EGYPTIAN MOD MEETING WITH ISRAELI POL/MIL DIRECTOR

S E C R E T CAIRO 003528 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/23/2017 TAGS: PREL PTER PHUM KPAL EG IS SUBJECT: EGYPTIAN MOD MEETING WITH ISRAELI POL/MIL DIRECTOR AMOS GILAD REF: CAIRO 3503 Classified By: DCM Stuart Jones for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (S) Assistant Minister of Defense for Policy MG Mohamed Al Assar told us that December 16 discussions in Cairo with Israel's Pol/Mil Director MG Amos Gilad had been brief and tense. Al Assar said he used the meeting to complain to Gilad about Israel's efforts to influence the outcome of discussions of conditioning Egypt's FMF. He also reiterated Egypt's request to add another unit of Border Guard Forces to the Gaza border mission, and asked if Israel is willing to hold trilateral border security discussions with the U.S. and Egypt. Al Assar said that Gilad appeared to have very limited "cleared talking points" and did not comment. Al Assar said that he commented on Gilad's failure to respond to any of his points. ¶2. (S) Directorate of Military Intelligence Liaison Agency with International Organizations Chief MG Nagy Kamal told us separately that Gilad had also showed them a very short piece of video, which reportedly showed some activity on Egypt's border with Gaza. He said only that the video was "very unclear." Nagy said that Egypt and Israel agreed to open the Karem Shalom crossing on December 24 to allow approximately 100 Palestinians to pass from Egypt to Gaza. Should the crossing go well, Nagy said, Egypt will try to move more Palestinians who have been stuck in Egypt back into Gaza. Ricciardone