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Hundreds of tunnels snake under the Gaza-Egypt border and thousands of Palestinians find work smuggling in motorcycles, fridges, food, cigarettes, livestock -- whatever Gazans want and can't get because of the blockade. Israel says some of these tunnels are used to smuggle in weapons.
Dr. Iyad Saraj, Gaza's leading child psychologist said: "There is a pushing factor for the children, pushing them out in the streets because the house is so deprived and there is a pulling factor in the tunnel business or any business to tell them you can make some money there. So the children are entangled into this cycle."
At first the tunnels emerged as smuggling routes; then they became the vital lifeline for a Gaza under economic siege by Israel. But many people who invested in the tunnels now see them quite differently - as a source of ruination.
The tunnel schemes were advertised as opportunities for doubling and trebling money by unscrupulous figures linked to powerful businessmen in Gaza and, allegedly, to senior officials in Hamas, but have instead led to huge losses for ordinary residents of the Strip.
The victims name two companies run by Wael al-Rubi, in addition to that of Kurdi, as being the major movers behind the tunnel schemes, names confirmed by Zaza as being under investigation. While neither of these men was well known in Gaza business circles before the launch of the schemes, the men who sold the investments on their behalf were representatives of well-known merchant families.
"The tunnels are the worst thing that ever happened to Gaza," says Tawfiq. "It has poisoned it. It has turned Gaza into a prison economy. And for what? For chocolate and bicycles."
The huge increase in approved smuggling tunnels between the Gaza Strip and neighboring Egypt is even placing luxury cars within reach of Gazan consumers.
"We can get anything for anybody at almost any time," a Palestinian involved in the tunnel industry said. The sources said the Hamas regime approved the sharp increase of tunnels in wake of the war with Israel
in January 2009. They said the number of tunnels skyrocketed from about 700 to 1,500 over the last eight months.
"Hamas directly controls about 100 tunnels and this supplies the government and security forces," the Palestinian said. "Whenever they need something fast, they turn to private tunnel operators."
Egypt and Israel have sought to block the Palestinian tunnel industry. But the sources said the number of tunnels discovered and destroyed marked a less than one percent of the smuggling network.
Originally posted by LadySkadi
reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas
I realize it's nothing new and happening in many places. People are resourceful and will find ways to get what they need. There are always ways to make a profit off of another, while providing goods/services to yet another...
Originally posted by SpartanKingLeonidas
SNIP
Whether you're speaking of D.C. or the Al Saud family, or any side of any faction, it is all a pack of lies, designed and meant to suck the money out of our pockets.
Originally posted by LadySkadi
Originally posted by SpartanKingLeonidas
SNIP
Whether you're speaking of D.C. or the Al Saud family, or any side of any faction, it is all a pack of lies, designed and meant to suck the money out of our pockets.
Didn't take it the wrong way, no worries. So many places are in similar circumstances... I agree with that last sentence... money and power have much to do (from top to bottom) it effects everyone whether one thinks so, or not.
[edit on 5-11-2009 by LadySkadi]
For Israel, the tunnels have always been a key political target, first for the weapons and now, perhaps, for their link to the Hamas government, which many people here say profits off the tunnel trade. Last winter, Israeli forces destroyed most of the tunnel network, along with much of the Gaza Strip's infrastructure, during its three-week offensive, Operation Cast Lead. But the tunnel workers got right back underground. "We are just trying to earn a living here. We have no other choice," says Abu Obeida, a potato-chip and clothes smuggler who has been working in tunnels for a year and a half and says he used to be a contractor. Says al-Hubi, the shopkeeper: "Even if Israel destroys all of the tunnels entirely, I'm quite sure that the tunnels will only be dug again and again." Read more: www.time.com...
If the crossings opened up, many say all that would change. "It's accurate to say that the economy has been destroyed. All aspects of the commercial sector are in tatters, including the physical infrastructure," says the U.N.'s Ging. "But what we have here is a phenomenal entrepreneurial spirit, and the only thing we need to revive the economy of Gaza is the creation of opportunity, which means lifting the siege." Read more: www.time.com...
TIJUANA, Mexico — Mexican troops discovered a 122 yard long tunnel apparently aimed at crossing the U.S. border underground.
Army Gen. Alberto Duarte Mujica says soldiers found the half-built tunnel under a three-story building in the border city of Tijuana.
The army said Sunday that soldiers raided a warehouse where equipment used to build the tunnel was stored, and found 275 pounds of marijuana. They also detained seven men and two women in the Saturday raid.
The wood-lined, 6-foot high tunnel was apparently meant to extend another 144 yards to reach U.S. territory. It was equipped with electrical lights and a ventilation system. Drug and immigrant smugglers often use such tunnels.
A year after the Gaza War, the bombs are still falling. Israeli warplanes launched missiles at several open fields in the Gaza Strip late Friday, sparking a series of loud explosions.
Israeli warplanes bombed two tunnels along the Gaza border. The army said Palestinian militants planned to use the tunnels to infiltrate Israel and carry out an attack.
The airstrike occurred as Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, are negotiating a prisoner swap. Under the emerging deal, Israel would release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. He was captured more than three years ago, when Hamas gunmen tunneled under the Gaza border and infiltrated an Israeli army base.
Israel is reluctant to release top militants responsible for deadly attacks, and Hamas has threatened to step up the pressure on the Jewish state with another kidnapping.