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 04 TEL AVIV 000596 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/IPA, NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/17/2016 
TAGS: IS EG PGOV PREL JO PINR PREF PBTS SNAR KCRM GOI INTERNAL ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS GOI EXTERNAL ISRAELI SOCIETY
SUBJECT: GOI RESPONDS TO NEW PATTERN OF CROSS-BORDER 
INCURSIONS 
 
REF: A. A) 2005 TEL AVIV 06876 
     ¶B. B) 2005 TEL AVIV 06877 
     ¶C. C) CAIRO 603 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard H. Jones for reasons 1.4 (b,d). 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY: Israeli National Police (INP) Colonel 
Avshalom Peled told G-TIP Reports Officer Gayatri Patel 
January 11 and poloff in subsequent phone conversations that 
his Ramon Border Police Brigade, which guards Israel's 
southern border with Egypt, has captured 85 Palestinians from 
the Gaza Strip attempting to enter Israel illegally through 
its border with Egypt since disengagement.  Peled stressed 
that his brigade, which first deployed in June 2003, did not 
observe any attempted incursions by Gazans prior to 
disengagement.  Peled also said that the GOI had previously 
allocated insufficient manpower and resources to guard its 
southern borders with both Egypt and Jordan, while adding 
that the government in January allocated significantly more 
personnel to address this deficiency.  At any given moment, 
Peled reported, 50 Border Police currently protect the 
208-kilometer border between Israel and Egypt, what he termed 
the main route for trafficking persons into Israel.  Peled 
admitted that his brigade cannot prevent smuggling from Egypt 
of terrorists, firearms, explosives, women, laborers, drugs, 
tobacco, or refugees.  In addition, Peled described the 
Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers who guard Israel's 
southern border with Jordan between the Gulf of Aqaba and 
Ne'ot Hakikar near the Dead Sea as "not effective," alleging 
that "most of the heroin in Israel enters there."  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
---------------------------- 
FIRST PALESTINIAN INCURSIONS 
---------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C) Ramon Border Brigade Commander Avshalom Peled said 
that his brigade has captured 85 Palestinians from the Gaza 
Strip attempting to enter Israel illegally through its border 
with Egypt since disegagement in September 2005.  Peled 
stressed that his brigade, which first deployed in June 2003, 
did not observe any attempted incursions by Gazans prior to 
disengagement.  He said Palestinian "and foreign terrorists" 
increasingly seek to perform a "u-shaped movement" from Gaza 
south into Egypt, east across the Sinai desert, north through 
the Israel-Egypt border, and ultimately into the West Bank 
(reftels A and B).  During a February 3 discussion with the 
Ambassador, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni asserted that this 
smuggling route is of increasing concern to Israel, that the 
Egyptians do not seem to be interested in combating it, and 
that the GOI would ask for funds from the USG to enhance 
security, in light of the Hamas victory.  While Peled did not 
offer evidence of any foreign terrorists having actually used 
the route, he noted that Egyptian border guard forces are 
currently embroiled in combat against "jihadists" in the 
Sinai only 30 kilometers from the border with Israel. 
 
¶3.  (C) Peled said that construction of the security fence 
separating the West Bank from Israel has created a sense of 
urgency among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who now realize 
that the fence, upon its completion, will prevent them from 
entering the West Bank illicitly through Israel.  The 
southern border has consequently experienced a rise in the 
number of attempted incursions by Palestinians from the Gaza 
Strip who seek to enter the West Bank while still possible. 
Peled predicted a further increase in these attempts during 
¶2006. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
TRAFFICKING PEOPLE ACROSS THE ISRAEL-EGYPT BORDER 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶4.  (C) Peled reported that in 2005 his brigade caught 137 
people being smuggled across the border, 45 of whom were 
women.  He noted that this number represents an increase 
since 2004, when his brigade caught 104 people, and that he 
suspects the number apprehended reflects only a small 
proportion of the actual number of trafficked persons.  "Many 
more were not caught," Peled admitted.  He said his brigade 
employs an interrogator to question people caught crossing 
the border illegally and to commence, when appropriate, 
criminal investigations.  The INP has trained the 
interrogator, Peled asserted, to identify victims of 
trafficking.  Peled said he has just one interrogator to 
serve all four companies -- three Border Police and one IDF 
-- under his command.  Although Peled reported that the INP 
has provided a "green light" to hire a second interrogator, 
he could not provide an estimate as to when this interrogator 
will join the brigade. 
 
