Life Tubes for Gaza

Gaza Strip smuggling tunnels prfile,

Gaza Strip smuggling tunnels are smuggling tunnels that have been dug under the Egypt-Gaza Strip separation barrier which separates Egypt from the Gaza Strip. The barrier runs along the international border along the Philadelphi corridor, which is a buffer zone along the border created by the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. The Philadelphi corridor was specified in the Oslo accords to be under Israeli military control, in order to secure the border with Egypt. When Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, the Philadelphi corridor was placed under the control of the Palestinian Authority. Then, when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip during the Battle of Gaza (2007), control of the Philadelphi corridor from the Gaza Strip side fell to the Hamas administration. In late 2009 Egypt commenced construction of an underground barrier with the aim of blocking existing tunnels and making it more difficult to create new ones, because they would have to be deeper..

Gaza Strip smuggling tunnels Overview.

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Rafah is located on the border of the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Because of this strategic location, it accommodated tunnels and has a history of smuggling. These tunnels were and are mainly used by Palestinian militant organizations and gangs for weapon smuggling and bringing cheap goods from Egypt into the Gaza Strip. The tunnels connect the Egyptian town of Rafah with the Palestinian refugee camp of Rafah. The tunnels are primarily used to smuggle illegal arms (e.g. rockets and mortars) to Gaza militants. The tunnels have also been subsequently used to smuggle people (in and out) and commercial materials like recreational drugs, medicine, food and clothes, cigarettes, alcohol, and vehicle parts into Gaza.

The tunnels are normally dug by individual contractors from basements of houses or an olive grove under the border at depths of up to 15 meters (49 feet), reaching up to 800 meters (2640 feet) in length. In many cases, the owners of the houses enter into a business arrangement with the tunnel builders. They may receive a portion of the profits from the smuggling or some other sort of financial compensation from those who contract the tunnel construction.

According to an Al-Jazeera report (July 2010) the Gaza tunnels are going out of business: But now that Israel is allowing more goods into Gaza, the smugglers have started going out of business. More than 150 tunnel operations have closed and thousands of people risk losing their jobs,.

Gaza Strip smuggling tunnels Commerce,

An average-sized tunnel costs $90,000 to construct and run; some investors in the tunnels have been defrauded. According to one report , the cost of smuggling a person from Egypt into the Gaza strip is $1,000. A Kalashnikov rifle in the Gaza Strip can cost up to $1,000 compared with 2,000 Egyptian pounds ($320) across the border. A single cartridge used to cost $3 in Gaza compared with $0.08 in Egypt, but since the Hamas coup, and the subsequent capture of the Fatah weapons' storage, the prices have dropped.

The tunnels are used to import a wide range of goods, including the horses that race at the Faisal Equestrian Club. The tunnels were also used to smuggle in construction materials for the Gaza Mall and the Crazy Water Park,.

Gaza Strip smuggling tunnels operators,

The tunnels are run as businesses, mainly by the Abu Samhadana and Abu Rish families, both of Bedouin origin. Smuggling provides tens of thousands of US dollars in profits for each delivery. Some sources have also reported financial links to the Arafat family. Some of the tunnels were allegedly controlled by one of the Palestinian Authority security services under the command of Moussa Arafat, cousin of Yasser Arafat. Until his assassination at the hands of a rival Palestinian faction in 2005, Moussa Arafat was believed to receive a portion of the profits derived from the smuggling tunnels,.

Gaza Strip smuggling tunnels Firearms and explosive allegations,

As of May 19, 2004, Strela 2 shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, 9K11 Malyutka anti-tank missiles, and other long-range rockets are reported to be stored on the Egyptian side of the border waiting to be smuggled through tunnels into the Gaza Strip. It is also claimed that 40 tons of explosives have been smuggled. IDF maintains that this was done in order to prevent smuggling tunnels and other threats (i.e. from snipers) to its soldiers who are patrolling the border. For example, following a rocket attack that killed five Israeli soldiers, that apparently came from a row of buildings in Rafah, Israel demolished those buildings. An IDF spokeswoman has stated that the IDF, in destroying tunnels, exercises "the utmost care to pinpoint the tunnels and do as little damage as possible,".

Measures taken against tunnel smuggling,

Palestinians view the tunnels as a lifeline, enabling them access to a wide range of commercial goods during the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Israel however says the tunnels are also used for arms smuggling. This has led Israel to take measures in attempt to destroy the tunnel infrastructure. House demolition is typically justified by the Israeli Defense Forces on claims of:, Deterrence, achieved by harming the relatives of those who carry out, or are suspected of involvement in carrying out, attacks, Counter-terrorism, by destroying militant facilities such as bombs labs, headquarters, and offices, Forcing out an individual barricaded inside a house, which may be rigged with explosives, without risking soldiers' lives, Self-defense, by destroying possible hideouts and RPG/gun posts, Combat engineering, clearing a path for tanks and heavy APCs,.

Gaza Strip smuggling tunnels Operation Rainbow,

Between September 2000 and May 2004 ninety tunnel egresses leading to a few tunnels connecting Egypt and the Gaza Strip have been found and destroyed by the Israel Defense Forces. In May 2004 Israel launched Operation Rainbow, aimed partly at locating and destroying the tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border. During the 2008 Gaza War it was reported that of some 3,000 underground passages that were operational before Israeli offensive, only 150 were still functional following the conflict and subsequent Israeli air raids. In late 2009 Egypt started construction of a subterranean barrier in an attempt to curb the use of smuggling tunnels.

Criticism of IDF house and tunnel demolitions,

House demolition in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict,

House demolition is a controversial tactic used by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) against Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and against Jewish communities during the course of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International who oppose the house demolitions accuse the Israeli government and IDF of other motives:Collective punishment, the punishment of an innocent Palestinian "for an offence he or she has not personally committed." Annexation of land to build the Israeli West Bank barrier or to create, expand or otherwise benefit Israeli settlements. According to the United Nations, about 1,500 homes were demolished by the IDF just in the Rafah area in the period 2000–2004.

Human Rights Watch issued a report, in which they say that they "researched the tunnel situation on the border by speaking with Rafah residents, IDF officers, PNA officials, foreign diplomats in Israel, Israeli and foreign journalists, Egyptian security officials, and experts familiar with the nature of Rafah’s subsurface soil." Based on this research, HRW believes "that the IDF’s pattern of house demolitions is inconsistent with its stated goals" and that "in some cases, the destruction was disproportionate and arbitrary."

(source:wikipedia)