpful in advancing the deal in its last stages.

Lapid also met Heusgen and told him he was trying to restrain Israel’s money transfers to the settlements.

Another official said the Germans understood that the missile boats were a vital security necessity for Israel. Cohen, who held talks with Heusgen and other German officials, told them there was a real threat that Hezbollah would attack the gas rigs.

Moreover, the deal was worth hundreds of millions of euros for the German economy and for shipyards which employ thousands of workers. The initial German refusal to give the discount made Israel examine the possibility of purchasing the boats from South Korea. Eventually, the Germans understood they too have an interest in promoting the deal and in putting the discount back on the table. 

What finally swung the deal was Merkel’s personal commitment to Israel’s security, a Foreign Ministry official said. “Though she has a lot of criticism, when it’s come to Israeli security she puts it all aside,” said the official. “This deal will strengthen Israel’s strategic ties with Germany for the next 20 years,” he said.

L’Allemagne met son veto aux subventions pour les canonnières destinées à Israël, évoquant la rupture des pourparlers de paix
▻http://www.protection-palestine.org/spip.php?article12918

Barak Ravid – 15 mai 2014 – Haaretz

La décision coûtera à Israël des centaines de millions de dollars

Le gouvernement allemand a pris la décision de ne pas accorder à Israël de subvention massive pour l’achat des canonnières lance-missiles allemandes, en raison de la rupture des pourparlers de paix israélo-palestiniens, ont affirmé jeudi les deux conseillers israélien et allemand.

Pendant des mois, Israël et l’Allemagne ont négocié un accord par lequel Israël achèterait trois ou quatre canonnières allemandes pour protéger ses champs de gaz offshore en Méditerranée. L’accord, révélé par Haaretz, était évalué à environ 1 milliard de dollars avant toute remise.

Toutefois, Israël a demandé à l’Allemagne les mêmes trente pour cent de remise qu’il avait obtenus dans un achat antérieur de sous-marins allemands – un avantage qui correspond à des centaines de millions de dollars. Berlin avait accepté d’assumer un tiers du coût des sous-marins, comme une mesure entrant dans la politique de la Chancelière Angela Merkel pour renforcer la sécurité d’Israël.

La décision allemande de ne pas subventionner les canonnières a d’abord été annoncée jeudi matin, sur le site israélien Maariv-Hashavua. Selon cet article, les Allemands ont adressé une « lettre secrète » annonçant la décision au cabinet du Premier ministre Benjamin Netanyahu, le Jour de l’indépendance (le 6 mai). Mais Haaretz a appris que l’information n’était pas parvenue par lettre, mais par un appel téléphonique du conseiller à la sécurité nationale de Merkel, Christoph Heusgen, à son homologue israélien, Joseph Cohen.

La conversation entre Heusgen et Cohan a été extrêmement difficile et elle a rapidement dégénéré en récriminations mutuelles. Selon un haut responsable israélien, Cohen a accusé les Allemands de violer une promesse explicite que Merkel avait faite à Netanyahu lors d’une réunion commune des cabinets allemand et israélien à Jérusalem en février. Heusgen a répondu que Merkel n’avait jamais fait une telle promesse.

Les Allemands ont dit qu’ils seraient heureux de vendre les canonnières à Israël, mais seulement au prix fort. Heusgen a expliqué à Cohen qu’étant donné la rupture des pourparlers de paix israélo-israéliens, dont sont responsables, au moins partiellement, les constructions israéliennes dans les colonies, il n’y avait aucune chance pour que le parlement allemand accepte de subventionner le marché des canonnières.

traduction de cet article : ▻http://seenthis.net/messages/257409

Germany nixes gunboat subsidy to Israel, citing breakdown of peace talks - Haaretz
By Barak Ravid | May 15, 2014
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.590996

The German government has decided not to give Israel a massive subsidy for the purchase of German missile boats, due to the breakdown in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, both Israeli and German officials said on Thursday.

For months now, Israel and Germany have been negotiating a deal under which Israel would purchase three or four German gunboats to protect its offshore gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea. The deal, first reported by Haaretz, was valued at about $1 billion before any discounts.

However, Israel had asked Germany for the same 30 percent discount it received on an earlier purchase of German submarines – a benefit that would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Berlin agreed to cover a third of the cost of the submarines as part of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s policy of bolstering Israel’s security.

The German decision not to subsidize the gunboats was first reported Thursday morning by the Israeli website Maariv Hashavua. According to that report, the Germans sent a “secret letter” announcing the decision to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Independence Day (May 6). But Haaretz has learned that the news came not in a letter, but in a phone call from Merkel’s national security advisor, Christoph Heusgen, to his Israeli counterpart, Joseph Cohen.

The conversation between Heusgen and Cohen was an extremely difficult one that quickly deteriorated into mutual recriminations. According to a senior Israeli official, Cohen accused the Germans of violating an explicit promise that Merkel made Netanyahu during a joint meeting of the German and Israeli cabinets in Jerusalem in February. Heusgen responded that Merkel never made any such promise.

The Germans said they would be happy to sell Israel the gunboats, but only at full price. Heusgen explained to Cohen that given the breakdown of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which has been blamed at least partly on Israeli settlement construction and that there is no chance the German parliament would approve subsidizing the gunboat deal.

Senior Israeli officials said they believe the seeds of this decision were sown during Merkel’s White House meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama two weeks ago when he voiced great frustration over Netanyahu’s conduct during the eight months of Israeli-Palestinian talks.

The gunboat issue also arose during U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice’s visit to Jerusalem last week. But Rice vehemently denied that Obama had asked Merkel to pressure Israel and said the two leaders never discussed the issue.

Senior German officials said Merkel had taken note of Obama’s statements, but that these did not exert a decisive influence on her decision.