2009 18 Dec

Tunnels Create A Link Between Egypt And Gaza

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In Gaza poverty shortages are normal. There is a demand for basic goods but they are in very small supply. Israel has placed blockades around the borders Gaza shares with other nations. So one of the best ways to get supplies into Gaza is through tunnels.

In order to pull themselves out of poverty the Palestinians were advised to invest in the tunnels. Investors understood that these tunnels would assist them out of poverty and present the method to smuggle in basic goods. One town that has tons of these tunnels is Rafah which shares a border with Egypt.

There are scores of tunnels but Israelis end up bombing many of them so there are always tunnels under construction. There is a lot of capital to be made from operating a tunnel. lately two swindlers gathered money from Palestinians in order to build a tunnel but disappeared with anywhere from $100 million to $500 million. The money is vanished and there is no tunnel.

Hamas has two suspects in custody but so far the money hasn’t been found.. It’s not just investors that lost their money but also workers. One worker didn’t get paid for three months worth of work and doesn’t think he’ll ever get the money.

Tunnels may be money makers and life lines to the people in Gaza but they are also very dangerous. With Israel dropping bombs on the tunnels and a steady threat of cave-ins tunnel runners are always in danger. These tunnels supply not only money and goods to Palestinians but they come with a cost. father said “I want to go to the park at the end of the day, not go looking for my son inside a tunnel digging for a living and finding him dead inside the tunnel.”

There are literally hundreds of underground tunnels linking Egypt to Rafah and thousands of Palestinians working on smuggling supplies into Gaza. Israel claims that it’s necessary to stop these tunnels because arms are smuggled in, which may be true but the blockades are keeping Palestinians below the poverty line.

Joblessness in Gaza is up to 80 percent and as a result many are forced to work in the tunnels. Even kids leave home to work in these tunnels and are quickly hired because many of the tunnels are only 4 feet tall inside. Children are also recruited to hollow out the tunnels and many are wounded or killed when the tunnel collapses with them inside. However the risks are worth it for many children. One child recounted to have earned $100 a day for working in a tunnel.

Money is hard for these children to resist because they come from such destitute backgrounds. The cash is what drives this business and many children get caught up in it. In this past year alone over 59 Palestinians have died in the tunnels, including children.

Diane Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Utah. She likes to write about the news, politics, online degrees, online education, and the college experience.