Foreign &
Commonwealth
Office
Middle East and North Africa
Directorate
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
16 October 2009
LONDON
SWIA 2AH
Our reference: 0614-09 Guy Freeman
By e-mail
Dear Mr Freeman,
Thank you for your e-mail of 30 July 2009 requesting information under the Freedom
of Information Act. In your request you asked for;
„
’any documents, reports, emails and minutes of meetings or other relevant
materials of discussions, correspondence or other business relating to the British
Embassy in Tel Aviv's funding recently referred to by the Embassy's spokesperson
as follows:
"£450,000 over 4 years to support projects in east Jerusalem and the West Bank
that help Palestinians better understand and effectively use the Israeli planning laws
to gain permission both retrospectively for existing homes, and prospectively for new
homes on their side of the Green Line." [Source: The Jerusalem Post newspaper,
July 30, 2009.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&
cid=1248277926821
In particular, but without prejudice to any other materials that may fall within the
parameters of the request as outlined in the first two paragraphs, I would like to have
made available the following information (and any correspondence or other written
materials concerning the following):
* How the £450,000 is to be divided for each of the four years, what the four years
are, and which projects the money is going to;
* Under what procedures did the projects receive the money, and information
concerning the openness and transparency of these procedures to other
organisations;
* Under what part of the Embassy's budget was the money drawn from;
* Considerations of the Israeli government's opinion concerning this funding;
* The validated consequences of this funding in quantitative terms, for example, of
court cases undertaken and won, number of new planning permission requests
submitted, and so on;
* Why the funding is deliberately aimed at "Palestinians" when information
concerning the planning laws in Israel would also be useful to other non-"Palestinian"
residents of the State of Israel.’’
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is able to respond to your request as follows.
With regards to the first part of your request, I enclose information relevant to your
request and disclose for your attention. During our initial assessment some of the
information located was considered to be exempt under section 27 (International
Relations). However, following a closer review of the material we concluded this
exemption was not engaged and that s35 (Formulation of Government Policy) was
appropriately engaged. We have therefore withheld the majority of information under
Section 35 (1) (a). Some additional information has also been withheld under
section 40 (Personal Information).
Some of the information you requested is exempt under section 35(1)(a), which
relates to the formulation or development of government policy. This exemption
requires the application of a public interest test. It is recognised that there is a public
interest in the greater transparency in the decision making process to ensure
accountability within public authorities. However, officials need to be able to conduct
rigorous and candid risk assessments of their policies and programmes including
considerations of the pros and cons without there being premature disclosure which
might close off better options and inhibit the free and frank discussion of all policy
options. This information refers to discussions between officials from the FCO and
the Department for International Development in London, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem
about whether the projects posed by the IPCC meet the Conflict Prevention Pool
objectives and if the funding is appropriate to meet those objectives. For these
reasons we consider that the public interest in maintaining this exemption outweighs
the public interest in disclosure of the information.
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Some of the names in the documents have been retracted under Section 40 (1)
(Personal Information) of the FOI Act. Under section 40(1) we are required to exempt
information that constitutes personal data (as defined in the Data Protection Act
1998) which might cause damage or distress to an individual. Section 40 is absolute
and does not require the Public Interest Test to be applied.
In response to the second part of your request I will respond to your questions in
order as noted in your request.
Response to question one: How the £450,000 is to be divided for each of the four
years, what the four years are, and which projects the money is going to;
The current funding for the project
Urban Intervention to Reduce Tension in East
Jerusalem is a 2 year project and has been allocated UK HMG funding of
£298,529.
The project
Re-planning Palestine: West Bank “C” Areas will run for fourteen
months and has been allocated UK HMG funding of £149,000, a combined funding
total allocation is £447,529.
Project Information The projects referred to in your Freedom of Information request are run by the NGO,
International Peace and Cooperation Centre (IPCC) and are called
Re-planning
Palestine: West Bank “C” Areas and
Urban Intervention to Reduce Tension in
East Jerusalem and are funded from the Conflict Pool (CP)‟s budget. The Conflict
Pool supports the UK government‟s policies on preventing conflict and brings
together the UK government‟s development, diplomatic and defence expertise and
resources from the Department of International Development (Dfid), Foreign and
Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Ministry of Defence (MOD).
