| Activities of the Foreign Policy Division |
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The Foreign Policy Division has, since its establishment, been actively involved in a variety of issues, most of them classified in nature. Following is a short review of the Division's disclose-able activities:
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Formulation of Israel's policy towards the Hamas Movement and Hamas Government
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The NSC has been formulating and consolidating the State of Israel's policy towards the Hamas since May of 2005. Work included analysis of the interests of Israel with regard to the movement and several policy alternatives. Following the results of elections in the Palestinian Authority, the NSC drafted continuation documents that included policy recommendations with regard the Hamas government, with an emphasis on economic issues.
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Examination of the Channels of Financing for the Palestinian Authority
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At the beginning of 2006, the Foreign Minister, Ms. Tzipi Livni, requested the NSC to consolidate a comprehensive overview of the budget of the Palestinian Authority, and proposed several alternative modes of confronting the new challenges posed by the Hamas victory (work was conducted in collaboration with the NCS's Economic Advisor).
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| Examination of Israel – Russia Relations |
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In 2005, the current Prime Minister at the time, Mr. Ariel Sharon, requested that the NSC conducted a comprehensive examination of all facets of the relations between Israel and Russia. Staff work covered all facets of the bilateral relations (political, security, economic and legal). Work was executed in collaboration with government ministries and security and intelligence bodies, and included policy recommendations.
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Conducting Strategic Dialogues with Foreign National Security Councils:
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The NSC conducts dialogs on a regular basis with National Security Councils of key countries. In addition, the NSC holds periodical meetings aimed at exchanging views on central issues currently on the international agenda, such as Iran, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians.
Among the countries with which dialogs are conducted:
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USA – the strategic dialog forum lead by the NSC began in 2001, and its most recent meeting was convened in July 2008, and headed by the Minister for Strategic dialog Issues. The NSC coordinated the staff work preceding and during the meeting. In addition to the Head of the NSC, forum participants include the General Manager of the Ministry of Defense, General Manager of the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister's political advisor.
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Russia – dialogs with the Russian NSC have been held regularly, every 6 months, over the past 3 years (2005 to 2008). The last meeting was held in July 2008. The meetings are lead by the heads of the NSCs and teams include senior member of government ministries.
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China - A strategic dialog was held in Beijing in September 2007 with CIISS (The Chinese Institute for International Strategic Studies) reports to the defense ministry
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Turkey – the most recent dialog meeting was held in November 2006, and an additional strategic dialog meeting is scheduled to be held soon in Israel. The dialog forums are lead by the heads of the NSCs and deal with issues of interest to both countries, such as: the situation in the Middle East, the fight against terror and the plans for Turkey to join the European Union.
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India – the first dialog meeting with India was held in 2001. The last meeting took place in India on December 2006, and was lead by the heads of the National Security Councils. Senior Indians and Israelis from the defense sectors and Foreign Ministries participate in these dialog meetings with India, that focused on subjects of mutual interest such as counter-terrorism and the strategic environment of each one of the states.
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Poland – in June 2004, the head of the Polish National Security Council visited Israel. During the meeting, the parties discussed issues of common interest to both countries, such as cooperation in counter-terrorism activities, bilateral relations and relations between Israel and the EU.
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Several additional countries have approached the NSC requesting to establish channels for strategic dialog, and the requests are under review.
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Foreign Policy Division
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