Gaza Smuggling Tunnels
- Lawhawk
- Lawhawk
- Lawhawk
- Lawhawk
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» Lawhawk - Clear and present danger to Israel's security
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?p...Israel continues to uncover tunnel after tunnel that permits Palestinian terrorists to reequip and rearm from Egypt. Israel's patrols of the strip of land between Gaza and Egypt, the Philadelphia corridor, continue to take fire from terrorists who want to have unfettered access to more arms.
Arms smuggled into the Palestinian controlled areas come from Egypt, Iraq, Sudan and areas in Libya. So far this year, IDF forces have uncovered and destroyed 11 tunnels. Since the outbreak of violence, some three and a half years ago, forces demolished almost 100.
How it's done:
Weapon smuggling: The way it's doneProfessional smugglers operate the tunnels, first contacting Egyptian weapons dealers to purchase the weapons, then contacting Palestinian terrorist elements seeking to receive them.
The same smugglers scout out local homeowners in the Tel Sultan neighborhood who are willing to allow tunnels to be dug either inside their homes or yards. Those who agree are offered the sum of $1000 per month and a promise that if the tunnel is detected and their home demolished by the IDF, they will receive further compensation and assistance from the Palestinian Authority to help rebuild their homes.
A special engineer is then contracted to oversee the digging of the tunnel and ensure it has necessary support to prevent it from caving in. The tunnels can reach a depth of dozens of meters to evade detection by IDF surveillance equipment. They may also run as long as hundreds of meters. The dirt dug out is hidden in flour sacks and gradually removed from the site.
The cost of smuggling a person from Egypt into the Palestinian controlled area is $1000 per head. A Kalashnikov rifle in the Gaza Strip can cost up to $1000 compared with 2000 Egyptian lira across the border – a third of the price. A single bullet costs $3 in Gaza compared with half an Egyptian lira (8 cents).
IDF forces frequently operate along the Philadelphia Route, undertaking the painstaking task of boring holes meters under the ground where they place explosives to blow up tunnels found. Sometimes, they also succeed in arresting those involved in the actual smuggling.
Last October, security forces arrested Ikram Tubasi, 31, a resident of Rafah and a member of the Palestinian security forces' coastal guard. Tubasi was involved in purchasing weapons in Egypt and smuggling them to the Gaza Strip, where he sold them to terrorist organizations and senior members of the Palestinian Security Forces.
Under investigation, Tubasi revealed his methods, including the use of three Palestinian youths from Rafah who lived in Egypt. They would access the tunnels dug in the area to cross to the Palestinian side of Rafah, taking with them thousands of bullets purchased in Egypt suited for Kalashnikov rifles.
He also supplied the names of Palestinian security force members who received the smuggled goods. He admitted to investigators he knew six other rockets had been smuggled into Gaza in 2001 at the request of Fuad Shubaki, one of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's financial advisers, who was involved in the 2001 Karine-A weapons smuggling ship incident.
Tubasi said the rockets were dismantled in parts, smuggled into Rafah though a tunnel and taken to Shubaki. He also admitted to selling Kalashnikov rifles to Palestinian Policemen. Most recently, he was involved in planning a bomb attack on an IDF tank near the border fence and infiltrating an IDF post in the Gaza Strip area.
Where's the UN outrage over violations of international law and prohibitions of Palestinians obtaining classes of weapons that were banned by Oslo? Oh, nevermind - that agreement only applied to Israel's obligations and if the Palestinians don't meet their part, Israel should concede more in hope that eventually the Palestinians will like what they see.
-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - Israel preparing major operation
Here are two different versions of the same events. The first is from AP:http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/I... - the focus is on the suffering of Palestinians who are displaced by the Israelis. The purpose for Israel's actions is stated, but only deep in the article. The headline's bias indicates that Israel is attacking and the aggressor.
The second is from the Jerusalem Post:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?p... - in this case, the type of action is discussed and the reasons for it are mentioned. Israel's actions are seen as defensive and meant to put an end to the smuggling of arms between Egypt and Gaza via tunnels across the Philadelphia corridor. Limiting the flow of traffic through Gaza enables Israelis to better control and search for terrorists hiding among the population.
-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - What Prompted Israel's Actions?
Israeli chief of staff Gen. Yaalon: Rafah operation finally prompted by discovery on Egyptian side of tunnels of stockpiles in Sinai of Katyusha ground-to-ground missiles and rocket-propelled grenades sent by Lebanese Hizballah and Iran. Three buildings demolished only because Palestinian gunmen barricaded there began shooting.- via www.debka.comDEBKAfile: Although Palestinian fire is sparse, IDF units advance warily through Tel Sultan district dismantling dense network of mines in their path and at entrances to homes and held up by Palestinian gunmen using groups of small children as cover. Very few civilians left in Tel Sultan. Troops are hunting wanted Hamas leaders known to be hiding in Rafah and running armed gangs.
-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - New tunnel found during IDF operations
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?p...IDF infantry and armored forces uncovered a tunnel in the Gaza Strip early Thursday morning that was intended for either infiltrating terrorists into an Israeli settlement in the area or the smuggling of arms.The tunnel was discovered during operations in the area to lower the incidence of shooting and shelling attacks from the region towards Israeli settlements.
IDF officials told reporters that "the recent increase in shooting from the area has become unacceptable."
So far, 40 mortar attacks and 30 shooting attacks have been launched for this area, and the IDF has even produced a video-tape documenting shooting activities there.
"The opening of the 10-meter-deep tunnel was found in a Palestinian house in Deir el-Balah, and it seems the tunnel was being dug towards the direction of Kfar Darom, an isolated community in the Gaza Strip.
"The place where we found the tunnel was inside a family room, something which I believe proves the cynicism of terrorists using their own civilian population to shield them and their operations," central district brigade commander Col. Eyal Zamir told Israel Radio. "It was difficult to see 3 small children and their mother trying to live with these kind of operations going on under their feet."
The 500-meter-long tunnel's route comes quite close to the IDF's Orchan post, where a soldier was killed and five others were wounded in June, when Palestinians detonated a similar tunnel under the post.
-- posted by Lawhawk
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