Her Majesty‟s Government are aware that Palestinian communities face significant
hardships due to a lack of urban development, shortage of housing and an
awareness of how to engage with the Israeli planning system.
Project Purposes:
Re-planning Palestine: West Bank “C” Areas:
The estimated cost of this project is
£149,000 and will run from April 2009 till 31 June
2010.
The purpose of this project, to provide legal and professional planning assistance for
14 Area C West Bank communities in a holistic approach to help develop Palestinian
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communities by working with the Office of the Quartet on mapping and statutory
planning of Area C.
The anticipated outcomes of this project are that the Palestinian communities begin
to feel empowered by greater prospects of developing their own neighbourhoods,
thus leading to reduced tensions among Israelis and Palestinians.
Urban Intervention to Reduce Tension in East Jerusalem:
The estimated cost of this project is
£298,529 and will run from May 2008 till April
2010.
The IPCC seek to provide the Palestinians with housing solutions particularly on
seeking retrospective planning permission by training professionals on how to
navigate the Israeli planning system and raising Palestinian public awareness on
planning and building issues.
Response to question two and three: Under what procedures did the projects
receive the money, and information concerning the openness and transparency of
these procedures to other organisations and a Response to question three: Under
what part of the Embassy's budget was the money drawn from
The procedures of acquiring funding from the Conflict Pool
All projects should initially be agreed by CP staff at post through the post projects
committee. Project committees should ensure that projects are in line with country
level programme objectives, represent good value for money and are designed for
maximum impact.
Once project proposals have been agreed at post, they should be sent to the
Programme Manager, for consideration by the programme team. The programme
team will ensure that projects meet CP eligibility criteria, are financially viable within
the regional programme, and that the views of MOD, DFID and FCO in London and
of the CP Secretariat are communicated back to CP staff at post.
Any projects above £1m, which represent novel or contentious activity, or on which
tri-departmental consensus has not been reached, should be referred to the
Programme Board. The Programme Board may decide that tri-departmental
Ministerial agreement is required. Advice and guidance from the CPP Secretariat is
available.
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Response to question four: Considerations of the Israeli government's opinion
concerning this funding
Israeli concerns
Large efforts were made to include the Jerusalem Municipality in discussions about
this project. It is important for the IPCC to create an effective working relationship
with the local authority. The Jerusalem Municipality were consulted in April 2007
about IPCC project proposals. The Municipality stated they “understand the urgent
need of working with on the planning of neighbourhoods and understand the
importance of involving Palestinian architects and planners in the planning of
Palestinian neighbourhoods, and we welcome Palestinian NGOs to work on this
issue”.
Response to question five: The validated consequences of this funding in
quantitative terms, for example, of court cases undertaken and won, number of new
planning permission requests submitted, and so on Project outcomes The number of houses that either have been saved or will be saved as a result of the
Urban Intervention to Reduce Tension in East Jerusalem project is about 2,800
which is approximately 15% of the total number of houses (18,000) under the threat
of demolition.
The project,
Re-planning Palestine: West Bank “C” Areas is still in its early stages
and does not have quantifiable evidence as yet.
Response to question six: Why the funding is deliberately aimed at "Palestinians"
when information concerning the planning laws in Israel would also be useful to other
non-"Palestinian" residents of the State of Israel.
Funding aimed at Palestinians
The CP has a set budget and NGOs with project proposals are welcome to approach
the CP for funding. No Israeli organisation has requested funding from the Conflict
Pool for this type of activity. The Jerusalem Municipality itself recognise the benefits
of
Palestinian
involvement
when
planning
and
developing
Palestinian
neighbourhoods and the positive effect this would have on the whole of Jerusalem.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please remember to
quote the reference number above in any future communications.
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If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and
wish to make a complaint, or request and internal review you should write to the FOI
- Information Rights Management Team (e-mail
: [email address] ) if you wish
to complain. You should do so within 40 working days from the date our response
issued.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may apply directly
to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can
be contacted at:
The Information Commissioner‟s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely,
Near East Group
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