VZCZCXRO5172
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHEG #0162 0301657
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 301657Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8009
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL

UNCLAS CAIRO 000162 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PREL KPAL CASC PTER EG IS
SUBJECT:  GAZA BORDER UPDATE JANUARY 30 
 
REF:  A) CAIRO 155, B) CAIRO 148 
 
¶1.  An Egyptian businessman in El Arish told us January 30 that he 
was not optimistic that the GOE will successfully round up all the 
Palestinians in North Sinai.  Some of them, he surmised, will go to 
ground with friends and relatives.  An academic contact, by 
contrast, said that Egyptians in North Sinai were happy to open 
their homes to Palestinians.  He said he went to the border after 
the breach to see what was going on, and gave a ride back to El 
Arish to a Palestinian mother and her grown son who came over to 
shop. He ended up putting them up for the night; they shopped, then 
went back to Gaza.  "I was glad to help."  Like many others in El 
Arish, he has family ties spanning the border. His wife's family 
home is in Rafah a hundred yards from the border, and her extended 
family is evenly divided by the border. His brother is married to a 
Palestinian. Like almost everyone in El Arish, he said he hopes for 
regular, controlled border openings at Rafah as soon as possible. 
 
¶2. A senior MoD contact told us January 30 the situation at the 
Rafah border was "quiet."  He said the MoD had sent a team of 
engineers to assess damage to the border on the Egyptian side, 
including lights that had been knocked out by rocks thrown by 
Palestinians.  He said the team would assess not only damage, but 
also how many bricks and how much cement will be needed to build a 
new wall on the Egyptian side of the border "between border stone 
two and border stone five."  (Note:  Unlike the Gazan side of the 
border which had been protected by a steel wall until Hamas 
destroyed much of it on January 22, the Egyptian side is demarcated 
by little more than barbed wire.  End note.)  The MoD contact added 
that the GoE was deliberately preventing the delivery of food and 
other basic commodities to El Arish and Rafah.  "We know the people 
of El Arish and Rafah are suffering," he said, "but it is the only 
way to prevent the Palestinians from staying." 
 
JONES