I've been having some fabulous discussions with Sementawy about Egypt in the '20s and she pointed at that this was a period of high Nationalistic fervor (Britian relinquished its protectorship in 1922) as well as land fueds between Egyptian groups. Cairo and other places would be highly unstable.

She also pointed out that emigres from Russia and other middle eastern places would have been abundant due to high displacement and instability in those regions.

It certainly colors the landscape a bit more, eh?