¶5.  (C) Peled added that the entire brigade has received 
clear instructions to send all women, whether or not the 
interrogator believes they were trafficked, to the 
Immigration Authority.  Officials at the Immigration 
Authority, he explained, have the power to decide whether to 
pass women determined to be trafficking victims to the care 
of the shelter for trafficked women.  Peled mentioned that 
some of the traffickers smuggle people into Israel for 
prostitution, while others smuggle them in for labor. 
 
¶6.  (C) Peled emphasized that the trafficked women his 
brigade has caught often report abuse along the trafficking 
route by Bedouin and Egyptian smugglers.  Peled alleged that 
some women have been killed and buried in the desert, but 
offered no specifics.  In a separate meeting January 13 with 
poloff and Patel, INP Inspector Eli Kaplan confirmed reports 
of abuse.  Kaplan said he conducted a "sting" operation at 
the border, in which he posed as an Israeli trafficker 
seeking women from the former Soviet Union.  When the women 
arrived, they had been severely bruised and malnourished. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
DEPLOYMENT AND RESOURCES AT THE ISRAEL-EGYPT BORDER 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶7.  (C) Peled explained that the Border Police, also called 
the border guards, mainly work under the day-to-day command 
of the six INP districts (southern, central, Tel Aviv, 
Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and northern).  Two Border 
Police brigades within the INP work under IDF operational 
command -- one of these brigades works in Judea and Samaria, 
and one at the southern border with Egypt (Peled's Ramon 
brigade).  The head of the IDF's southern command provides 
the Ramon brigade its overall operational guidance.  Peled 
said his brigade includes three companies of border guards, 
totaling 286 personnel, and one company from the Israeli 
Defense Forces (IDF), totaling 80 soldiers.  These totals 
include officers and support personnel.  Peled has deployed 
his border guard companies at Nitzana Base, near the Gaza 
Strip and the town of Nitzana; Har Harif Base, in the center 
of the border line near Mount Harif; and Shikma Base, just 
northwest of Eilat.  He has stationed his army company at 
Uzia Base, located north of Eilat near Mount Uziyahu. 
 
¶8.  (C) Peled admitted that his brigade, first deployed in 
June 2003, has insufficient manpower and resources to prevent 
smugglers from trafficking terrorists, firearms, explosives, 
women, laborers, drugs, tobacco, and refugees from Egypt into 
Israel.  Currently, at any one moment, Peled reported, 50 
border guards protect a desert border of 208 kilometers. 
 
¶9.  (C) Peled said his brigade relies heavily on visual 
intelligence drawn from border guards, special cameras, and 
ground surveillance radars.  He emphasized, however, that his 
brigade needs more cameras and radars.  Peled's brigade 
borrows planes and helicopters for special operations from 
the Israeli Air Force or the Police Air Force.  In addition, 
Peled said, his brigade employs Bedouin trackers to pursue 
smugglers in the desert.  In 2005, Peled reported, the Ramon 
brigade developed a new strategy to address the increase in 
cross-border smuggling.  The strategy requires the unit to 
deploy more forces, use more surveillance devices, develop 
better aerial surveillance, utilize sniffer dogs, improve 
cooperation with the Egyptians, and begin collaborating with 
the tax authorities to punish Israeli citizens who purchase 
smuggled goods. 
 
------------------------------------ 
REINFORCEMENTS PLANNED FOR THE SOUTH 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶10.  (C) Despite his persistent complaints about lack of 
resources, Peled expressed optimism about "major changes" 
that he claimed are coming soon.  He ascribed these changes 
to disengagement, saying that the IDF will now redeploy to 
the southern border soldiers who formerly served in the Gaza 
Strip.  Peled claimed, however, that soldiers serve less 
effectively as border guards than do policemen, because IDF 
companies receive less professional training for border 
protection than do their police counterparts, and often the 
army units comprise many young and inexperienced conscripts. 
Use of these units appeals to policy makers, Peled added, 
because they cost the government less money than do 
professional Border Police. 
 
¶11.  (C) DAO contacts have reported that the IDF has already 
redeployed an army brigade that previously served in the Gaza 
Strip to support the Ramon brigade.  Peled subsequently 
confirmed that an IDF Colonel who shares his name (Avi Peled) 
moved January 2 to the border with his regional army brigade, 
comprising approximately 700 people.  This army brigade now 
covers the area between Ezuz and the Gaza Strip, while the 
Ramon brigade guards the area from Ezuz south to Eilat. 
Peled reported that by February 16 another army brigade will 
deploy to reinforce the Ramon brigade along the whole border 
between Har Harif and Eilat. 
 
