maandag 20 augustus 2007

Smokkelaars uit Gaza graven tunnels onder grens met Egypte

Het graven van tunnels onder de grens met Egypte is niet nieuw, en Israël probeert dit ook al jaren tegen te gaan. De tunnels worden zowel voor de smokkel van wapens als voor andere goederen als sigaretten gebruikt, en in een enkel geval worden zo zelfs mensen de grens over gesmokkeld. Het is een lucratieve business waar sommige mensen een goede boterham mee verdienen. Sinds de machtsovername door Hamas en de isolatie van der Gazastrook, zijn de prijzen flink gestegen.
 
Hamas probeert controle over de tunnels en de smokkelaars te krijgen om ze voor eigen doeleinden te gebruiken. Het kan maanden duren voor een tunnel klaar is en de prijs kan oplopen tot meer dan $100.000. Ondanks de openheid van de smokkelaars, en beeldmateriaal van diverse tunnels en het feit dat Israël er verschillende heeft vernietigd, ontkent Hamas het bestaan ervan:

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum denied the existence of tunnels in Gaza.
"Israel is claiming there are tunnels just to spoil the relationship between us and our brothers in Egypt," he said.

Dat liegen Hamas goed afgaat zou eigenlijk geen nieuws mogen zijn. Maar dat is nog niet erg doorgedrongen tot het journaal en sommige Westerse journalisten.

Ratna
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gazans bore under border with Egypt
Gaza smugglers create underground world in dark, cramped tunnels.

By Kevin Frayer
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Friday, August 17, 2007
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/world/08/17/0817GazaTunnels.html

RAFAH, Gaza Strip - Gazans are finding an antidote to their growing isolation: digging tunnels under their border with Egypt to smuggle everything from weapons to cigarettes to people.

A group of smugglers recently gave an Associated Press photographer rare permission to accompany them as they dug one tunnel.

Smuggling tunnels range in length from 100 yards to a half-mile, beginning and ending inside homes, animal pens or abandoned buildings. They can cost $5,000 to $200,000 to build, depending on size and sophistication. But profits, too, can be high, as much as $10,000 for smuggling one person.

Palestinian diggers, wearing masks to conceal their identities, use a pulley to remove sand from a smuggling tunnel in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on the border with Egypt.

In underground darkness with stifling heat and limited air supply, the diggers painstakingly removed sand and rubble as they crawled through cramped spaces carrying portable lamps and homemade tools.

The southern Gaza town of Rafah has long been a key conduit for underground weapons smuggling, mostly controlled by a handful of local clans. With Israel imposing a strict closure of Gaza's borders in the aftermath of Hamas militants' violent seizure of the coastal territory in June, more and more smugglers are taking a piece of the action.

The stakes are higher than ever. Smugglers find themselves pursued by Israel, which fears the militants' growing arsenal; by Egypt, which is under growing pressure to crack down on tunnel diggers; and by Hamas, which doesn't oppose tunnels but wants to control them.

The diggers, who refused to give their names and wore masks to shield their identities, said tunnels must be deeper and longer than ever before to avoid detection. The tunnels often take weeks or months to dig, and the tunnelers sleep where they work to avoid getting caught.

Tunnelers smuggle machine guns, rifles, ammunition, explosive devices, grenade launchers and other munitions. Cigarettes, drugs, gold, automobile parts and people also move through the shafts.

The AP wasn't allowed to see what goods were moving through the tunnel.

Some Gaza tunnels are only wide enough to carry in contraband no larger than a rifle, pulled through with a rope.

Others, such as the one seen by AP, are big enough for a person. Still, once inside there's not enough room to turn around, so every 100 yards or so, a wider space is dug to enable a change of direction.

Israel estimates there are dozens of tunnels. They range in length from 100 yards to a half-mile. They begin and end in unlikely places: under the floor tiles of kitchens, inside bedroom closets or animal pens, in the nooks of abandoned buildings. People who allow their dwellings to be used for tunnels are paid.

Runners said it is most profitable to smuggle in goods such as cigarettes rather than weapons because Hamas has prohibited ordinary citizens and rival militants from carrying arms.

"After they (Hamas) took over and started controlling who can have weapons, nobody wants them any more. So why should we bring them in?" one smuggler said.

Other tunnels, however, are squarely in Hamas' hands, and Israeli officials say weapons smuggling by the militant group is going strong.

Smuggling has a long history in the area. Egypt once used a camel corps to intercept above-ground Bedouin caravans, but for years has relied on vehicle patrols. During Israel's withdrawal from Sinai, smugglers buried Mercedes cars and other vehicles in the desert sand so they could retrieve and sell them after Israel withdrew from the territory, without having to pay Egyptian taxes.

Gaza's tunnels are a major frustration for Israel, which has carried out dozens of raids to destroy them, often killing both militants and civilians.

"The Hamas terror organization continues to busy itself with the smuggling of huge quantities of weapons for use against Israel. These tunnels continue to be the main source of the weapons supplies to Palestinian terrorists," Israeli government spokesman David Baker said.

Tunnelers said Hamas has been trying to take over tunnels for its own smuggling — showing little tolerance for freelance smugglers.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum denied the existence of tunnels in Gaza.

"Israel is claiming there are tunnels just to spoil the relationship between us and our brothers in Egypt," he said.

Smuggling people through a tunnel can cost as much as $10,000 each, depending on their importance or whether they are wanted by Israel, the smugglers said.

Runners say the process of moving a person from Egypt involves intricate planning and coordination with the other side.

"He's handed to someone there. He stays over at that person's place, and then we bring him in at night at an agreed time," a smuggler said.

Depending on the length, width and sophistication of tunnels, they can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $200,000 to build.

That cost is the biggest incentive for smugglers to move as much contraband as possible. Profits, too, can be high, with more than a few Gaza millionaires created by smuggling.

One tunneler said the shaft he was digging would take four months to complete and that he expected to earn $12,000 for his efforts, a fortune in impoverished Gaza.


*** Balanced Middle East News ***
MidEastweb
http://www.mideastweb.org
Subscribe - mail to mewnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

MewBkd - Background & analysis -
mail to
Mewbkd-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

News Letter -  our commentary -
mail to
mideastweb-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Geen opmerkingen:

Een reactie posten