Gaza border: Why Egypt is building a steel underground wall

It probably is what they say it is... Who knows. What I find funny though, is that we help other countries protect their borders when we can't even protect our own borders. What about the smuggling here in the US? We have drugs, sex trade and Illegal immigration going through tunnels and around walls... but we are over in Egypt giving them a hand putting in an "Underground-Steel" wall to better protect them...

Let's see what ATS thinks about this...
Source: Yahoo/Christian Science

Cairo – Reports that Egypt is building a steel underground wall along its border with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip have fueled speculation about what exactly Cairo intends to accomplish with the project, which British newspapers claim is being carried out with the help of the US Army Corps of Engineers.

The immediate objective is obvious: to severely disrupt the flourishing smuggling trade carried out in an extensive subterranean network of tunnels under the border. The smugglers provide everything from food to weapons for Gazans, who are largely cut off from the outside world due to an Israeli blockade.

Unfortunately Egypt, the Saudis, the Arab League, the world has slowly picked up on the game played by Palestinian leadership. Keep fighting with Israel. A constant state of war has generated billions in sympathy funds, most of which ends up in Swiss bank accounts of people like Yasser Arafat.

If there's peace they have nothing.

Now that Iran is assuming patronage of the cause there is a new dimension. Destruction of Israel as a PR campaign for Iran domination of the region. Nest stop is Saudi Arabia.

Hamas has the ability to open borders and look after the needs of Gazans but refuses. They actually seek the death of Palestinians and their children to wrestle more funding from a guilt-ridden West.

Egypt sees the writing on the wall. They occupied Gaza for 20 years, lost control after their attempts to destroy Israel. Were offered it back and refused.

Gaza could be a prosperous shining beacon but Hamas doesn't understand running a nation. Only war and extracting blood libel from others.

The Palestinians continue to suffer from bad choices of leaders.

Seems the reason we are helping Egypt is because we are DEMANDING that they stop the smuggling of arms between Egypt and Gaza. If Egypt wants US aid to continue they have to play along.

The new initiatives - which the lawmaker announced Sunday after meeting with Egyptian President Mubarak - followed a campaign in the U.S. Congress to withhold some of the $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt until the government makes a number of reforms, including stopping arms smuggling to the Islamic militant group Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June.

www.haaretz.co.il...

The U.S. delegation was said to have examined the reconstructed Egyptian border fence along the Gaza Strip. The sources said the delegation did not interview local Egyptian commanders.

Earlier in May, the same delegation visited the Gaza and Israeli borders. At the same time, the U.S. Army was said to have begun training Egyptian officers to stop weapons smuggling and infiltration into Israel and the Gaza Strip.

In early 2008, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers drafted a geological assessment of Palestinian smuggling networks. The Bush administration has approved $23 million for Egypt to procure advanced detection equipment and robots to block smuggling.

www.worldtribune.com...

reply to post by jam321


Thank you for adding the articles and quotes!

2nd Line...

The concerns with Gaza have gone to a higher level. An experiment and preview of what creating a Palestinian state would mean.

Iran has jumped in full throttle. A trained unit of Iranian Revolutionary Guard
were in Operation Cast Lead incursion a ear ago showing the Pals how to fight.
All 100 were wiped out. Cough Cough.

Thinking is with al Qaida deciding Gaza is a useful base of operations, they might smuggle in a nuclear dirty bomb picked up from Pakistan or the Soviet Union black marketeers.

wish this was paranoia but very real. Egypt gets something like $2 billion a year from the US to make sure there is peace. This is one of their biggest tasks.

Egypt is more worried about it's borders with Africa these days. Much brewing there and ailing Mubarak's frail government may be seriously threatened.

Other things I won't go into. Keep an eye on Yemen.

Seems like a lot of walls and fences going up in the area. Guess border fences are going to become the latest trend.

A border Patrol friend of mine told me that immigration officials are being stricter about who they give papers to. Many people who would normally be accepted are now being denied. The money they collect is supposedly going to help construct the fences and walls that will go up on the Southern border.

09 December 2009
CAIRO: Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu is mulling the construction of a security fence along the border with Egypt to halt smuggling and attempts by African migrants to enter Israel.

The Israeli newspaper Maariv reported Tuesday that Netanyahu had approved the construction of the security fence after discussions with cabinet members over the increased numbers of Africans seeking to enter Israel via the border with Egypt.

"The only place in the world where it takes tens of meters walk to cross from the third world to the first world is Israel's southern borders," the prime minister reportedly said during the discussions.

www.zawya.com...