¶12.  (U) Note: The Israeli Government Press Office reported 
that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited the Israel-Egypt 
border November 29 along with senior members of his cabinet. 
"There is no difference between criminal and security 
infiltrations," Sharon announced.  Sharon described the GOI's 
attempt to improve border protection as an "urgent and 
immediate mission."  End note. 
 
--------------------------------- 
THE SOUTHERN ISRAEL-JORDAN BORDER 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶13.  (C) Commander Peled explained that the IDF currently 
deploys a battalion of approximately 300 soldiers to protect 
Israel's southern border with Jordan between the Gulf of 
Aqaba and Ne'ot Hakikar.  "I can say for sure the soldiers 
are not effective," Peled said. "They don't catch anything 
over there," he claimed. "It's a less active border, but 
there is infiltration there, especially hard drugs like 
heroin.  Most of the heroin in Israel enters there."  Peled 
said he does not know the extent to which terrorists or 
trafficked persons enter through the southern border with 
Jordan.  (Note: Embassy Amman reports that it hears from both 
Israelis and Jordanians that the GOI is generally content 
with the security cooperation they receive from the GOJ along 
the Israel-Jordan border.  End note.) 
 
¶14.  (C) Peled said that the failure to adequately guard the 
southern Jordanian border has led the police to instruct him 
to write a staff paper explaining how to build the same sort 
of protection on the southern Jordan-Israel border that he 
has developed for the Egypt-Israel border.  Peled said that 
by the end of 2006, he will take over command of the southern 
Jordan-Israel border, and he hopes to strengthen the police 
component of the border's protection.  Peled said he also 
expects the IDF to augment the border's forces with an army 
brigade from the Gaza Strip, which he explained contains more 
soldiers and resources than does a police brigade; he hopes 
to have at least 1,000 soldiers assigned to guard the border 
under his command. 
 
--------------------- 
THE BEDOUIN SMUGGLERS 
--------------------- 
 
¶15.  (C) Bedouin tribes do not recognize the Israel-Egypt 
border, Peled explained, since they believe it was 
artificially imposed on their pre-existing communities, which 
straddle the current line.  Peled said the Bedouin tribes 
have clearly delineated their areas of operation on the 
Egyptian side of the border, to the extent that some leaders 
tax rival smugglers who traverse their territory.  Smuggling 
is the only source of income for some Bedouin communities, 
Peled reported.  Since the border stretches along 208 
kilometers of desert, Peled said, smugglers consider each 
trip to be "low risk." 
 
¶16.  (C) Usually two to ten smugglers are operating at any 
time, Peled said, often on foot or on camel, though they also 
sometimes use vehicles, including a lead vehicle, an 
operations vehicle, a rescue vehicle, and a closing vehicle. 
They always employ forward observation, Peled said, usually 
with radio contact and even command posts.  He also said they 
use tactical diversions to distract mobile units of border 
guards. 
 
------------- 
THE EGYPTIANS 
------------- 
 
¶17.  (C) According to the 1978 Camp David accords and the 
1979 Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel, Egypt may deploy 
only civilian police units in the eastern Sinai near the 
Egyptian border with Israel.  Israel and Egypt signed a 
memorandum of understanding in fall 2005 permitting 
deployment of 750 new Egyptian Border Guard Forces along the 
Gaza-Egypt border to augment the lightly-armed police troops 
called for in the peace treaty.  Peled complained that the 
Egyptian police are ineffective, alleging that they sometimes 
accept bribes from smugglers or traffickers.  According to 
Peled, the Israelis receive no cooperation whatsoever from 
the Egyptians to prevent smuggling.  (Note: Embassy Cairo 
reports that the GOE argues that Israel refuses to entertain 
Egypt's request to further supplement its Border Guard Forces 
along the Egyt-Gaza border with another batallion in order to 
adequately address the smuggling challenge.  The GOE 
contends, according to Embassy Cairo, that its success rate 
in deterring smuggling rose dramatically since its BGF 
deployment along the Gaza-Egypt border, per LTG Dayton's 
discussions with Minister of Defense Tantawi and DMI Mowafi 
in Cairo last week (reftel C).  End note.) 
 
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